James Franklin believes a new offensive coordinator can energize the Penn State offense

Penn State coach James Franklin admitted that the move was swift. Less than a week after Tom Herman was fired as head coach at Texas, Franklin hired Herman’s offensive coordinator, Mike Yurcich, to take over the same job with the Nittany Lions.

In the process, Franklin fired Kirk Ciarrocca, who lasted just one season in the position. That season, played in a pandemic, saw the Lions hit the 30-point mark in regulation just twice in nine games, commit 17 turnovers, convert only 51% of their red-zone possessions for touchdowns, and see a reduction in explosive plays.

So as Franklin explained Monday in a Zoom conference call with reporters, “Philosophically, I felt it was the right thing for us to do.”

“We want to go and play a style on offense that I think is going to be important for us to play in a lot of different ways,” he said. “It’s what we’re going to have to do to be successful on the field in terms of explosive plays, turnovers and then obviously scoring points. Those things are the three most important things you’re going to do on offense — how that impacts our locker room, how that impacts recruiting, all of it.”

Franklin said he has been communicating for a long time with Yurcich, who has spent the last eight years on the coaching staff at FBS programs (six as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State, one as passing game coordinator at Ohio State, and last season at Texas). Yurcich was hired on Jan. 8.

He said he and Yurcich are on the same page as far as “what we want to do and how we want to do it” while employing the spread and running tempo. He noted that Yurcich’s offenses have averaged more than 40 points a game over his last five seasons as a coordinator.

“Mike has lived in that world,” he said. “I think the things that excite me is the kind of stats I threw out. You’d better be able to protect the football and then you better be able to create explosive plays. And those are two areas that we were not successful at this past season.”

Penn State averaged 4.78 plays of 20 yards or longer in 2020, a five-year low. Quarterback Sean Clifford, who led the team to 11 wins in 2019, threw nine interceptions and lost three fumbles. He was benched in favor of Will Levis against Nebraska and relieved Levis the following week against Iowa.

Franklin said when considering touchdown-to-interception ratio (17 to 9), completion percentage (62.1) and third-down conversions (42.1%) during his team’s 4-5 season, “I wouldn’t say that we took a step in the right direction.

“I wouldn’t say that we had built on the year before,” he said. “And that’s why there was change. We had different starters, different rotations, a lot of different things. I think that’s another big part of this is getting back to that position playing at a high level, and even taking the next step of playing really, really high-level football.”

Yurcich will be the fourth offensive coordinator Clifford has worked with. The first two, Joe Moorhead and Ricky Rahne, left to take head coaching jobs at Mississippi State and Old Dominion, respectively.

Franklin spoke of other topics during his 45-minute session, including Penn State’s utilization of the NCAA transfer portal and reuniting with his wife and his daughters at Christmas.

Franklin has plucked four players thus far out of the transfer portal, two for a defensive line that has suffered some heavy losses since the end of last season. He said his program is committed to doing its homework to study players at every position.

“We’re going to be as aggressive as we have to be at every position to help our football program,” he said. “If there’s something that makes sense and clearly makes us better, then we’re going to look at it. That’s a responsibility that we have to have for our entire organization and for every position.”

Franklin said he tested for the coronavirus and quarantined after the football season ended and surprised his two daughters on Christmas Eve with a visit to the Florida residence where they’ve been staying with their mother during the pandemic, his first visit since the summer. The family is isolated because the youngest daughter has sickle cell and would be at high risk of contracting the coronavirus.

He said he and his wife continue to discuss how to get back together safely in the State College area.

“I don’t see that happening any time soon,” he said. “Right now there’s not a whole lot new in terms of making sure that my family, and specifically my daughter, is protected from this. So that’s the next hurdle for us, trying to figure out how we can get back together as a family.”