Joe Lorig


Joe Lorig, is an American football coach who is currently the special teams coordinator and defensive assistant for the Penn State Nittany Lions. Lorig played college football for the Western Oregon Wolves.

Early life

A native of Edmonds, Washington, Lorig was two-time All-Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges honoree, Lorig began his collegiate playing career at cornerback for Walla Walla Community College. Following those two seasons, Lorig moved on to Western Oregon, where he played two years and was a team captain his final season.
Lorig earned his bachelor's degree in law enforcement from Western Oregon in 1995 and his master's in correctional administration in 1997.

Coaching career

Lorig’s coaching career began at Western Oregon, where he helped guide his alma mater to the 1997 Columbia Football Association Championship and berth in the NAIA postseason.
Lorig would spend the next eight seasons filling a variety of roles for Idaho State and head coach Larry Lewis. During the 1999 season, Lorig served with wide receivers coach James Franklin.
Lorig served one year as linebackers coach at UTEP in 2007 before serving as the defensive coordinator at Central Washington from 2008-2011. During his time at Central Washington, the Wildcats posted a 34-12 overall record, won three Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships and earned two NCAA Division II Playoffs appearances. Lorig, whose defense routinely was among the top-10 nationally in total defense, was named the 2010 American Football Coaches Association Division II Assistant Coach of the Year. In 2009, Lorig was a finalist for FootballScoop.com’s Division II Coordinator of the Year.
Lorig spent two seasons at Arizona State in 2012-2013, where he served as the special teams coordinator and cornerbacks coach. He had two specialists earn national honors over the course of the two seasons as punter Josh Hubner collected All-America honors in 2012, while placekicker Zane Gonzalez was named a Freshman All-American the following year.
Lorig served on the Utah State Aggies’ staff under head coach Matt Wells for two seasons. In 2015, Lorig coached the safeties after directing the team’s linebackers the previous campaign in 2014. Lorig worked with the Aggies’ 2015 senior class that won 36 games during its playing career, the second-most wins by a four-year class in the program’s history.
Lorig spent three seasons at Memphis serving under head coach Mike Norvell as their special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach. During his time as the special teams coordinator, Memphis finished in the Top 5 in kickoff return average twice and in the top 20 in kickoff-return defense every year. Memphis ranked second in return defense in 2016. Under Lorig's coaching Tony Pollard tied an NCAA record with seven career kickoff returns for touchdowns. In 2016, Memphis returned three kickoffs for touchdowns, breaking a 21-year scoreless drought. In addition, Lorig's special teams units did not allow a kickoff or punt return for a touchdown during his time at Memphis.
On January 8, 2019, it was announced that Lorig would join Texas Tech and head coach Matt Wells as the special teams coordinator and defensive assistant.
February 21, 2019, Penn State hired Joe Lorig, from Texas Tech, as special teams coordinator and defensive assistant, replacing Phil Galiano.