Less than 24 hours after Penn State lost to Michigan, James Franklin and the Nittany Lions fired offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, effective immediately.

Sunday was the first time in his 10 seasons at Penn State that Franklin made an in-season personnel change like that. This was uncharted territory for the coach and his program.

But it was something Franklin felt like he had to do given Penn State’s situation — sitting at 8-2 with Big Ten title and College Football Playoff hopes dashed after poor offensive performances against Ohio State and Michigan led to deflating defeats.

Franklin said Penn State’s inability to close the gap with Michigan and Ohio State, going 0-6 against those programs during Yurcich’s three years as OC, was “a big part” of the decision to dismiss him.

This year, Penn State managed only 27 points, converted 5 of 30 third-down attempts and averaged 3.8 yards per play in losses to Michigan and Ohio State.

“This was my decision,” Franklin said, when asked if this was his call or if athletic director Pat Kraft was involved in the process. “Obviously, I don’t do anything in a silo. I run things up the ladder and have conversations. But this was my decision.

“It’s something that we don’t take lightly. These are tough decisions that have to be made. They affect a lot of people. I want to be respectful of that. But I also have a responsibility to everybody in that locker room, everybody in the Lasch Building, fans, graduates, alumni, Lettermen.”

This was the third time Franklin has fired an offensive coordinator in his tenure. John Donovan and Kirk Ciarrocca were both let go after the 2015 and 2020 seasons, respectively.

“Very difficult from a personal perspective, professional perspective, and then in terms of the timing. For most people and most situations, if you’ve gotten to the point where you feel like that’s what you’re going to do, I’m not great at faking it, you know?” Franklin said. “I want to be as transparent and upfront as I can possibly be. So when you get to the point that you feel like that’s the right decision, then I think you make it. … You don’t delay the decision, as long as you feel like you have some internal options who can do it.”

Those internal options are running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider and tight ends coach Ty Howle, both of whom will share offensive coordinator duties for the remainder of the season.

Franklin said both Seider and Howle — who are “widely respected” by the players and coaches — will “have a role in play calling” with a normal amount of involvement on his end. Franklin added that, in terms of who makes the actual call: “We’re going to work that out throughout this week and on game day.”

Seider will remain on the field while Howle will stay in the booth, as was the case for the first 10 games.

Highly-touted analyst Danny O’Brien will step up coaching the quarterbacks, along with Franklin, in Yurcich’s absence. Franklin, a former offensive coordinator, will sit in on every quarterbacks meeting with O’Brien.

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