Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1359487
M ike Yurcich is passionate about his work. You don't get to be the of- fensive coordinator at places like Oklahoma State, Ohio State and Texas without an intense desire for success and a detailed plan for achieving it. Now it's Penn State's turn to experience that intensity, which means, specifically, that it's Sean Clifford's turn. The Nittany Lions hired Yurcich in January, and he's been working this spring to install his of- fense and bring the three quarterbacks he inherited up to speed as quickly and effi- ciently as possible. His relationship with Clifford has understandably been the focal point of much off-season specula- tion. To hear the two-year starter tell it, Yurcich has been every bit as driven as players expected. "He's a fiery guy," Clifford said. "He makes you excited to come to work. He makes you just want to be there. He's re- ally like that every single day – the way he talks, the way he commands a room. He's not a thermometer, he's a thermostat. When he walks in, he changes the tem- perature of the room." If that assessment has a ring of famil- iarity, there's a reason: Clifford is a fiery guy, too. To the Nittany Lions' redshirt junior quarterback, Yurcich is a kindred spirit, a guy whose high-octane person- ality causes sparks to fly even when he and his players are in agreement. "We'll butt heads be- cause we're so similar," Clifford said. "You see it in the meetings. You can ask any of the other quarter- backs, too. I'll be talking because I want to express my point, and he'll want to talk, too. It goes both ways sometimes. "But I think it's a really good relation- ship so far. It's fun, and we're kind of learning that balance in the room. He wants us to enjoy ourselves. We've gone out to dinner and we've had a lot of expe- riences so far that are going to help our room. When we're casual, we're casual. But when we're working, we are working. That's how I am. I'm a fiery guy. I enjoy the passion that football brings, and I think that Coach Yurcich would say the same." Eager to improve on last year's 4-5 finish, the Nit- tany Lions are hoping that Yurcich and Clifford will turn out to be simpatico in ROLL WITH THE CHANGES In Yurcich, Cifford is playing for his fourth offensive coordinator in four years at PSU. Photo by Mark Selders/ Penn State Athletics MEETING OF THE MINDS Eager to bounce back from last year's up-and-down season, Sean Clifford has found himself seeing eye-to-eye with his new offensive coordinator | C O V E R S T O R Y