What the Numbers and James Franklin Say About His Penn State Offensive Coordinators, Past (Ciarrocca) and Present (Yurcich)

As a successful veteran college football head coach, Penn State’s James Franklin is not an easy guy to work for.

He readily admits as much.

Even when his current coordinators, Manny Diaz and Mike Yurcich, have nearly 50 years in the business between them at high-profile programs like Texas, Miami (Fla.) and Ohio State — 32 of them as either a head coach or a coordinator.

A few weeks ago, I asked Franklin, “If you’re a coordinator at Penn State, what kind of guy is James Franklin to work for?

His answer was pretty candid: “I think I’m demanding. I’m fair.”

Then, Franklin elaborated: “The guys that I hire I’m going to provide a level of freedom, because I brought them here for a reason. Experienced, seasoned, veteran guys.

“But I am also going to sometimes bring up things I want them to consider. Then there are going to be a few times where I’m going to say, ‘We’re doing this — and this is why.’

“That’s probably how I would describe it overall. But I would also say that I think it’s really important that you’re transparent about those things before you hire them. So they know what they’ve signed up for. And also, you know, same thing from them — that they’re transparent.

“I’ve done enough background checks that I know what I’m getting as well. Because I think at the end of the day, people can deal with whatever it is, as long as you’re transparent on the front end and they know what they signed up for.”

ON THE OFFENSIVE

Franklin didn’t say this, but I will:

He’s tougher on his O-coordinators than the guys on the other side of the ball. It’s understandable. CJF excelled at QB in college at East Stroudsburg and has coached mostly on the offensive side of the ball, usually with wide receivers (including a year with Green Bay in the NFL), tight ends, quarterbacks and as an O-coordinator at Kansas State and Maryland.

More proof that to be Franklin with you, he’s hardest on the guy who calls the plays for him.

Now in his ninth season at Penn State, Franklin has had five offensive coordinators (six, if you count Tyler Bowen who play-called PSU to a 53-39 win over Memphis in the Cotton Bowl): John Donovan, Joe Moorhead, Ricky Rahne, Kirk Ciarrocca and Yurcich.

He’s jettisoned two of them: Donovan, after the 2015 season, his second at Penn State; and Ciarrocca, summarily dismissed after his one and only season at Penn State, in 2020.

Franklin has had eight off-seasons at Penn State, so we know there’s a 25% chance you are going to get fired under James if you call the plays.

(Franklin seems to be tougher on all his offensive coaches. He’s also fired a wide receivers coach, David Corley, after one just season — which, in Corley’s defense, he came to PSU as the running backs coach, for which he was better suited — and an O-line coach in Matt Limegrover…nee Line-grower. In Limegrover’s defense, at PSU he produced five offensive linemen who were either all-Big Ten and/or drafted into the NFL.)

I don’t think Franklin ever fired a defensive coach at Penn State…yet. So, for fired assistants, make that Offense 4, Defense 0.

Ciarrocca’s reign with the Nittany Lions covered a pandemic season. He was hired on Dec. 26, 2019 and fired on Jan. 8, 2021. The average Kardashian marriage lasts longer. Under Ciarrocca in 2020, the Nittany Lions started 0-5, then reeled off four wins in a row. Franklin asked that he not be judged for that losing record — and probably justifiably so; across college football it was perceived as a mulligan season.

Yet, Franklin fired Ciarrocca after just 379 days into the job.

And, as it turned out, Ciarrocca’s stats as the PSU OC in nine games in the height of a pandemic (with its attendant lack of meetings, practices, stalled start and diminished human interaction) were better than what Yurcich has compiled in 19 games as the Nittany Lion OC. Especially in Big Ten games —by a full touchdown. See the chart below.

SATURDAY’S RETURN OF CIARROCCA

Of course, you know the storyline; you can’t erase it with Whiteout:

Ciarrocca is back in town this weekend, as the O-coordinator from whence he came when Franklin hired him after Ricky Rahne left to become head coach at Old Dominion. Ciarrocca was the offensive coordinator under head coach PJ Fleck for three seasons at Minnesota (2017-19) and four seasons at Western Michigan (2013-16). Ciarrocca spent 2021 as an offensive analyst at West Virginia University.

This week, in what may have been the shortest in-season Tuesday presser of his Penn State career, Franklin gave Ciarrocca his due. Sort of. Here are all 52 words worth:

“Offensively, Kirk Ciarrocca, a ton of history there not only coming from the state of Pennsylvania, but also had been on our staff for a period of time,” Franklin said. “Kirk has done a great job. He has had a great career and is back, obviously, doing a really good job with their offense.”

Let’s remember that Franklin became enamored with Ciarrocca after No. 5 Penn State lost to No. 13 Minnesota in Minneapolis on Nov. 9, 2019. Ciarrocca’s QB that day (and possibly again this Saturday, depending on his health) Tanner Morgan, threw for three TDs and 339 yards on 18-of-20 passing, while Nittany Lion quarterback then and now Sean Clifford threw three picks. That made a big impression on Franklin.

On Saturday, 1,078 days after Minnesota knocked 8-0 Penn State from the unbeaten ranks that frigid early November afternoon in the Twin Cities, Ciarrocca will return to his native state to coach against the Nittany Lions.

33 GAMES LATER

That Minnesota contest was a pivotal game, in ways more than just the Ciarrocca hire. Counting that November 2019 match-up, Penn State has played 33 games. It hasn’t been all that pretty, unless you are talking about a pair of contract extensions for Franklin, as the chart below shows.

In fact, nearly half (5 of 12) of Penn State’s wins in the 25 Big Ten games in that time have been against Rutgers and Indiana. Over the last 33 games, Penn State has lost games to nine of the other 13 teams in the Big Ten. Here’s a breakdown:

SINCE PENN STATE vs. MINNESOTA 2019

So, where does all this leave Yurcich?

On Tuesday, Franklin acknowledged in a very subtle way that Yurcich — who made his mark as an offensive whiz at Shippensburg and Oklahoma State, with subsequent brief stops at Ohio State and Texas — was known as a wide-open offense kind of guy. Make that “former.” That has not been the case for Yurcich’s 19 games at Penn State.

Franklin was asked, “How would you evaluate Yurcich’s ability to adjust the game plan based on your personnel strengths and weaknesses?”

Franklin’s reply: “I think the change in use of our tight ends and formations and running the ball and things like that, I think is a change and is an adjustment that puts us in the best position to play to our strengths.

“Obviously,” he added, “we’ve got to go out and execute consistently across the board. But I think there has been a pretty dramatic change. If you look at Mike and who he’s been over his career and who we are right now based on our personnel, I think it’s pretty significant.” 

SHOW ME THE MONEY

Yurcich is still getting paid, at least in part, by his former employer, the University of Texas.

Prior to the 2020 season, he signed a guaranteed three-year, $5.1 million deal with the Longhorns. He took a pay cut in the 2020 pandemic year, but over the past two seasons he was guaranteed $1.7 million per year by Texas.

That has been offset by whatever Penn State has paid Yurcich. (For example, let’s say Penn State is paying Yurcich $1 million in 2022; Texas is still on the hook ’em horns for an additional $700,000.) Starting in 2023, Yurcich’s compensation is solely Penn State’s responsibility.

Speaking of which:

Ciarrocca’s deal with Penn State was for three years, and in the neighborhood of $900,000 to $1 million per season. This is the final year of his three-year guaranteed deal with Penn State — offset by whatever Minnesota is paying him.

And, according to a document obtained by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Ciarrocca’s base is about $625,000 a season for 2022-23. Thus, for at least the remainder of 2022, Penn State is picking up the difference. No offense, but that’s about $300,000 or so that is on PSU’s tab.