Coordinator Joe Lorig's ST impact undeniable in first year with Lions
Before coaching his first game with the Nittany Lions, the internal expectations for new special teams coordinator Joe Lorig were high.
Head coach James Franklin, having pounded the drum for special teams importance since arriving at Penn State in 2014, demonstrated that commitment in making the hire in the first place. Swiping Lorig from Texas Tech just six weeks after the Raiders had swiped him from Memphis, Franklin and Lorig reunited.
Crossing paths previously for just one season at Idaho State in 1999, Lorig acknowledged from the jump that Franklin’s approach to special teams was his primary motivation for coming to Penn State. And, one season in, that motivation was proven to be well-founded.
“I think I had a little bit better sense than maybe normally just because I've had a previous relationship with Coach Franklin. I knew a lot of people that worked with him and for him,” Lorig told BWI this summer. “One of the main things, when you're a special teams coordinator, is the support from the top. Not everybody treats it the same. I had a really good job that I had just taken that I really didn't want to leave, and so I wouldn't have come.
“Obviously, Penn State is special, I'm not minimizing that at all, but I wouldn't have come unless I felt like the resources were going to be there, and the support from the head coach and the staff were going to be there to build the kind of culture that I believe is necessary to be successful.”
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Owning the nation’s No. 34 special teams FEI rating in 2018, the Nittany Lions enjoyed immediate dividends on the hire, leaping to No. 5 with an 11-2 Cotton Bowl-winning season in 2019. In the SP+ Rankings, the Nittany Lions’ finished the year third in its special teams category.
Among the immediate beneficiaries, Penn State junior placekicker Jake Pinegar saw a marked improvement personally. Though having led the Big Ten in total points scored as a true freshman in 2018, Pinegar improved on his 16 of 24 made field goals to send home 11 of 12 last year.
Taking stock of the entirety of Penn State’s special teams operation, Pinegar didn’t hesitate Friday to praise the changes.
“Coach Lorig has been awesome,” Pinegar said. “Coach Lorig is, in my opinion, the best special teams coordinator in the country. The way that he runs practices, the way that he runs his units, the team, the way that his coaching philosophy is, his morals, his values; it aligns perfectly with this team.
“He's raised the level of this team significantly obviously, as you can tell from last year. Coach Lorig has brought just an incredible amount of value. He's done some amazing things here and we're just excited for another year.”
So too, it seems, is Franklin.
Appearing on the Penn State Coaches Show Thursday evening, the Nittany Lions’ head coach echoed Pinegar’s sentiment when discussing the program’s initiative to utilize the “0” jersey number to honor an impactful special teams performer. Reiterating his commitment to the third co-equal element of the game, Franklin diverted his attention from the original topic to once again share his thoughts on Lorig’s impact.
“We're huge believers in the impact of special teams and everybody says that, but a lot of programs give special teams lip service. I think we went out and hired Joe Lorig, who is, I think, the best special teams coordinator in the country,” Franklin told host Steve Jones. “I’ve just been so impressed with him, not just about his schemes and what we do, but just the cultural aspect of getting everybody to buy-in to the impact of special teams.”
Fully owning that element, just as he’d intended when accepting the job offer, Lorig envisions an upward trajectory that continues to reflect the program’s commitment to the matter.
“The number one thing at the end of the day is, How well do we set up our offense when they get the ball to score? And how often do we set up our defense to get the other team to make it harder for them to score? Those are just the very basics of it,” Lorig said. “We were number one in the country in special teams efficiency, so that's good. Certainly, there's room for improvement. The return game stands out to me from a statistics standpoint. But I was pretty happy.”
One year into the marriage, the Nittany Lions are, too.
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