Former Penn State offensive cooridinator returning to Big Ten
It’s been a busy offseason for former Penn State offensive coordinators. Joe Moorhead is getting settled in as the head coach at Akron, and his successor, Ricky Rahne, is preparing to coach Old Dominion in a bowl game this bowl season. As for the coach who came between Rahne and current offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, there really is no place like home for the holidays.
Kirk Ciarrocca has officially been welcomed back by the Minnesota Golden Gophers as the team’s offensive coordinator. Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck welcomed Ciarrocca back on Monday, and the return to familiarity for Ciarrocca and Fleck could rejuvenate the Minnesota offense a bit as he gets adjusted.
Penn State hired Ciarrocca to be the offensive coordinator after Rahne was hired to be the head coach at Old Dominion in 2020. Unfortunately for Ciarrocca and Penn State, the new offensive coordinator was never able to get fully ingrained with the roster as the COVID-19 pandemic took away Penn State’s entire spring football schedule and coaches worked via video for the majority of the year.
This is believed to play a part in Penn State’s disappointing 0-5 start to the 2020 season, as the offense was unable to work itself into much of a rhythm until later in the season. Ciarrocca’s one season at Penn State failed to live up to the expectations given the work he had done at Minnesota prior to his arrival.
Franklin moved on quickly from Ciarrocca and brought in Yurcich once Yurcich became available as a result of a head coaching change at Texas after the 2020 season. Yurcich experienced a few offensive concerns during the 2021 season as well, so perhaps Ciarrocca just never got a full shake to see what he could truly do at Penn State.
Ciarrocca spent the 2021 season working as an offensive analyst at West Virginia. In a unique twist to this situation, Minnesota is preparing to face West Virginia in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix. Through a mutual agreement between Fleck and West Virginia head coach Neal Brown, Ciarrocca will not coach in the game for Minnesota, as he started with the Gophers staff on Monday.
Either way, his return to Minnesota should give Gopher fans reason to be optimistic.
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