Texas & Ohio State reporters give their takes on Mike Yurcich
James Franklin caught Penn State fans by surprise Friday morning, when he announced that offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca would not return for a second season at Penn State, replacing him with Mike Yurcich, who spent last season as Texas' offensive coordinator.
"We are excited to have Mike join our staff," Franklin said in a prepared statement. "He is an impressive offensive mind and talented play caller who has set records everywhere he has been as an offensive coordinator. I look forward to seeing what he can do with all of the offensive weapons we have here at Penn State."
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Before Texas, Yurcich spent a season at Ohio State as the passing game coordinator, which came after a six-year stint as the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State.
His offense at Texas last season ranked second in the Big 12 in yards per game, with an average of 474.4 yards. Penn State hasn't had an offense that moved the ball that effectively since 1994, when it went undefeated.
Perhaps more importantly for Penn State fans — who watched the Lions move the ball well this season, but often fail to convert that success into points — the Longhorns had no such problems.
Texas averaged 42.7 points per game this year, just .3 behind Oklahoma at the top of the Big 12.
But this was hardly a one-year spike.
From 2013-2018, Yurcich's offenses at Oklahoma State averaged 478.8 yards per game, which, like this season's offense at Texas, would be more effective at moving the ball than any offense Penn State has had in more than 25 years.
In between those ventures, he helped Ohio State to its highest scoring season in school history in 2019, when the Buckeyes racked up 46.9 points per game. Justin Fields, under Yurcich's tutelage, threw 41 touchdowns and three interceptions, averaging 11.2 yards per attempt along the way.
To get more details on Yurcich as a coach and recruiter, BWI reached out to reporters who covered him at Texas and Ohio State, respectively.
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