PJ Targeting Ciarrocca for Return as OC?

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Face The Facts said:
Penn St had it's best offense in the last three years with Coach KC.
We had 2019 and a solid 2018.
2016 at Western Michigan was quite good.

I think he knows how to use his best players and coach offense.

He's also been an early recruiter of Max Duggan, Hank Bachemeier, Brennan Armstroung, Tanner Morgan, Jacob Clark, Athan Kalakalalamaianaiais. He's developed QB's.
Simon hasn't ever been a QB recruiter or coach.

QB's are kind of important in college football.
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The OC doesn’t not have to be the QB coach. That is what Fleck prefers.

I have nothing against Ciarrocca. I would rather see them go in a different direction.
 



Spoofin said:
So we are skeptical of a guy who has been successful here, with this coach - mainly because we really want a guy who has never done the job before and that PJ has now passed over twice? Okey Dokey.
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Well when you say it like that....
 

scools12 said:
The OC doesn’t not have to be the QB coach. That is what Fleck prefers.

I have nothing against Ciarrocca. I would rather see them go in a different direction.
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This is a total guess, but I’d say 92% of College OC’s are QB or OL coaches
 



Having KC and his dynamism back with PJ Fleck’s energy will be fun.

I feel good for Kaliakmanis and Knuth. We will see how KC will adapt Dual Threat QBs in his RPO.
 

Spoofin said:
So we are skeptical of a guy who has been successful here, with this coach - mainly because we really want a guy who has never done the job before and that PJ has now passed over twice? Okey Dokey.
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This. I don't expect 2019 offense to magically return just because Kirk is back, but it's mind blowing that people would rather promote a guy who we hope can be as good as Kirk, rather than hire Kirk himself.
 




scools12 said:
The OC doesn’t not have to be the QB coach. That is what Fleck prefers.

I have nothing against Ciarrocca. I would rather see them go in a different direction.
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Don’t you think it makes perfect sense that KC is the OC & QB coach in the type of RPO scheme he runs?
 






banababoat73 said:
I agree
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PSU 2020 used their TE in the passing game. So it was almost certainly a reflection of not having good pass catching TE while having great WR as opposed to not using the TE.
 


MNVCGUY said:
PSU 2020 used their TE in the passing game. So it was almost certainly a reflection of not having good pass catching TE while having great WR as opposed to not using the TE.
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Or just ... better options ...

Can't call 2 plays on one down.
 

banababoat73 said:
No creativity in his running plays - all up the middle.
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He added a lot of outside zone in 2019. That said, I hope some of our run game creativity is still incorporated next year (pitch, unbalanced formation, etc.). I would also love to see some of our RB passing game carried over next year as Bucky looks great in space, but I am happy to let Kirk have 100% control and do his thing.
 

Marooned said:
As long as Kirk really wants to be here, I'd happily welcome him back. But, I don't want us to go into the "there's rumors Kirk wants to go back East" phase every offseason if this is just a cushy landing place for the time being for him.
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Gotta believe there is no way Fleck would bring him back if he didn't feel Kirk was 1000% on board this time around.
 

matt said:
He added a lot of outside zone in 2019. That said, I hope some of our run game creativity is still incorporated next year (pitch, unbalanced formation, etc.). I would also love to see some of our RB passing game carried over next year as Bucky looks great in space, but I am happy to let Kirk have 100% control and do his thing.
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I think we'll see it ... if it's there.

We had an OL that allowed for A LOT of different things this year.

Next year ... stunts and such might be harder to pull off with a lot of green guys.
 


hungan1 said:
Don’t you think it makes perfect sense that KC is the OC & QB coach in the type of RPO scheme he runs?
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The OC does not have to be the QB coach regardless of the scheme.

Nothing wrong with bringing Ciarrocca back. Also, nothing wrong with thinking they should go in a different direction.

It’s really not that controversial.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I think we'll see it ... if it's there.

We had an OL that allowed for A LOT of different things this year.

Next year ... stunts and such might be harder to pull off with a lot of green guys.
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People should realize that there will be up and down years for the Gophers even with KC back.

We will always have the “Fire someone” crowd on GH when the Gophers lose games. They expect perfection.
 
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If this ends up happening, we know that this isn’t a Sanford or Smith type hire, which is a huge relief. I also think Kirk is capable of tweaking his 2019 offense to take advantage of our current players’ skill sets.

Maybe there is a better OC out there, but hard to understand the posters who don’t see this as a good thing.
 


SPEGOPHER said:
If this ends up happening, we know that this isn’t a Sanford or Smith type hire, which is a huge relief. I also think Kirk is capable of tweaking his 2019 offense to take advantage of our current players’ skill sets.

Maybe there is a better OC out there, but hard to understand the posters who don’t see this as a good thing.
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We saw what KC has done. It doesn’t guarantee they’ll be a title contender next season. But, over the long haul I like our chances with KC back.

That doesn’t mean that there are equal or better options out there.

The important thing is PJ Fleck has to start winning titles. Otherwise, the Gophers will remain a high mid-tier team. Nobody wants retrogression.
 


He did a good job before and if you get a chance to bring in OC's that have a proven track record, especially at your school and with some of the same guys, you do it.

This is a business, not a high school girlfriend. Not bringing in a good candidate because he made a business decision for a better job before would be silly. PJ knows it is a business.
 

scools12 said:
It was one good year. It’s not like Ciarrocca was great every year. It’s not a big deal if Ciarrocca is brought back. IMO they should go with Simon
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Simon has had one good game that we know of and everyone wants him...
 

Reminder that Ciarrocca's offenses significantly improved under multiple years of his leadership at both Western Michigan and Minnesota. Our offense has been trending downward since he left. He should be able to jump back in and pick up mostly where he left off here as the fundamentals of that offense still exist.

Football outsiders offense - OF+ rankings

Ciarrocca
Western Michigan
2013: 120
2014: 47
2015: 25
2016: 10
Minnesota
2017: 90
2018: 77
2019: 6
Penn St
2020: 47

Sanford at Minnesota:
2020: 30
2021: 56

2019 COLLEGE FOOTBALL F+ RATINGS | Football Outsiders

2019 F+ ratings combining FEI and SP+
www.footballoutsiders.com www.footballoutsiders.com
 

Dave H said:
Simon has had one good game that we know of and everyone wants him...
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I wouldn’t say everyone wants him. I would say people think he deserves a shot at the job to see what he can do.

Looks like if Simon wants and gets an OC job it will be at a different school.
 

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