He Made the 'Hire Terry Smith' Signs at Penn State and Is Bringing More to Rutgers

Penn State fan Matt Wolosz wanted to help the campaign to make Terry Smith the Nittany Lions' next head coach. So he made a sign.

Penn State football fan Matt Wolosz holds up the "Hire Terry Smith" sign he printed for the Nittany Lions game vs. the Nebraska Cornhuskers. | Photo courtesy Matt Wolosz

STATE COLLEGE | When the clock reached zero on Penn State’s first home win under interim head coach Terry Smith, the Nittany Lions didn’t celebrate empty-handed. They carried signs that read “Hire Terry Smith” and showed them to the cameras following their 37-10 victory over Nebraska. 

In the Beaver Stadium stands, watching from the seats he strategically bought behind Penn State’s bench, the long-time fan who made those signs grew emotional. Matt Wolosz has loved Penn State since he was 10 years old and Smith since 2004 and wanted to share it all with a fractured fan base. 

“I was like, this is the best I’ve ever felt in Beaver Stadium,” Wolosz said. “In 2005, when [Penn State] beat Ohio State, that was the pinnacle for me. But this resonated on such a deep level. I felt I was able to give back in some way to the community and to the coach who meant so much.” 

Wolosz’s signs became symbols of the campaign to make Smith Penn State’s permanent head coach, which took on a life of its own Saturday night at Beaver Stadium. Penn State players have advocated for Smith to get the job, as did former Nittany Lion and NBC broadcaster Michael Robinson, by endorsing his candidacy in interviews and a halftime show.

But the 41-year-old Wolosz, whose background is in business marketing and data analytics, thought there was value in having something tangible to say that. So he printed 150 signs with the slogan “Hire Terry Smith” above the name of his Penn State Jerseys account on Instagram. 

It’s clear what the players want…. pic.twitter.com/lVUfZExU4b

— amanda vogt (@amandav_3) November 23, 2025

Wolosz toured the tailgating lots outside Beaver Stadium with his signs and message, then brought them to the four seats he bought specifically because they were located where players’ families, recruits, lettermen and the “big donors” sat. Everyone wanted one as the game progressed. 

By game’s end, Penn State offensive lineman Anthony Donkoh was holding a sign behind Smith during his NBC postgame interview. And everyone knew Wolosz’s “why.”

“I want us to find the first Terry Smith,” he said. “Why can't we hire and identify the first Terry Smith? Not the next Nick Saban, not the next Ryan Day, the first Terry Smith, because he's right for us. He's right for Penn State.”

'A genuine love and appreciation for Penn State'

“HIRE THIS MAN IMMEDIATELY!”

Safe to say @PennStateFball players want interim head coach Terry Smith brought on full time 😅

📺: NBC pic.twitter.com/0NRS1sLVTP

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 23, 2025

Wolosz grew up in northern New Jersey and has been a Penn State fan since he was 10. Though he didn’t go to Penn State, his passion for the football program grew.

“I loved their colors, the pageantry, the passion,” Wolosz said. “They would show the tailgating scene, and it was such a very inspiring camaraderie among the fans that you didn’t quite get in pro sports. …  I just had a genuine love and appreciation for Penn State that grew year after year.”

Wolosz became a collector of Penn State memorabilia, building a collection of about 100 game-worn jerseys, some of which he has loaned to the Penn State All-Sports Museum at Beaver Stadium. His Instagram account has nearly 9,000 followers, about 2,000 more than it did before the Nebraska game.

“My whole tagline is telling the story and preserving the history of Penn State football and creating a bridge between the old and the newer fans,” Wolosz said.

Wolosz also has been a fan of Smith for more than 20 years. He attended every game during the 2003 and 2004 seasons, when Penn State struggled to records of 3-9 and 4-7. At the time, Smith coached at Gateway High School near Pittsburgh, and his stepson Justin King was one of the top defensive recruits in the country. 

There’s a DVD recounting King and Gateway’s season that included not only film of King, who would commit to Penn State, but also videos of Smith’s locker-room speeches that still resonate with Wolosz. 

Smith has gone viral this season for several of his passionate locker-room speeches since becoming Penn State’s interim head coach. But when Smith talked about what Penn State meant to his family (his father graduated in 1968), Wolosz thought Smith was exactly what the program needs now.  

Penn State interim coach Terry Smith grew emotional today talking about the reaction to his first win.

“God has been so good to me through everything in my life. I have the opportunity to be the head coach at Penn State.”

🎥 Penn State Athletics pic.twitter.com/j1b483YUdj

— Mark Wogenrich (@MarkWogenrich) November 17, 2025

“That’s what we’ve been missing, the ‘We Are,’” Wolosz said. “We want to win national championships, but are we losing the fabric of what we love and enjoy about college football and the purpose in the pursuit of some grandiose undefeated season every single year?

“And I felt someone needed to step up and say, ‘We need to enjoy college football for what it is, this beautiful, wonderful sport.’ And when we get lost in all-or-nothing, it becomes this rat race of firing coaches, paying [them] $50, $100 million, and we all lose the fabric of the enjoyment of why we're there, which is the tailgating, camaraderie, friendships. … We don't hear those stories anymore. We just hear,  ‘Who can we get in the portal?’ And I was like, ‘We need a guy who can bring us back to what college football is all about.’

“... And when I heard his press conference, I was like, ‘Man this guy is a selfless leader. What can I do to help?” 

'All I wanted to do was help'

Penn State football fan Matt Wolosz holds up the "Hire Terry Smith" sign he printed for the Nittany Lions game vs. the Nebraska Cornhuskers. | Photo courtesy Matt Wolosz

Brad Dillman, owner of Penn Steaks in downtown State College, knew of Wolosz through his social media platform, and the two have been friends for the past five years. Dillman previously worked with Lions Legacy Club, the Penn State NIL collective that became Happy Valley United, and Wolosz always reached out asking to help.

That’s how Wolosz approached helping with Smith’s case to be Penn State’s next head coach.

“We are very divided at Penn State when it comes to the past and Joe Paterno and taking his statue down,” Dillman said. “And —  I don’t think, I know 100 percent — there’s way more people that support Joe Paterno than don’t support him. If Penn State acts out of love, they will hire Terry Smith. If they act out of fear, they’ll go hire someone else.”

Wolosz sent Dillman a picture of his sign before the game, though Dillman had no idea what he planned to do with it. Dillman said he wished he had more details so he could hang one in the window at Penn Steaks. But after talking to Wolosz on Sunday, Dillman was glad he didn’t.

“I think actually the way he went about it was very smart,” Dillman said. “He waited to the last second because, when it comes to stuff like this, universities have a lot of power and they might have gone to him and said, ‘Hey you can’t do this.’”

Wolosz and his family arrived at Beaver Stadium four hours early with the signs. In Lot 18, he handed them out to fans. During the game, recruits, players’ parents, season-ticket holders and ushers asked for signs. 

“I felt like Oprah at the book club, right?” Wolosz said. “You get a car, you get a car, you get a car.”

As the game ended, a Penn State staffer asked for some signs, and Wolosz purposely set aside a stack in case that happened. Within seconds, players had them in their hands. 

“All I wanted to do was help,” Wolosz said. “I was so proud and I was so choked up as a fan because I’m finally able to give back in such a positive way to help try to build a little awareness to bring this great community back together.” 

Bringing more signs to Rutgers

Penn State Nittany Lions players sing their alma mater following the game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Wolosz said he isn’t making money from his sign going viral and that he simply wants to reunite the Penn State fan base while advocating for Smith. 

“Ultimately, Matt’s battling the lack of support that fans are giving the team right now because of where they are,” Dillman said. “Hopefully it’s not too late. Hopefully [Athletic Director Pat] Kraft will listen to the fan base that’s very positive for our future.”

Wolosz plans to bring more signs to Rutgers on Saturday for Penn State’s regular-season finale. He said he would love “nothing more” than for Penn State fans attending the game to have a “Hire Terry Smith” sign.

“‘We Are’ is Terry Smith,” Wolosz said. “‘We Are’ means nothing if we don’t strongly consider Terry Smith, because he is Penn State. He is what we’ve preached: leadership, accountability, service.”

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