Penn State Players Rip School for Not Making Terry Smith Permanent Head Coach

The team’s players are being vocal about wanting Smith hired full time.

Penn State players are pushing for the school to hire interim head coach Terry Smith as the permanent head coach. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Penn State’s coaching search continues to drag on, and even the team’s players are fed up with the process.

This week, two players took to social media to blast the school’s process and push the school to hire interim head coach Terry Smith to the position permanently.

After news broke that Kalani Sitake had turned down Penn State’s offer and opted to stay at BYU, safety King Mack said, “Making this harder than it gotta be.”

Making this harder then it gotta be💯

— King Mack (@kingmack2004) December 2, 2025

Linebacker Tony Rojas agreed.

this just funny at this point ngl lol we might go a whole szn with no HC , when we clearly got a Head coach right upstairs in the office , dont understand 🤦🏽‍♂️

— Tony Rojas (@Tony_Rojas5) December 2, 2025

Rojas followed that up by tweeting, “Coach T is right upstairs man all these interviews and ‘Global search’ when the man is upstairs above us.”

Coach T is right upstairs man all these interviews and “Global search” when the man is upstairs above us https://t.co/meUiGbH95f

— Tony Rojas (@Tony_Rojas5) December 2, 2025

On Thursday, Rojas continued his campaign. When a user claimed that Smith was “holding Penn State’s football program hostage,” Rojas said:

Never that heres just no other coach majority of us would wanna play under in this “global search” that Pat kraft said meets all the requirements of this Job when Terry has checked all the boxes and more , plus with all the genuine love he has for this place wont be matched

The players held up “Hire Terry Smith” signs after the team’s final home game on November 22.

QBs Drew Allar and Ethan Grunkemeyer holding a sign telling Penn State to hire Terry Smith. pic.twitter.com/5Ael27UDC8

— Allie Berube (@allieberube) November 23, 2025

Thus far, athletic director Pat Kraft has not listened to them.

As a consequence of going nearly two months without a head coach, Penn State had the saddest signing day in recent memory on Wednesday. The program only brought in two commitments, and its class ranked 134th out of 136 FBS programs.

Terry Smith’s coaching record

Smith took over on an interim basis when Penn State fired James Franklin on October 12. The school was the first top-tier program to fire its head coach this season and has watched as all the others have found their new hires.

The 56-year-old coach is a Penn State alum who has been an assistant with the Nittany Lions since 2014. After a brief professional career, the former wide receiver coached high school teams from 1996 until 2012. Temple hired him as its wide receivers coach in 2013. A year later, his alma mater came calling.

Franklin hired Smith as the cornerbacks coach in 2014, and he added the title of assistant head coach in 2016, then associate head coach in 2021.

Smith posted a 3-3 record as the interim head coach, but the Nittany Lions finished the season on a three-game win streak.

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