Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1276571
BWI When you were introduced as Penn State's new offensive coordinator, you described having core philosophies to your system. What are those? CIARROCCA This is one of my favorite things to talk about. Our philosophy is built around three core principles. Number one, we're going to value the ball. Number two, we're going to exe- cute. We're going to do what we do bet- ter than you can do what you do. Number three is kind of that intangible category, but really what I'm talking about is that we want to play harder than our opponent. We want to strike first and we want to be relentless with it. Those are the three major core values that we have. When you talk about valuing the ball, we're talking about the turnover margin. It definitely correlates to winning per- centage. You win the turnover battle, you increase your chances of winning the football game. Period. Execution, we talked about how we've got to do what we do better than they can do what they do. That's one of the things I'm always talking to the offensive unit about lead- ing up to the game. It's not that compli- cated. It's a game of football. But within that execution, we talk about alignment, assignment, technique. And then to exe- cute a task, you have to do it. You have to do your job. So what gives you the best chance to do it? It's your details, your technique, fundamentals, whatever you want to call it. That gives you the best chance to do your job. So if execution is critical, that gives our players a chance to buy into these fundamentals, these things that can become boring, maybe. I think a lineman is the best way to think about the details and the funda- mentals. You're doing these footwork drills. You do them every day, right? Well, these things are incredibly impor- tant, these footwork drills, the precision that you need to have. If it's a six-inch step, it needs to be a six-inch step. If you know it needs to be on the bottom of the outside number, it needs to be on the bottom of the outside number. Your hand placement is critical. So we're doing these drills, and when the players understand that execution is everything, it allows them to concentrate and focus a little bit more on these types of drills. It's about correct repetitions. Because these correct repetitions are how you build habits and instincts. It doesn't do you any good to do six reps perfectly and then do four reps that aren't right. You've got to do all 10 reps perfectly be- cause you're trying to build these habits and instincts so that under the pressure of the situation, you can't help but do it correctly. So if you believe in that execu- tion, you can't have too many plays. Be- cause if that's what you want from an execution standpoint, if you want these details and fundamentals, then there has to be a reasonable expectation that they can do it. So we're going to make sure that it's a reasonable expectation with what we're doing. That's why I believe in keeping it simple on the surface for our players. BWI When we spoke to new offensive line coach Phil Trautwein, it brought into focus the gravity of not being able to coach players in-person this spring. Every second of a rep is coached at this level. CIARROCCA Absolutely. That's the exe- cution that we're talking about. He teaches these fundamentals. When somebody watches us play, I want them to say, this is clearly an offense that val- ues the football, that has tremendous details, their execution is second to none, and they play really hard. They're relentless out there. If someone says that when they watch us on film or when they see us play, that makes me smile. Because if you take those three core ten- ants, with nothing else, what do you have? Well, you've got a well-coached football team that tries hard. But if you combine that with talented players, combine those three core tenets with talented players, now you have a cham- pionship formula. That's what we try to get across to the players. If we can do these things – if we can value the ball, if we can execute, and if we can always be attacking in a relent- less manner with talented players – we've got a chance. We have a legitimate chance. We're giving ourselves the best chance to win the football game. At the end of the day, it's what we want to do. Part of the philosophy is that within those three tenets, I can branch out into a lot of different areas. Take always attacking in a relentless manner. Well, I want to be physical. If you're doing that, you're physical. We want to be a physical offense. We also want to be an offense that creates explo- sive plays. Well, where do they come from? You hit a post for a touchdown. It's not just the guy who ran the post and made the throw. That play happened through execution. There was another receiver who helped pull the safety down. There were guys blocking up front who gave the quarterback enough time. There's a backside route that pulled the backside safety out of the middle of the field to isolate that corner on that. So execution, it comes from 11 guys playing together and everybody doing their job, play after play after play. And in the course of time, these explo- sive plays happen. Explosive plays also come from playing in a relentless manner, always attacking. How many times have you seen a run- ning back get tackled for a 10-yard gain when he got through the first two levels? You rewind the play and you say, if the receiver just would have made that block on that corner, it could have been a 60- yard run. That's where that [focus on] always attacking in a relentless manner can come into play. Or maybe you hit a slant and the guy went for 60 yards and you rewind the play and you notice that the quarterback got hit a split-second after he threw the ball. And if you rewind it from the beginning, you notice that the offensive tackle made an extra effort at the end. He was beaten, but he pushed that defensive end's hip, and that allowed the quarterback that split- second to throw the ball accurately. These explosive plays, which are a core tenet of what we believe in, how do they happen? Well, they come through exe-