Jon McLaughlin, who has coached Penn's offensive line for the past three seasons, has been promoted to offensive coordinator, several sources with knowledge of the football program said. Head coach Al Bagnoli announced the promotion at the team's annual banquet Friday.
An athletic department spokesman confirmed yesterday that the position had been offered to an internal candidate. Neither he nor other Penn coaches could comment further because the official paperwork is still incomplete.
Barring an unforeseen twist, McLaughlin will become the team's fourth offensive coordinator since the 2005 campaign. Andy Coen, who had guided the Penn offense ably for six years, left after that season to take over Lehigh's program. His successor, former Franklin and Marshall head coach Shawn Halloran, was fired after just a year. Bagnoli then turned to Bill Schmitz, who was then the wide recievers and tight ends coach at Alabama-Birmingham.
In two years under Schmitz, Penn averaged a respectable 19 points per game despite lacking a steady presence at quarterback. But 11 weeks ago, he too got the axe.
Penn's offensive line has performed well under McLaughlin. It allowed the second-fewest sacks (12) for the second-fewest lost yards (88) in the Ivy League last season, and it surrendered nine sacks in 2007 and 10 in 2006, with three linemen earning All-Ivy honors that year.
Penn has also hired a new tight ends coach, the athletic department spokesman said in an e-mail, as Schmitz coached the tight ends in his two years at Penn. That person's identity could not be confirmed yesterday, but he is an alumnus of the Quakers program, the spokesman said.
McLaughlin came to Penn after six years at Big Ten member Iowa, where he served first as a graduate assistant coach and then as a quality control assistant. Previously, he ran the offense of Division III Muhlenberg for three years, during which he also spent a year as the school's baseball coach.
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