Early Penn State Football Offensive Coordinator Hot Board

On Sunday, Penn State head coach James Franklin made the decision to fire the offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, less than 24 hours after the Nittany Lions fell to the Michigan Wolverines 24-15. In the meantime, Assistant Head Coach/Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs as well as Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends coach Ty Howle will serve as the interim offensive coordinators.

NOT A RIVALS SUBSCRIBER? JOIN TODAY AND GET 30 DAYS FREE!

While Penn State could go in-house and go with Seider and Howle as the next offensive coordinator, this is a hiring that the Nittany Lions will likely look from outside the program to fulfill the role. Below, Happy Valley Insider takes a look at 10 potential names to know in the Penn State coaching search.

A native of Iowa, Grubb has become one of the country's top offensive coordinators over the last several years, spending time at Fresno State and Washington with Kalen DeBoer. There's no doubt that he's one of the best offensive coordinators in the country but can Penn State steal him away from their future conference foe? It seems unlikely, especially considering Grubb is set to make $1.6m next season. He should also be receiving quite a bit of interest as a head coaching candidate this offseason. If money isn't an issue for Penn State, Grubb would make a lot of sense as a first call.

Ludwig has been an FBS offensive coordinator since 1997 spending time at Oregon, Utah, California, San Diego State, Wisconsin, Vanderbilt, and Utah. He's currently in his second stint with the Utes as their offensive coordinator, also serving as the program's OC from 2005 through 2008. He's had a ton of success as an offensive coordinator throughout his career despite having limited resources from a talent perspective for most of his career. He notably flirted with Notre Dame last offseason before choosing to stay at Utah.

Koltenicki has become a popular offensive coordinator name thanks to his work with the Kansas Jayhawks each of the last two seasons. The Jayhawks this season despite not having star quarterback Jalon Daniels are averaging 32.7 points and 425 total yards of offense per game. Would Kotelnicki be willing to leave head coach Lance Leipold though?

The Minnesota native has been an integral part of Leipold's coaching staff since 2013, serving as the role of his offensive coordinator at Wisconsin-Whitewater, Buffalo, and now Kansas With Leipold's name being a hot one in the coaching carousel this offseason, he may have an opportunity to move to a new job this offseason with his longtime head coach as well.

Could an old friend be returning to Happy Valley? It's a realistic possibility.

Moorhead is in his second year with Akron with the Zips sitting at 2-8 through 10 games. In his two seasons with the program, Moorhead is 4-18. That being said Akron is historically an extremely tough place to win with just 10 winning seasons in their 38 years at the FBS level. Returning to Happy Valley would allow Moorhead to remain close to his family in the region which was a big part of him taking the Akron job following the 2021 season.

Of course, the familiarity between Moorhead and Franklin, as well as the program as a whole adds a whole other dynamic to this possibility. Perhaps the best way for Penn State to take a step forward is by taking a "few steps back" with Moorhead.

Sean Lewis is in an awfully weird situation at Colorado where he was hired as the Buffaloes offensive coordinator and than shockingly demoted from the position despite calling the plays for one of the Pac-12's top offenses while also having a terrible offensive line.

Lewis has been a hot name as a potential head coach for a while thanks to his time at Kent State and could get more consideration this offseason.

That being said, it seems unlikely he will return to Colorado after this season whether the program lets him or go or he leaves of his own volition, Lewis is certainly a candidate worth noting.

Penn State fans have seen Brennan Marion's name pop up over the years as a potential hire for the wide receiver coaching position.

Now, the former Greensburg Salem standout is the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at UNLV, calling the plays for the Rebels who are averaging 36.4 points and 423.8 yards of offense per game this season.

The Greensburg area native has spent time throughout the country coaching at Arizona State, Oklahoma Baptist, Howard, William & Mary, Hawaii, Pittsburgh, Texas, and now UNLV. He's been a young rising star for quite a while and with his success at UNLV, is only going to become a bigger and hotter name in the coaching carousel. Expect to hear his name pop up quite a bit in OC searches this offseason and potentially even some HC searches.

Wherever Marion goes, he'll be bringing his "Go-Go Offense" with him.

Not too long ago Joe Brady was one of the hottest names in coaching.

Now, he's quietly been the Buffalo Bills' quarterbacks coach since 2022 after getting fired as the Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator under Matt Rhule.

Brady was a graduate assistant for Penn State in 2015 and 2016 but of course was a pivotal piece of LSU's 2019 National Championship team as the program's passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach, winning the Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant coach.

The biggest question surrounding Brady going forward is if the 34-year-old wants to return to college football or does he want to stay in the NFL?

Bowen is showing noticeable improvements as an offensive coordinator in his second year with the Virginia Tech Hokies under Brent Pry. Despite not having an overly talented offense at his disposal, the Hokies are averaging 26.0 points per game this year, a touchdown better than what they did in 2022 as one of the worst offenses in the country.

Bowen was highly regarded by Penn State and the Nittany Lions coaching staff before he left for the Jacksonville Jaguars as the franchise's tight ends coach under Urban Meyer. After the Meyer experiment in Duvall failed, Bowen caught on with Pry in Blacksburg.

This is a little bit of an out-of-the-box name but could make sense.

Cramsey has spent the last two years with the Memphis Tigers, calling the plays for last year's No. 22 offense and this year's No. 8 offense nationally. Prior to his two seasons with the Tigers, Cramsey spent a handful of years with the Marshall Thundering Herd including the 2021 season under former Penn State RB coach Charles Huff. In that 2021 season, the Thundering Herd averaged 33.0 points per game.

Notably, Cramsey has Pennsylvania ties, originally from Allentown where he was a state title-winning quarterback for Allentown Central Catholic. He also coached at Emmuas High School as an assistant in 2002 before getting his collegiate coaching start in 2003 under the New Hampshire Wildcats where he was the tight ends coach while working with then New Hampshire offensive coordinator Chip Kelly.

Currently, in his first year as the offensive coordinator for the Missouri Tigers, Moroe has emerged over the last several years as an offensive coordinator to know, also having great success with the Fresno State Bulldogs in 2022. Under his direction, the Tigers are averaging 32.8 points per game this season, up eight points from Missouri's 2022 mark of 24.8. Moore is making under one million both next year and in 2025.

For those wondering, yes, he is the brother of Los Angeles Chargers offensive coordinator and former Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore. The former Boise State Bronco could potentially be a candidate for the new opening in Boise as well.

--------------------------------------------------------------

• Follow us on Twitter!

• Like us on Facebook

• Follow us on Instagram

• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

•Talk about it inside The Lions Den Message Board

•Talk about it inside the FREE Penn State Message Board