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Ciarrocca's hiring followed Rahne's decision to accept the head coaching post at Old Dominion after two seasons as offensive coordinator at Penn State. Rahne had built his offense on the tem- plate that Joe Moorhead had established during the 2016 and '17 seasons, and Ciarrocca (pronounced shuh-ROCK-uh) is expected to take the same approach. Indeed, Franklin said that one of Penn State's priorities when it began its search was to find someone who could blend his system with the one that the team already had in place. "We wanted to get a proven play- caller, a guy who's got a history of calling plays but also somebody with a similar [system], so that there would be some carryover," Franklin said. "It's a fine line, because you go out and you hire some- one because they've been successful doing what they do, but you also [want them to have] the humility to say, 'Look, Penn State is returning a bunch of starters. … So what can we keep the same from a verbiage and terminology standpoint? What are the things that I have conviction about that I need [in order] to be comfortable calling the of- fense? What's the blend? What can stay the same with what Penn State has been doing? What have I been doing that I have conviction about, specifically at Minnesota? And how can we take the best of both of those worlds and blend them together so that it's going to be in everyone's best interest?' "I also believe strongly in hiring people who want to be here," Franklin added, "and Kirk really wanted to be here. He's from Pennsylvania, grew up watching and supporting Penn State, and I think that's important. He's fired up about being here. His wife is fired up about coming back to Pennsylvania." A native of Lewisberry, Pa., a former defensive back at Juniata and a 1990 Temple graduate, Ciarrocca said the chance to return to his home state was "the cherry on top of the sundae." But his decision to leave a rising Minnesota program for Penn State ultimately came down to the university's ability to meet his two primary criteria. "One was that I needed to work for a head coach that I respected and that I knew was giving me an opportunity to grow as a coach," Ciarrocca told Go- PSUSports.com. "I've known James for a long time, watched him rise through the ranks, watched him climb the ranks from a great receivers coach to a coordinator to a head coach, and I've followed his S I T E L I N E S B W I . R I V A L S . C O M R E A D E R S W E I G H I N O N P E N N S T A T E ' S C O A C H I N G C H A N G E S I like a tough, physical, running game, something Kirk Ciarrocca is a big pro- ponent of. Joe Mo could never master third-and-short, a big reason why we lost critical games. Rahne was able to improve it, but Ciarrocca will ratchet it up a notch. Loved what Minny did to Auburn. Can imagine Penn State doing it in the playoffs one day. Mudge1026 Ciarrocca had some pretty great wide receivers and running backs at Min- nesota. Isn't part of the recipe buying great ingredients? ptomaselli Trautwein's youth is an asset, or at least it should be, with recruiting. Fair or not, 16- and 17-year-old kids are more likely to relate well to a 33-year- old than to a 55-year-old. That's not true 100 percent of the time, but in my opinion, it is true most of the time. In the case of Trautwein, when he can also tell the recruits that he won two na- tional championships, played for Urban Meyer and had a four-year NFL career, that resume will get him in the door of just about every OL recruit in the coun- try. I think it's a given that every coach at this level is a good teacher who knows the game, so I stipulate that is always present in every coach unless we hear otherwise. And further, I place coordi- nators in a separate category, as they need to put together an entire offense/defense and this most likely re- quires a higher degree of experience. I have evolved to the belief that every time there is a vacancy on the staff, the first question that should be asked of every candidate should be, can he re- cruit? If the answer is "no" or "I'm not sure," I wouldn't hire him. Ceasar In looking at Boston College's recruit- ing, Trautwein was their No. 1 recruiter this past cycle, landing two of the three four-star players in the 2019 class, both tall, rangy offensive tackle prospects. With him selling the Penn State brand, hopefully that type of success will only be enhanced. Certainly, the 2021 class has the right prospects in the region to make it a huge haul of top-flight tack- les. gopsu93 He is young, but he's been exposed to many coaching styles and offensive line schemes. He gets to bring the best parts from all he has seen. I would think of him as being more seasoned than his age would suggest. He has been teammates with a whole lot of pro players. His wide range of connections and places he has been can help him as a recruiter in many, many ways. He also prepped for Virginia Tech, which we play next year on the road. On that note, our OC prepped for Northwestern and Nebraska last year, whom we face next season. He is also not starting from scratch when we see Iowa, Rutgers and Maryland. I am really ex- cited about the possibilities of both of these hires. jyatybb Ciarrocca will have to be adaptable to have any sort of impact here. The best weapons here are the tight end and a deep stable of running backs. Take ad- vantage of them. We don't have any proven wide receivers to play that Air Raid-style offense. Dotson is nice but not like what Ciarrocca had in Min- nesota. All others are unproven as of now. That is by no means meant as nega- tive in any way. If you mold that offen- sive line into something special, you would be surprised how much easier everything else becomes. I do love Ciar- rocca's pedigree, though. RTLH

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