OSU coordinator Yurcich shies away from Tennessee talk
Mike Yurcich stays quiet on reports tying him to Tennessee opening
MEMPHIS, TENN. — Sitting behind a microphone in a conference room at the Embassy Suites Memphis Hotel on Thursday afternoon, Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich answered questions about preparing his team to face Missouri in Monday’s Liberty Bowl.
Four hundred miles away in Knoxville, University of Tennessee fans are asking questions about who their next offensive coordinator is going to be, and whether Yurcich could be that guy.
For the last three weeks, Yurcich’s name has been among the top candidates among varied reports and rumors.
“I know you guys gotta do your job, and my job is to prepare this team for Missouri,” Yurcich said on a rainy Thursday afternoon following a Liberty Bowl news conference.
“It’s that particular time of year where speculation occurs. It’s occurred for several years in a row. I would just hate to take any time away, and any attention away, from our preparation, and send these seniors out as winners this season.”
The reports tying Yurcich’s name to the job included one that said he had interviewed with Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt, and another that said the Volunteers would wait until after the early signing period to find their guy.
Of course, the signing period passed last week, but the buzz around the vacancy has remained light, suggesting Pruitt could be waiting for bowl games to conclude before making a hire.
The Cowboys face Missouri at 2:45 p.m. Monday in the 60th annual Liberty Bowl.
Yurcich said the speculation about the Tennessee vacancy hasn’t been an issue he had to address with any current players or recruits while the Cowboys were working to sign 20 players in their latest signing class last week.
Two weeks ago, OSU coach Mike Gundy said he hadn’t been contacted by Tennessee, though he said these days, programs rarely contact the head coach to ask permission to interview an assistant.
“I think that there’s probably some truth to parts of it and then I think that sometimes it’s blown out of proportion,” Gundy said of Yurcich and Tennessee.
“I’ve never tried to keep a coach here that wanted to leave. So I said if you guys end up taking jobs, you need to come tell me, otherwise you don’t need to waste my time. That’s kind of the policy that we have here.”
Yurcich has been a popular name in coaching searches in recent years. He has been mentioned in connection to head coaching vacancies at Toledo, Kent State and Akron, and earlier this month, he was reportedly among the candidates for the Auburn offensive coordinator position.
Yurcich earned $800,000 this season, while former Tennessee offensive coordinator Tyson Helton earned $1.2 million.
Aside from the money, Yurcich could be attracted to the challenge of putting his offense up against SEC defenses, which tend to be highly regarded.
While a move to a rebuilding Tennessee program might be viewed as lateral in terms of career advancement, the value for Yurcich to show his offense can succeed outside the Big 12 could be significant in his pursuit of a head coaching job.
In his six seasons at OSU, Yurcich’s offense has averaged 38.0 points and 478.3 yards per game. Four times, his offense’s total yardage production for a season has ranked in OSU’s top 10 in school history.