PSU head coach James Franklin announced Sunday that he fired offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, who was in his third season in the role. The move comes a day after PSU lost 24-15 at home to Michigan and put up just 238 yards of offense, 75 of which came in a final-minute scoring drive when the outcome was already decided.
With Yurcich out of the picture, running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider and tight ends coach Ty Howle will share interim offensive coordinator duties for the remainder of the season.
“We thank Mike for his contributions over the last three years but feel it is in our program’s best interest to make a change at this time. We wish him and his family nothing but the best in the future,” Franklin said.
Well, so much for me complimenting him in the game thread. I don’t think he was the problem. Allar was just overhyped this season. And if anything, I think it’s more damning for Penn State’s eLiTe defense to not stop Michigan when they knew the next play was always going to be a run (feels like Cristobal is a bit overrated as DC).
This seems like Franklin is trying to save his job by throwing his assistants under the bus. And tbh, I don’t understand why Penn State fans are upset with him - they win 10 games (or 11 with the bowl) as often as you could ask for. If they run Franklin out of town, it could go sideways. Just look at Nebraska/Texas/USC in the last decade+ (and it kind of feels the Notre Dame is heading down that path in a post-Kelly world).