Penn State has fired offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich.
Jon Sauber of the Centre Daily Times was the first to report, and it’s since been confirmed by other outlets.
Sources: Penn State has fired offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich.https://t.co/8fy7B5UH3O
— Jon Sauber (@JonSauber) November 12, 2023
Source confirms Penn State has fired offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich. @JonSauber first reported.
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) November 12, 2023
Penn State has fired offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, @Lions247 has confirmed. first reported by @JonSauber https://t.co/9TQ2T30rYL
— Daniel Gallen (@danieljtgallen) November 12, 2023
Yurcich was 10 games into his third season on the job.
Although Penn State’s record is a solid 8-2 through 10 games, Yurcich’s has taken plenty of criticism for his efforts in Penn State’s losses: at Ohio State Oct. 21 and against Michigan at home Saturday afternoon.
In those two games, Penn State combined for 27 points and three touchdowns. For many, Yurcich’s offense wasn’t doing Manny Diaz’s defense— which is thought to be right up there with America’s best— justice.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Still, not many were expecting Yurcich’s to be fired, especially with two games left in the regular season plus whatever bowl game Penn State makes.
Although Yurcich’s firing surly caught many off guard, head coach James Franklin probably gave his most apparent criticism of Yurcich in his postgame presser Saturday.
“We’ve got to do a better job of calling a game to allow our quarterback to get into rhythm,” Franklin said, without mentioning Yurcich by name. “That is critical. We’ve got to find easy completions for a quarterback to get into rhythm. That’s what everybody does. We’ve got to do a good job of that. And then on top of that, although there weren’t sacks, there were too many pressures and there were too many times where we were not creating separation. Very similar to the other game [Ohio State] we talked about.”
The “quarterback” Franklin’s referencing is Drew Allar, who Yurcich recruited coming out of Medina High School.
This is the second firing Franklin’s had in 2023.
Penn State got rid of receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield in January, and replaced him with Marques Hagans.
But Franklin’s never fired a coordinator in the middle of a season. Until, apparently now.
