Youngstown native Michael Zordich joined the YSU football staff in January of 2025.
Zordich, who was an All-American at Penn State in the early 1980s and played in the NFL for 12 seasons, returned to Youngstown State after spending the past 10 years at the FBS level. He was the defensive backs coach at Central Michigan (2021-24) after serving six years (2015-20) as the defensive backs coach at Michigan.
He was originally a member of YSU's coaching staffs in the spring of 2009 and 2014.
In 2024, safety Donte Kent was a second-team All-MAC honoree earning league laurels for the fourth consecutive seasons. In 2023, Kent earned Second Team All-MAC honors. The 2022 season saw Kent earn first-team All-MAC honors after he concluded the year ranked ninth nationally and second in the MAC in pass defended with 15 (1.4 per game). In 2021, Zordich mentored a veteran defensive backfield group that included All-MAC second team safety Devonni Reed, along with Kent, who was selected to the Football Writers Association of America Freshman All-America team. Zordich's secondary played a key role in a Chippewa defense that ranked third overall in the MAC as CMU finished 9-4 and capped the season with a victory in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.
Zordich was an integral part of a Michigan defense that twice (2016-17) ranked No. 1 nationally against the pass. The Wolverines ranked No. 2 nationally against the pass in 2018 and third in 2015. He coached three cornerbacks to All-America honors while at Michigan and a Wolverine cornerback was named a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award on three different occasions.
He played safety in the NFL from 1987-98 for three different franchises: New York Jets (1987-88), Arizona Cardinals (1989-93), and the Philadelphia Eagles (1994-98). He was drafted in the ninth round by the San Diego Chargers in the 1986 NFL Draft. Over his NFL career, Zordich started 127 games out of 185 career contests, made 588 tackles, intercepted 20 passes (three touchdowns on interception returns) and totaled six sacks, six forced fumbles, and 11 fumble recoveries. He made a career-best 87 tackles in 1991 with Arizona and totaled four interceptions in both 1994 and 1996 with the Eagles.
After his NFL career, he then broke into coaching at nearby Cardinal Mooney High School. He then returned to the NFL and spent four combined years with the Philadelphia Eagles coaching staff as Defensive Quality Control Coach (2009-10) and Safeties Coach (2011-12) before moving to the collegiate ranks as Safeties Coach/Co-Special Teams Coordinator at Youngstown State in 2014.
As a collegiate player, Zordich helped guide Penn State to the 1982 national title and in 1985, he captained the Nittany Lions to a No. 3 national ranking.
Zordich resides with his family, wife Cynthia, sons Michael Jr. and Alex, and daughter Aiden. His son Michael Jr. played running back at Penn State and later for the Carolina Panthers, and his other son Alex played quarterback at Buffalo.
