Former PSU OC Kirk Ciarroca is the new coordinator at Rutgers after just one season at Minnesota.
Got our guy! #CHOP
Welcome to the F.A.M.I.L.Y. @KirkCiarrocca
— Rutgers Football (@RFootball) January 7, 2023
This is the third coaching stop Ciarroca has made in as many seasons.
After three years in his first stint at Minnesota, Ciarroca came to PSU before the 2020 campaign to work on coach James Franklin’s staff as the OC, beating Rutgers, 23-7, Dec. 5.
Ciarroca’s time in Happy Valley ended up being short and disappointing. With a raging pandemic not helping anything, Penn State went 4-5– its first losing season since 2004– and Franklin fired Ciarroca afterward. From there, Ciarroca spent the 2021 season as an offensive analyst at West Virginia. Then, he returned to his old boss, P.J. Fleck, and Minnesota, for this past season. The Gophers averaged more than 28 points per game, good for fourth in the Big Ten, and finished 9-4, capped off with a Pinstripe Bowl win over Syracuse Dec. 29. Ciarroca returned to Beaver Stadium for Minnesota’s Oct. 22 game at Penn State, and it didn’t go well.
Before a White Out crowd, Penn State pounded Minnesota, 45-17. Now, Ciarroca will move back to the “Banks of the Old Raritan,” and work for his old boss, Greg Schiano. Ciarroca previously coached under Schiano for three seasons during Schiano’s first stint in Piscataway, spending the 2008-10 years as the school’s co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Rutgers plays Penn State at Beaver Stadium Nov. 18.
