Penn State coordinator Mike Yurcich to call offense from coaching booth in 2023
Penn State coordinator Mike Yurcich has called the Nittany Lions’ offense from the sideline during the last two years. He’ll move upstairs in 2023. The program’s first game notes ahead of the team’s primetime opener with West Virginia this Saturday note that the third-year member of head coach James Franklin’s staff will move from field level to the press box this fall.
Yurcich will be one of two offensive staff members in the booth this year. He’ll be joined by tight ends coach Ty Howle, who has been his eyes and ears there in previous seasons. Yurcich told BWI last year why he called games from the field in 2021 and 2022 when Sean Clifford was the team’s starting quarterback.
“Well, I think it’s important from a leadership standpoint to be able to rally the troops, so to speak, and to be able to look Cliff in the eye and have a good conversation with him,” Yurcich said in August of 2022. “As well as clear communication with any adjustments that we need on the field, to be able to talk to each personnel grouping, be able to talk to Coach Franklin.
“I just think that communication is very critical, and at the same time, you have to have good eyes up in the box be able to trust them.”
He also shared how important Howle is to him in the booth.
“It’s critical that we have consistent information flowing from the box to the field,” Yurcich said. “In the past, it’s always been good, as long as the information is 100%.”
Three of Penn State’s 10 on-field coaches will work from the press box this season. Yurcich and Howle will be joined by co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Anthony Poindexter. First-year graduate assistant Danny O’Brien will handle sideline communication for the Lions’ quarterbacks in Yurcich’s absence.
Head coach James Franklin will address the move on Tuesday during his first news conference of game week.
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