Texas Football: Mike Yurcich expected to become Longhorns next offensive coordinator
The short search for the next offensive coordinator for the Texas football program could be over if Mike Yurcich is officially named soon.
A coaching search that had a lot of reported candidates considered for the offensive coordinator job opening for the Texas football program may be coming to and end soon. Texas reportedly considered two candidates within about the last week to fill the offensive coordinator void. That list included the Minnesota Golden Gophers offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca and Ohio State Buckeyes passing game coordinator Mike Yurcich.
Head coach Tom Herman and the Texas Longhorns football program seemingly whiffed on their attempts to hire away either the LSU Tigers passing game coordinator Joe Brady or USC Trojans offensive coordinator Graham Harrell. That led to the consideration of Ciarrocca and Yurcich replace the void left by the demoted now quarterbacks coach Tim Beck.
On Dec. 26, it was reported that the head coach James Franklin and the Penn State Nittany Lions were to hire away the Minnesota OC Ciarrocca. Head coach P.J. Fleck saw a rising star develop before his eyes with both the Golden Gophers and the Western Michigan Broncos with Ciarrocca on his coaching staff.
However, a candidate that wasn’t hired away in the meantime or retained by his existing program was Yurcich. It seemed like the main factor that kept most of the traction between Herman and Yurcich quiet was the lead up to the College Football Playoff Semifinals game between Ohio State and the Clemson Tigers.
Ohio State passing game coordinator Mike Yurcich, the top candidate for Texas OC job, expected to be named Horns’ OC next week, sources told @Stadium. At Thursday’s @Fiesta_Bowl availability, Yurcich wouldn’t comment on Texas & told me his “focus is 100 percent on Clemson.”
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 26, 2019
Brett McMurphy of Stadium was one of the first on the reporting of Yurcich becoming the top candidate for the Texas offensive coordinator opening earlier this month. He Tweeted on Dec. 26 that Yurcich is soon expected to be named the official next Texas offensive coordinator.
For the time being, it appears that Yurcich is focused on prepare the Ohio State offense for the Playoff showdown against Clemson. He didn’t comment on the Texas job during media availability this week, but he didn’t deny interest in coming to Austin outright either.
Ohio State, the three-seed, is set to take on two-seeded Clemson in a Playoff matchup on Dec. 28. That is three days before the Longhorns will take to the field at the Alamodome in San Antonio to take on the No. 11 ranked 11-2 (8-2 PAC-12) Utah Utes.
If Ohio State falls short against Clemson this coming weekend, then it could be soon after that Yurcich is announced as the Texas offensive coordinator. The official news might take a while, though, if Ohio State winds up beating Clemson and makes it into the national title game.
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All of the FBS coaching experience that Yurcich has came with the OSU’s. He started his Power Five coaching path under head coach Mike Gundy, with the Oklahoma State Cowboys, prior to the start of the 2013 season. He then joined the staff first-year head coach Ryan Day with Ohio State prior to the 2019 season.
Yurcich would be the second offensive coordinator for the Longhorns since Herman took over prior to the 2017 season.