Source: P.J. Fleck to hire Western Michigan's Kirk Ciarrocca as Gophers Off Cord

Donate To GopherHole
gophersfan

gophersfan

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 12, 2008
Messages
4,809
Reaction score
464
Points
83
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 


Awesome!!! We need the offensive continuity and the Row The Boat continuity. Mindset or culture needs more than PJ's voice.
 

Part of me wonders if he came cheap enough that it allowed them to splurge a little bit to get Warinner in here.
 

From his WMU bio:

Kirk Ciarrocca (shuh-ROCK-uh) was officially named offensive coordinator of the Western Michigan football program on January 7, 2013.

Ciarrocca, a graduate of Temple University, brings over 20 years of coaching experience to Western Michigan. He was instrumental in the development of Joe Flacco during his six previous seasons at the University of Delaware and was a member of the 2003 National Championship staff. Ciarrocca's Blue Hen 2007 offense ranked in the top 10 nationally in in scoring, total offense, passing offense, third down conversion and red-zone scoring. He had a pair of quarterbacks drafted into the NFL during his first stint with the Blue Hens.

Ciarrocca's coaching career began at his alma mater where he assisted the offensive staff and served as the on-campus recruiting coordinator from 1990-91. He stayed on the East Coast, working with Western Connecticut State as the passing game coordinator in 1992, at Delaware Valley College, also as the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks/receivers coach in 1993. He returned to Western Connecticut as the offensive coordinator for two seasons before heading to coach in the Ivy League for seven seasons. He first coached the wide receivers at Princeton from 1996-99 and then did the same at the University of Pennsylvania from 2000-02 were the Quakers boasted the top ranked passing offense and claimed the 2000 Ivy League championship.

Ciarrocca worked with Fleck during his time at Rutgers when he was the co-offensive coordinator from 2009-10 also coaching the quarterbacks. He most recently served as the QB coach at Richmond in 2011 before returning to Delaware to coach running backs last season.
 


Gophers lead western conference of the Big Ten in scoring in 2016.

How will they do in 2017?
 

Here's a good article that details the Fleck/Ciarrocca relationship a bit.

Even back in their Rutgers days, Ciarrocca became a quick believer in Fleck's vision.

"He was showing me his book that he was working on about being a head coach," Ciarrocca remembered. "I'm like, 'This guy is 27 years old. He just got here, he's coaching wide receivers. This is incredible.' But after about two or three weeks of watching him, you realize that, 'No, no, this is for real. This guy is special and he's different and not afraid to be different.'

"The biggest thing about him that amazes you on a daily basis is just his vision for things, the ability to look at things and turn them into a positive and then to be able to paint a vision for where he wants the program to go and what we want to accomplish is amazing. All you've got to do is come into our football facility and look at our building and look at the old pictures of what it looked like and what it looks like now. It was mostly him who followed these things and how he wanted to do it in our building."

http://www.mlive.com/broncos/index.ssf/2016/12/western_michigan_offensive_coo.html
 

Per the WMU threads, looks like this is the Offensive Coaches: (from 45North guy) speculation
-- Kirk Ciarocca = OC (was WMU's OC)
-- Ed Warinner = OL (was OSU's OC)
-- Brian Callahan = TE (was WMU's OL)
-- Matt Simon = WR (was WMU's WR)
-- Rob Wenger = Special Teams (also from WMU)
-- Dan Nichol = Strength and Conditioning (again, from WMU)
add Gerrit Chernoff as Player Personnel
add Robb Smith Defensive Coordinator
 





Good hire. I'd also like to see the WR coach come with.
 









Glad to see this. One thing that made 2007 so painful was we spent a year trying to jam a square peg in a round hole on offense. This is not 180 degrees and they actually are set in what they want to do, unlike Brew.
 

msacch14 said:
He was an assistant coach at University of St Thomas.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Simon, who spent two seasons at Rutgers, is rejoined with WMU head coach P.J. Fleck, who was the Edina, Minn., native's position coach at Northern Illinois.

Simon, worked as an assistant coach at the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) for the 2011 season and focused on tight ends and all four special teams units. Simon performed breakdown of opponent film, also coordinating film responsibilities and data entry. He recruited the state of Florida (Dade, Broward, Lee and Collier counties).

Born in Edina
Hometown of Farmington
http://niuhuskies.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=2790
 


<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 


With his hires, I see no problem hitting 8 wins, 9 with a bowl win. Even if the defense drops off a bit, the offense will be better.
 

Kirk Ciarrocca is Flecks choice for Offensive Coordinator

P.J. Fleck plans to stick with what has worked for him on offense. The new Gophers football coach will bring Western Michigan's Kirk Ciarrocca with him to Minnesota as the team's next offensive coordinator, a source told the Star Tribune.

Ciarrocca, 51, spent the past four years as Fleck's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Western Michigan. The Broncos ranked ninth in the nation in scoring offense this past season, averaging 41.6 points per game.

http://www.startribune.com/p-j-flec...a-as-gophers-offensive-coordinator/410323325/
 

Does anybody know what his offensive scheme is like?
 



How in the......Kirk Ciarrocca*(shuh-ROCK-uh) Someone e help me with this pronunciation... ?
 

Sparlimb said:
Zone read from the shotgun is what I saw against Wisconsin...
Click to expand...

Full games (unless noted):

vs. Bucky Cotton Bowl, L 24-16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mladhVHo5_I

vs. Ohio MAC Championship, Dec 2, W 29-23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHHbpb95twA

vs. Toledo Nov 25, W 55-35
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMOmFMkb4is

vs. Buffalo Bulls Nov 19, W 38-0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osHLwBb5cGA

vs. Kent State Nov 8, W 37-28
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywFoqvl9V30

vs. Ball State Nov 1, W 52-20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1RGgxn74cg

vs. Eastern Michigan Oct 22, W 45-31
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTf2QahU72Y

vs. Akron Oct 15, W 41-0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5yRoM9JZVE

vs. Northern Illinois Oct 8, W 45-30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNWxa_nzmsU

vs. Central Michigan Oct 1, W 49-10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8Te8Rzqtho

vs. Georgia Southern Sept 24, W 49-31
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PMrhABbGqY

vs. IllinoisSept 17, W 34-10
Only BTN highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gVYZECxTz0

vs. North Carolina Central Sept 3, W 70-21
Can't find...

vs. Northwestern Sept 3, W 22-21 (Only highlights)
Only BTN highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpYulpfaavo
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom