Kirk Ciarrocca


Kirk Ciarrocca, is an American football coach who is currently the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Penn State.

Early life

Ciarrocca, a native of York County, graduated from Red Land High School in Lewisberry, Pennsylvania. After high school he attended Juniata College where he played defensive back for the Eagle's football team before a knee injury ended his career. He continued his education at Temple University, where he earned both a bachelors and masters degree of education.

Coaching career

Ciarrocca began his coaching career in 1990 as an offensive graduate assistant at his alma mater Temple. He spent the 1992 and 1993 seasons as the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach at Western Connecticut State and Delaware Valley respectively. He returned to Western Connecticut State as the offensive coordinator for the 1994 and 1995 seasons before spending six seasons in the Ivy League.
From 1996 to 1999 Ciarrocca served as the wide receiver coach and junior varsity head coach for the Princeton Tigers. The next two seasons Ciarrocca served as the wide receivers coach at the University of Pennsylvania. While at Penn, he helped the Quakers post a record of 7-3 in 2000 and 8-1 in 2001. The Quakers were Ivy League Champions in 2000 and league runner-up in 2001. Penn ranked No. 1 in NCAA FCS in team passing and fourth in total offense in 2000.
Ciarrocca spent six seasons as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens and head coach K. C. Keeler from 2002 to 2007. During his time at Delaware, the Blue Hens posted a record of 52-26, winning the 2003 Division I-AA National Championship, and captured consecutive Atlantic 10 Conference titles in 2003 and 2004. Ciarrocca mentored Joe Flacco who was a first round selection in the 2008 NFL Draft. Flacco threw for over 4,000 yards in 2007 while leading the Blue Hens to an 11-4 record and the FCS title game.
In 2008, Ciarrocca was hired by the Rutgers University and head coach Greg Schiano as the Scarlet Knights wide receivers coach. During his time as wide receivers coach, Ciarrocca tutored Kenny Britt who was selected in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft and Tiquan Underwood who was selected in the seventh round of that same draft. Following the 2008 season, Ciarrocca was promoted to quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator for the Scarlet Knights, a title he would share with offensive line coach Kyle Flood. This is a title that Ciarrocca would hold for two season before being fired. In 2010, the Scarlet Knighs' offense ranked 114th out of 120 teams, and finished with a 4-8 record.
Ciarrocca spent the 2011 season coaching quarterbacks for the Richmond Spiders and interim head coach Wayne Lineburg before rejoined the Delaware staff and head coach K.C. Keeler as the teams running backs coach in 2012.
In 2013, Ciarrocca joined the staff of the Western Michigan Broncos and head coach P. J. Fleck as the teams offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Fleck and Ciarrocca were on the same staff at Rutgers during the 2010 season. In 2015, Ciarrocca's offense featured a duo of receivers in Daniel Braverman and Corey Davis who each finished the season with more than 1,300 receiving yards.
In 2017, it was announced that Ciarrocca would be following head coach P.J. Fleck to Minnesota to be the teams offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. During the 2019 season, Ciarrocca's offense touted a pair of 1,000-yard wide receivers in All-American and Big Ten Receiver of the Year Rashod Bateman and All-Big Ten first team honoree Tyler Johnson.
On December 26, 2019, it was announced that Ciarrocca was hired by the Penn State Nittany Lions and head coach James Franklin as the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach, a position left vacant by Ricky Rahne.