Penn State coach James Franklin announced on Sunday afternoon that offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Mike Yurcich has been relieved of his duties, effective immediately.
Running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider and tight end coach Ty Howle will share interim offensive coordinator responsibilities for the remainder of the season, according to a press release.
“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.
Yurcich’s removal comes the day after a 15-point output by Penn State in a loss to Michigan and just three weeks following an equally poor offensive performance against Ohio State which saw the Nittany Lions score just one touchdown late in regulation while mustering just two field goals drives the rest of the game. Penn State had otherwise proven to be a capable scoring offense the rest of the year but against lesser opponents.
“We’ve got to do a better job of calling a game to allow our quarterback to get into rhythm,” Franklin said on Saturday following the loss. “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.”
Franklin is scheduled to meet with the media on Monday as part of his regularly schedule weekly press conference.
