Penn State hires Fordham head coach Joe Moorhead as OC
Penn State has ound its new offensive coordinator.
The Nittany Lions announced Saturday that they have hired Fordham head coach Joe Moorhead to run their offense. Moorhead will replace John Donovan, who was fired on Nov. 29 – the day after PSU dropped its season finale at Michigan State.
“We are very excited to have Joe join our Penn State Football family,” head coach James Franklin said in a statement. “He has distinguished himself as a head coach who made a dramatic impact at Fordham University. His approach and vision offensively is very similar to ours: hard-nosed, blue collar and explosive.
"We completed an exhaustive search of many candidates and his name kept rising to the top. Many factors led to this decision. Joe’s makeup as a person and leader is outstanding. He is originally from Pittsburgh and has strong relationships throughout Pennsylvania and the region. He brings invaluable perspective to our staff as a former head coach. Most importantly his offensive production as a coordinator and head coach speaks for itself.”
Moorhead has been the head coach at Fordham, his alma mater, for the past four seasons. He inherited a team that went 1-10 in 2011 and helped it improve to 6-5 in 2012. Since then, the Rams have gone 32-8 over the past three seasons – 12-2 in 2013, 11-3 in 2014 and 9-3 this year.
The Rams averaged more than 450 yards and 36 points per game in each of the last three seasons.
“I am incredibly excited to join the Penn State Football family,” Moorhead said. “My family and I are thrilled to be coming home. It is an unbelievable opportunity to help contribute to a program with a rich tradition and promising future. I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and getting to work.”
Before his time at Fordham, Moorhead, a native of Pittsburgh, had stints as an assistant at Georgetown, Akron and Connecticut, where he was the offensive coordinator in 2009 and 2010.
With Donovan running the Penn State offense, the Nittany Lions were 82nd in the country in passing, 106th in rushing, 108th in total offense and 101st in points per game (23.7) in 2015.
The Nittany Lions are 7-5 headed into a matchup with Georgia in the Taxslayer Bowl on Jan. 2 in Jacksonville, Florida.
For more Penn State news, visit BlueWhiteIllustrated.com.
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