STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The search for Penn State’s next offensive coordinator is underway after James Franklin parted ways with Mike Yurcich on Sunday. Because of that, nobody is asking questions or thinking about Rutgers this week.

I could probably fill 10 mailbags with all of the questions readers submitted, so we’re going to focus this mailbag on the offensive coordinator search and the questions surrounding the offense. I’ll dive into non-OC questions shortly.

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Questions have been lightly edited.

Who do you think Franklin will target as his next OC? Who do you think he should target? — Tyler S. 

I’ll start by saying coordinator searches are pretty much impossible to pin down at this early stage because it could seriously be just about anyone. As Franklin even mentioned on Monday at his news conference, he will keep this search close to the vest, which is the status quo around here.

Interim co-offensive coordinators Ja’Juan Seider and Ty Howle will have the rest of this season to state their case for the job, too. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Franklin promotes one of them, even if it seems likely it’ll be an outside hire.

GO DEEPER

Why did Penn State fire Mike Yurcich? James Franklin explains OC change

Here’s a list I’ve come up with the help of some of my colleagues here at The Athletic. And no, we’re not going to just limit this to people with Penn State ties. That’s rarely how these things work. So, I’ve broken my list into three categories: Ones that make the most sense to me, ones that I could maybe see happening and the long shots. The first two names on this list would be the two folks I’d call first and in this order.

Ones that make the most sense to me:

Tim Cramsey, OC, Memphis: Cramsey is in his second season at Memphis, which ranks ninth in scoring and is an AAC title contender with an 8-2 record. Last year, Memphis finished 22nd. Prior to Memphis, he was the OC and quarterbacks coach at Marshall. This means Franklin should have a great idea of what Cramsey is like to work with and game plan with given that Charles Huff, one of Franklin’s longtime assistants, retained Cramsey when Huff was hired at Marshall. Cramsey is also a Pennsylvania native, hailing from Allentown. He got his start in coaching in the high school ranks in 2001 as an assistant at Allentown Central Catholic. He has also coached at New Hampshire (his alma mater), Florida International, Montana State, Nevada and Sam Houston State before taking the Marshall job in 2018. To me, the 48-year-old seems to check a lot of boxes, perhaps the most of any person on this list.

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Sean Lewis, OC/QBs, Colorado: Lewis, formerly the head coach at Kent State, was stripped of his play-calling duties earlier this month. Before arriving in Boulder to join Deion Sanders’ staff, the 37-year-old help rebuild a Kent State program that was floundering. Lewis took over the Golden Flashes in 2018 when he was just 31 years old. (Yes, he was previously Penn State WR Dante Cephas’ head coach.) He went 24-31 in five seasons and made two of the four bowl appearances in program history. They finished 13th in yards per play in 2021. Prior to Kent State, he was the co-offensive coordinator at Syracuse with Dino Babers. Lewis played at Wisconsin, giving him some Big Ten ties.

Mike Denbrock, OC, LSU: Would he be willing to walk away from Brian Kelly, his longtime boss? Denbrock is orchestrating an LSU offense that’s first in the country in yards per play. He was with Kelly at Grand Valley State and Notre Dame before branching out as OC at Cincinnati under Luke Fickell. Perhaps the man coaching Heisman candidate Jayden Daniels doesn’t want to go elsewhere. But it’s absolutely worth making that call.

Joe Moorhead, HC, Akron: Moorhead left Penn State after the 2017 season beloved by Penn State fans. The offense was exciting, explosive and productive. He spent two years as head coach at Mississippi State and then was the OC at Oregon before taking on a rebuilding project at Akron. Does he regret it? If his move to Akron was made for balance to be able to spend more time around his family, I’m not sure returning to Penn State would align. Still, it’s a call worth making, for sure.

The maybes:

Kevin Barbay, OC/QBs, Mississippi State: With Zach Arnett out in Starkville, the future is unclear for the 40-year-old old from Texas. Barbay was the offensive coordinator at Stephen F. Austin, Central Michigan and Appalachian State before heading to Mississippi State last offseason. App State was 23rd in scoring under Barbay, though the Bulldogs are just 108th this year after transitioning from Mike Leach’s offense.

Tyler Bowen, OC/QBs, Virginia Tech: Franklin always spoke highly of Bowen when he worked at Penn State in various roles, including the offensive recruiting coordinator, tight ends coach and co-offensive coordinator (in 2020). Bowen called plays in the 2019 Cotton Bowl while Kirk Ciarrocca, who had just been hired, evaluated the roster. Bowen then left to join Urban Meyer’s Jacksonville Jaguars staff before teaming with Brent Pry in Blacksburg in 2022. He’s was a strong recruiter here, but the Hokies are 76th in scoring after finishing 119th last year.

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Brennan Marion, OC, UNLV: Viewed as a rising star in the industry, the 36-year-old is in his first season with the Rebels. He was previously the passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach at Texas and All-American wide receiver Jordan Addison’s coach at Pitt. He also coached receivers at Hawaii and was the offensive coordinator at William & Mary and Howard. I’m not sure if Franklin is ready for the Go-Go offense (think up-tempo) or to hire such a young offensive coordinator, but Marion, who played high school football in Greensburg, Pa., seems like someone who should be on Franklin’s list.

The long shots:

Joe Brady, interim OC/QBs, Buffalo Bills: Everyone seems to like the former Penn State graduate assistant angle. Brady was here from 2015-2016 before leaving to become an offensive assistant with the New Orleans Saints. He then rose to stardom as LSU’s passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach with that prolific offense that won the national title in 2019. Brady left for the NFL and hasn’t returned to the collegiate ranks since. Had he stayed in college ball after his LSU tenure, I’d be more inclined to put him as a “maybe.” But even after he didn’t last long working for Matt Rhule with the Carolina Panthers, he’s remained in the NFL — now with a golden opportunity again as an offensive coordinator working with Josh Allen.

Ken Dorsey, former Bills OC: This one is the most unlikely option. The former star Miami quarterback’s background is largely in the NFL, and though he’s searching for employment, keep in mind the job responsibilities are vastly different at the professional and collegiate levels. Not everyone wants to recruit and deal with the all-encompassing job that is college football. Dorsey didn’t have to worry about whether or not Allen was going to class and attending study hall. He also didn’t have to scour the country for the next Allen.

GO DEEPER

Snyder: James Franklin needs to look in mirror before making next OC hire

Franklin has always said he is very involved in the offense, especially when things aren’t going well. When he said Monday that “we” had plans for certain situations and they weren’t followed, does that mean Yurcich didn’t do exactly what Franklin (singular) wanted? — Mike W.

I thought that was one of the most telling moments of the Monday news conference. Franklin was asked if they knew they needed to call more plays to get Drew Allar into a rhythm, why didn’t he ask Yurcich to do that?

“I think you have heard me come in and talk, whether it’s openers, third down, starting fast, all these things are things that we’ve had lengthy discussions about and had a plan for, but a lot of the times when we got to the games, either we did not call the games that way or we did not execute the games the way we intended them to,” Franklin said. “Yeah, those things were asked for.”

The head coach certainly made it sound like the coordinator wasn’t listening and doing what was asked of him on game days. That last sentence seems pretty transparent to me.

Was Yurcich really going rogue with his play calls or is it convenient to say that now that he’s been fired? I don’t know. Of course, we’re not privy to what’s said on the headset and what’s discussed in meetings. But Franklin’s comments paint a picture of a coordinator who wasn’t aligned with what he wanted.

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The other part I found interesting was when Franklin outlined the timing. He hasn’t fired someone during the season here before. But Franklin said when he knew it was time, he wasn’t going to delay the decision any longer. So, clearly by the end of the Michigan game and Sunday morning, the head coach had seen enough.

How much of the ineffectiveness of the offense is on Coach Franklin, from formations, play design, play calls and execution? Or have the OCs had free reign, and it’s all on them? — Brian G. 

It’s impossible to know for sure just because there’s idea spread with every coaching staff, but what I do know is what I wrote about earlier this week. When Yurcich was asked last month about why his offense here didn’t look like the one he ran at Oklahoma State, he pointed to this being a collaborative process and how they’re always trying to tailor the offense to their personnel. He didn’t sound bitter or angry about it, but just rather this is a place where many people are working together.

When you pair that with what Franklin said after the Iowa game about getting on the headset reminding Yurcich to stay patient and to go back to plays that were working, there have been some telling details made public. It made it sound like the head coach knew he needed to stay on top of the coordinator he hired. Gentle reminders are one thing, but based on what Franklin said Monday, I genuinely wonder how much or how little Yurcich listened to what was being asked of him. And was it like this in the previous two seasons or just this year?

How do you expect the offense will change post-Mike Yurcich? — Paul A. 

I’m curious what the intensity will be like Wednesday night during the weekly media viewing window at practice. Yurcich was not shy about getting after players. To me, he just always seemed like he was ready to boil over and erupt at players. Again, that’s just my read on it and some people respond differently to that.

Ja’Juan Seider and Ty Howle have tremendous respect from the players in their position groups, and I expect they’ll lead in a different way. The two seem to work well together — and they better, because Franklin said both will have a role in play-calling. Penn State is working through exactly what that looks like this week.

At this point in the season, I don’t expect there will be any drastic changes with the offense. There’s just not enough time to do so. That’s the problem for the next hire. If anything, maybe we’ve seen the final time a wide receiver attempts a pass this season?

(Top photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)