Reports: Oregon likely to hire Penn State special teams coordinator Joe Lorig

Penn State football coach James Franklin might be back in the market to replace another one of his coordinators.

Special teams coordinator/outside linebackers coach Joe Lorig is reportedly being targeted by Oregon to join new head coach Dan Lanning’s staff in a similar position. The news was first reported by The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman, and confirmed by ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg.

Prior to joining the Nittany Lions, Lorig spent three seasons at Memphis on head coach Mike Norvell’s staff (2016-18). During that time, he developed a relationship with Lanning, who was an inside linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator with the Tigers in 2016 and 2017, before taking an outside linebackers coaching role with Georgia and eventually becoming their defensive coordinator from 2019-21.

The 48-year old Lorig was hired on Feb. 21, 2019 to Penn State, replacing former special teams/assistant defensive line coach Phil Galiano, who departed for an assistant special teams coaching role with the New Orleans Saints. Lorig was reunited with head coach James Franklin, who served on the same Idaho State staff that the former was a part of in 1999 under head coach Larry Lewis.

Punter Jordan Stout was named as the Big Ten punter of the year in 2021 under Lorig’s tutelage, setting school records for single-season punting average (46.6 yards this season), ranking 10th among Football Bowl Subdivision punters and career average (44.81). Stout finished as one of three finalists for the Ray Guy Award, handed to the best punter in college football.

Lorig finished his college playing career at Western Oregon as a cornerback in 1995. He could soon return to the state that gave him his first college coaching opportunity, as well, serving as the defensive backs coach for his alma mater from 1997 and 1998.

Should Lorig leave for Oregon, he’d be the second coordinator to depart from the Nittany Lions since the end of the 2021 regular season. Former defensive coordinator Brent Pry left to take the head coaching job at Virginia Tech and was replaced by former Miami head coach Manny Diaz.