Kirk Ciarrocca (born August 12, 1965), is the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. He most recently served as the

at the University of Minnesota. Prior to that he spent a year as the offensive coordinator for Penn State University.

Early life

Ciarrocca, a native of York County, graduated from Red Land High School in

Lewisberry, Pennsylvania Lewisberry is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 380 at the 2020 census. Geography Lewisberry is located at (40.135300, -76.860504). According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total a ...

.Juliano, Jo
"Temple grad Kirk Ciarrocca named offensive coordinator at Penn State"
''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'', December 26, 2019, retrieved December 27, 2019.Flounders, Bo
"Penn State's new offensive coordinator: A closer look at Kirk Ciarrocca's background"
pennlive.com, December 26, 2019, retrieved December 27, 2019. After high school he attended

Juniata College Juniata College is a private liberal arts college in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1876 as a co-educational school, it was the first college started by members of the Church of the Brethren as a center for vocational learning for those wh ...

, where he played

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

for the Eagles football team before a knee injury ended his career. He continued his education at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

, where he earned both a bachelor's and master's degree in education.

Coaching career

Ciarrocca began his coaching career in 1990 as an offensive graduate assistant at his alma mater

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

. He spent the 1992 and 1993 seasons as the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach at Western Connecticut State and

Delaware Valley The Delaware Valley is a metropolitan region on the East Coast of the United States that comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation and 68th largest city in the world as of 2020. The toponym Delaware Val ...

respectively. He returned to Western Connecticut State as the

for the 1994 and 1995 seasons before spending six seasons in the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

. From 1996 to 1999 Ciarrocca served as the wide receiver coach and junior varsity head coach for the

Princeton Tigers The Princeton Tigers are the athletic teams of Princeton University. The school sponsors 35 varsity teams in 20 sports. The school has won several NCAA national championships, including one in men's fencing, three in women's lacrosse, six in ...

. The next two seasons Ciarrocca served as the wide receivers coach at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

Delaware

Ciarrocca spent six seasons as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the

Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens The Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens are the college athletics, athletic teams of the University of Delaware of Newark, Delaware, Newark, Delaware, in the United States. The Blue Hens compete in the Division I-AA#Football Championship Subdivision, Foo ...

and head coach

K. C. Keeler Kurt Charles Keeler (born July 26, 1959) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at Sam Houston State University, a position he had held since 2014. Previously, Keeler was the head coach at his alma mater, th ...

from 2002 to 2007. During his time at Delaware, the Blue Hens posted a record of 52-26, winning the 2003 Division I-AA National Championship. Ciarrocca mentored

Joe Flacco Joseph Vincent Flacco (born January 16, 1985) is an American football quarterback for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Delaware after transferring from Pittsburgh and was drafted by the Baltim ...

who was a first round selection in the

2008 NFL Draft The 2008 NFL Draft was the 73rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 26 and April 27, ...

. Flacco led the Blue Hens to an 11-4 record and the FCS title game.

Rutgers

In 2008, Ciarrocca was hired by the

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

and head coach

Greg Schiano Gregory Edward Schiano (born June 1, 1966) is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at Rutgers University, a position he held from 2001 to 2011 and resumed before the 2020 season. Schiano served as the head coach for the Tampa ...

as the Scarlet Knights wide receivers coach. During his time as wide receivers coach, Ciarrocca tutored

Kenny Britt Kenneth Lawrence Britt (born September 19, 1988) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at Rutgers and was drafted by the Tennessee Titans with the 30th overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. He has also played for ...

who was selected in the first round of the

2009 NFL Draft The 2009 NFL Draft was the seventy-fourth annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. T ...

and

Tiquan Underwood Tiquan Underwood (born February 17, 1987) is an American football coach and former wide receiver who is the wide receivers coach for the Pittsburgh Panthers. He played college football at Rutgers and was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in ...

who was selected in the seventh round of that same draft. Following the 2008 season, Ciarrocca was promoted to quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator for the Scarlet Knights, a title he would share with offensive line coach

Kyle Flood Kyle J. Flood (born January 20, 1971) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for the Texas Longhorns football team. He is also the former head football coach of the Ru ...

. This is a title that Ciarrocca would hold for two season before being fired. In

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, the Scarlet Knighs' offense ranked 114th out of 120 teams, and finished with a 4-8 record.

Richmond and Delaware

Ciarrocca spent the 2011 season coaching quarterbacks for the

Richmond Spiders The Richmond Spiders represent the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia. The Spiders compete in the Division I FCS of the National Collegiate Athletic Association as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference for most sports. The Spider na ...

and interim head coach Wayne Lineburg before rejoined the

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

staff and head coach K.C. Keeler as the teams running backs coach in 2012.

Western Michigan

In 2013, Ciarrocca joined the staff of the

Western Michigan Broncos The Western Michigan Broncos are a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I program representing Western Michigan University (WMU) in college athletics. They compete in the Mid-American Conference in men's baseball, basketball ...

and head coach

P. J. Fleck Philip John Fleck Jr. (born November 29, 1980) is an American football coach and former wide receiver. He has served as the head coach for the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team since 2017. Born in Sugar Grove, Illinois, Fleck played colle ...

as the team's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Fleck and Ciarrocca were on the same staff at Rutgers during the 2010 season. In 2015, Ciarrocca's offense featured a duo of receivers in

Daniel Braverman Daniel Braverman (born September 28, 1993) is an American football wide receiver and kick returner who is currently a free agent. He most recently played for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college footbal ...

and Corey Davis who each finished the season with more than 1,300 receiving yards.

Minnesota

In 2017, it was announced that Ciarrocca would be following head coach P.J. Fleck to

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

to be the team's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Penn State

On December 26, 2019, it was announced that Ciarrocca was hired by the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interco ...

and head coach James Franklin as the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach, a position left vacant by

Ricky Rahne Ricky Rahne (born July 19, 1980) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the head coach at Old Dominion University. He played college football at Cornell. Early life A native of Morrison, Colorado, Rahne attended Bear ...

. After one season, Ciarrocca was fired and replaced by

Mike Yurcich Mike Yurcich (born November 5, 1975) is an American football coach who currently serves as offensive coordinator at Penn State. He was the offensive coordinator at University of Texas Austin in 2020 prior to Penn State. He was the passing game co ...

Minnesota

On December 6, 2021, it was announced that Ciarrocca would return to

to be the team's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Rutgers

On January 7, 2023, Ciarrocca officially returned to

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

to be the team's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

References

External links

Delaware profile

Rutgers profile

Western Michigan profile

Minnesota profile

Penn State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ciarrocca, Kirk 1965 births Living people Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football coaches Delaware Valley Aggies football coaches Juniata Eagles football players Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches Penn State Nittany Lions football coaches Penn Quakers football coaches Princeton Tigers football coaches Richmond Spiders football coaches Rutgers Scarlet Knights football coaches Western Connecticut Wolves football coaches Western Michigan Broncos football coaches Temple University alumni