A structured life
Routine important for Penn State’s new offensive coordinator — even now.
Newly minted Penn State offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca is figuring out life out on the fly like nearly everybody else during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ciarrocca gleaned a tip from a sports science group at the university that many people might want to adopt in a work-from-home society.
“They were talking to the players, and it was about reminding them to stay on their routine,” Ciarrocca told reporters on a video conference call Tuesday. “It probably took me a week or so to get right on establishing a routine.”
Ciarrocca sets up shop in his living room instead of the Holuba Hall in the Lasch Building. The coaching veteran, hired away from Minnesota, spends three hours working on football, analyzing video and planning play calls. When 10 a.m. rolls around, he devotes time to staff meetings and recruiting, which goes until 3 p.m.
The last two hours of his work day are dedicated to evaluating potential new Nittany Lions and meetings with the quarterback group. His wife, Kim, has noticed the extra effort.
“My wife said to me the other day, ‘You seem to be working now more than ever this time of year.’ ” Ciarrocca said, with a wry grin.
Changes
Losing the ability to recruit as usual is a challenge, but Ciarrocca is finding that technology makes the process a bit easier.
“It’s great when the kids can come on campus. You get a feel for them from interacting in person. They get a feel for you,” he said. “We can’t bring them on campus to truly show what Penn State has to offer. But we do have FaceTime, and we can get on the phone.”
The Lewisberry, Pa., native spent the previous three seasons with Minnesota and helped lead the program to its first 10-win season since 1905. His task is to improve a Penn State offense that averaged nearly 191 rushing yards per game but languished in the passing game.
The Nittany Lions will execute a run-pass option offense that isn’t too dissimilar to what they ran under previous coordinator Ricky Rahne. Coach James Franklin told reporters two weeks ago that the time spent together before COVID-19 will make the adjustment easier when there is football.
“Getting with coach Ciarrocca and sitting in a room for a month and then taking the best things they did at Minnesota and the best things we did at Penn State and merging them was great,” Franklin said. “It’s one thing to be able to know the playbook, and it’s one thing to have discussions. But you learn so much by going against your defense every single day in practice and vice versa.”
Ciarrocca is taking a team-first approach. “We’ve all been working together and communicating together,” he said. “It’s not my system; it’s our system. We’re all contributing to this.”
Advantage of experience
Building culture isn’t natural when everything is normal. Losing spring practices and in-person work could make it nearly impossible, but Ciarrocca isn’t buying into that.
“We’re not going to be able to install something and go out and walk through it,” he said. “We’ll have to study it a bit harder than maybe we would in the past. The credit goes to the players and how well they’ve worked with it.”
Last week, tight ends coach Tyler Bowen discussed how Ciarrocca’s ability to break down the offense by each position would give Penn State an advantage.
“You listen to him talk.
He can go up and be a guy that coaches an offensive lineman on his first two steps and then go talk about the receiver split and what release he should take against inside leverage press coverage,” Bowen said. “He’s got that wealth of knowledge with his experience. That’s helped him really acclimate to our players well because he’s hands-on and coaching them throughout putting in this system.”
A bit of adversity inadvertently propelled Ciarrocca to learn all phases of the offense. It came in his second coaching job as an offensive coordinator at Division III Western Connecticut in 1992.
“Our offensive line coach quit in July,” he said. “I had no choice but to coach the line that year. We had another guy on that staff that could coach the QBs. I became engrossed with line play. It was eye-opening for me.”
Perhaps Ciarrocca and the Nittany Lions can handle this unprecedented situation similarly. If nothing else, he won’t allow it to impact his expectations.
“I’m looking for the same product I’ve always looked for once we get out there on the field,” Ciarrocca said. “That’s the way I’m approaching it. I’m not planning on lowering my standards.”