On Tuesday, it was announced that former Penn State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich would be taking the same role at FCS Youngstown State under sixth-year head coach Doug Phillips.
Mike Yurcich climbed the ranks of college football coaching. The now 49-year-old Ohio native began his career at FCS or DII schools in Pennsylvania, Sant Francis, Shippensburg, and Edinboro, with stops at Oklahoma State, Ohio State, and Texas before eventually calling plays for the Penn State Nittany Lions from 2021-23. However, Yurcich struggled to develop former five-star quarterback Drew Allar, so James Franklin fired him midseason and later replaced him with Andy Kotelnicki for 2024.
Allar has flourished under Kotelnicki and the Nittany Lions are preparing for a College Football Playoff semifinal matchup with Notre Dame at the Orange Bowl, proving he was the right hire, but now Yurcich’s career is back on track. Prior to Allar, Yurcich led an effective attack with veteran QB Sean Clifford, who was equipped for his complex passing game. In his final year, Clifford and Yurcich helped lead the Nittany Lions to a Rose Bowl victory over Utah 35-21.
Yurcich’s most successful stint as an offensive coordinator came under Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State from 2013-18 when he also served as the program’s quarterback coach. The Cowboys managed four 10-win seasons over that stretch and Yurcich coached the program’s all-time leading passer Mason Rudolph to back-to-back 4,000-yard seasons. Rudolph finished seventh in Heisman Trophy voting in 2017, Yurcich’s penultimate year in Stillwater, with 4,904 passing yards.
From Oklahoma State, Yurcich went to Ohio State where he was the passing game coordinator in 2019 when Justin Fields threw for 3,272 yards and led the Buckeyes to the College Football Playoff. In 2020 he was the offensive coordinator at Texas before finally heading to Happy Valley. After an exceptional rise through the sport’s coaching ranks that came to a disappointing end, Yurcich is finally back on a staff, though at a much lower level than would have been expected.