Nov. 15—Penn State football coach James Franklin compiled a list of potential offensive coordinator candidates long before he fired Mike Yurcich earlier this week.
He always has a list prepared for every position.
Franklin also has several boxes he hopes the next offensive coordinator can check. He made it clear that the first of those boxes is compatibility with him, his coaching staff, the players and everyone else who works in Lasch Building.
“The most important thing we can do outside all the things we have already talked about is to get the right people into the building,” Franklin said. “We’re in a people business. We gotta get the right people at Penn State that believe in Penn State, what we can do and where we can go.”
Franklin has worked with Akron head coach Joe Moorhead, Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen and Maryland offensive coordinator Josh Gattis.
He works with assistant head coach and running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider and tight ends coach Ty Howle, who will share play-calling duties the rest of the season.
Candidates such as Colorado offensive coordinator Sean Lewis might be intriguing, but my guess is that Penn State’s next OC will be someone who Franklin knows and knows well.
Who has accomplished the most in his coaching career? It would be the 50-year-old Moorhead, who left after two successful seasons as Penn State offensive coordinator to become head coach at Mississippi State.
The Nittany Lions averaged 37.6 and 41.1 points per game in 2016-17, two of the six highest-scoring seasons in school history.
He directed prolific offenses at most of his stops, including as head coach at Fordham from 2012-15 and as offensive coordinator at Oregon in 2020-21.
At Mississippi State, Moorhead went 8-5 and 6-7, on par with other coaches there in the last 10 years, and was fired.
He went on to Oregon…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/expect-penn-states-next-oc-044800834.html
Author : Reading Eagle, Pa.
Publish date : 2023-11-16 04:48:00
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