Penn State’s James Franklin on the hiring of OC Mike Yurcich: ‘We’re on the same page’
When Mike Yurcich was on the market after Texas fired head coach Tom Herman earlier this month, Penn State head coach James Franklin saw an opportunity he simply couldn’t pass up.
Yurcich, who spent the 2020 season as the Longhorns’ offensive coordinator, had long caught Franklin’s eye. Franklin had Yurcich high on his list of potential candidates at the end of 2019, when he looked to fill the vacancy left behind by former offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne’s departure to be the head coach at Old Dominion. Instead, Yurcich ended up joining Herman at Texas, while the Nittany Lions’ snagged offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca from Minnesota.
On Monday, Franklin — speaking to reporters for the first time this offseason — publicly discussed the decision to bring in Yurcich this time around and part ways with Ciarrocca after just one season.
“It more just has to do with philosophically how we want to play,” he said. “And I think that thing that I stated earlier, about an emphasis on explosive plays, an emphasis on (limiting) turnovers and an emphasis on scoring points — they’re the three most important things that you have to do on offense and specifically in current college football, the way this thing is trending. There’s gonna be games where you’re gonna have to score 40 points. ... And those things are in a premium now, probably more than ever.”
Last season under Yurcich, Texas ranked No. 19 in the country in yards per game with 475.4 per contest and No. 8 in points per game with 42.7 per contest. The Longhorns finished the season with a 7-3 record and an Alamo Bowl victory.
Penn State, on the other hand, struggled to move the ball at times during its 4-5 campaign — ranking just No. 37 in yards per game with 430.3 and No. 54 in points per game with 29.8.
Nittany Lions players are hopeful the addition of Yurcich will change that next season.
Players already on the roster, as well as incoming signees from the 2021 class, found out about the move on the morning of Jan. 8 on a team meeting over Zoom, shortly before the announcement was made public.
Landon Tengwall — the No. 7 offensive tackle in the 2021 247Sports Composite and the highest rated player in Penn State’s 2021 class — said that though he was “a little surprised,” he has full belief that Franklin is making the decisions necessary to elevate the program.
“That was something that Coach Franklin said to us when we decided to commit there — just have faith in him that he’s gonna pick the best man for the job at these coaching positions,” Tengwall told the Centre Daily Times earlier this month. “He’s keeping his word on that, and I believe it.”
Tengwall, who said he looked up Yurcich’s coaching stats after learning the news, is looking forward to working with his new offensive coordinator as one of seven early enrollees in his class who arrived on campus last weekend.
“I’m excited,” he said. “I’m excited to see him bring something new to the table for our offense.”
Yurcich’s hire marks four different offensive coordinators for the Nittany Lions in a five-year span. Joe Moorhead spent 2016 and 2017 as Penn State’s offensive coordinator before leaving to become the head coach at Mississippi State, and Rahne was the program’s offensive coordinator in 2018 and 2019 before Ciarrocca arrived last offseason.
Still, Franklin felt bringing in someone who better aligns with how he wants his team to play offensively was more valuable for his program’s future than maintaining continuity.
“Philosophically, me and Mike have been talking for a long time,” Franklin said. “And we’re on the same page in what we want to do and how we want to do it. And Mike has lived in that world. I think the things that excite me are kinda the stats that I threw out … his yards per play, his scoring. There hasn’t been too many offensive coordinators that have been able to average 40 points in the five previous years that he’s been an offensive coordinator.”
Before last season, Penn State ranked in the top-25 nationally in points per game in three of its previous four seasons — being ranked as high as No. 7 in scoring in 2017.
Now, with Yurcich calling the team’s plays heading into the future, Franklin hopes for the Nittany Lions to get back to their old ways on the offensive side of the ball.
“It’s gonna be back to who we were the previous three or four years,” Franklin said. “It’s going to be spread; it’s going to be tempo; it’s going to be an emphasis on explosive plays.”
This story was originally published January 18, 2021 at 5:23 PM.
