Meet Terry Smith, the Penn State Letterman Taking Over for James Franklin

In August, Terry Smith stood on the Beaver Stadium field under a glowing sun and talked about Penn State football's bright future. The Nittany Lions' associate head coach and cornerbacks coach adored his position room, looked forward to building a defense with new coordinator Jim Knowles and, most important, lit up at the prospect of winning a national championship for head coach James Franklin.

"To be honest, for me, personally, it means everything," Smith said. "We want nothing more than to win this championship for him. He deserves it. He's worked hard at it. He has built our process. We come from a dark place when we started here, but we've stepped into the light, and he's made Penn State shine again."

Just over four months later, Smith is taking over for Franklin. Penn State named Smith as its interim head coach Sunday after firing Franklin in his 12th season with the program. Smith takes over a team that still has six regular-season games to play, will be without injured starting quarterback Drew Allar for the remainder of the season and went from contender to rebuild in 15 days.

Smith also is the last remaining coach of Franklin's original 2014 staff. A former Penn State receiver, Smith joined Franklin's first staff as the cornerbacks coach and defensive recruiting coordinator after spending the 2013 season coaching at Temple. He was the only Penn State letterman on Franklin's inaugural staff.

Smith became the program's assistant head coach in 2016 and the associate head coach in 2021. Smith, 56, will be a college head coach for the first time in his career.

"Terry is the model," Franklin has said of Smith. "Terry is the model in terms of recruiting and then in terms of development."

As Penn State's cornerbacks coach, Smith changed a position that historically had not been one of the program's deepest in terms of developing NFL players. Under Smith, Penn State sent 12 defensive backs to the NFL, including second-round pick Joey Porter Jr. and fourth-round pick John Reid.

"When you think about the history and tradition at Penn State, and we've got as good a history and tradition as anywhere in the country, but probably the corner room, there was less examples of that over time," Franklin has said. "And I think Terry has changed that dramatically. I don't mean it any way disrespectfully, but Terry has just done a really good job taking a position and [developing] draft picks and all-conference players and those types of things. ... Terry has done a phenomenal job."

Penn State associate head coach Terry Smith answers questions during a media session at Holuba Hall in State College. | Dan Rainville/USA Today Network - PA / USA TODAY NETWORK

Smith also found common ground with Franklin, as the two worked together for nearly 12 years. At Penn State, Franklin initially met resistance from the football lettermen who weren't used to change. Smith helped broker the transition to Franklin while coaching a new group of Nittany Lions.

"He wants to be great at what he does," Smith said of Franklin before the 2024 Fiesta Bowl. "He's obviously a tremendous leader, he's a Pennsylvania guy who loves Penn State and wants to see greatness for our university. He's got a vision together working with [athletic director] Pat Kraft and our president [Neeli Bendapudi]."

Smith is from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Penn State in 1991. He started three seasons at wide receiver for the Nittany Lions and ranks 12th in program history in receiving touchdowns (15), 16th in receiving yardage (1,825) and 18th in receptions (108).

Smith played professionally with the Washington Redskins in 1992 and with several teams in the Canadian Football League. He began his coaching career at Hempfield High in 1996 and spent four years on the staff at Duquesne. Smith then moved to Gateway High School near Pittsburgh, where he was the head coach and athletic director during an 11-year span.

Smith will be the second interim head coach for Penn State in the Big Ten era. Tom Bradley coached four games for the Nittany Lions at the end of the 2011 season.

Smith will coach Penn State in its next game Oct. 18 at Iowa's Kinnick Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on Peacock.

Penn State Nittany Lions assistant coach Terry Smith celebrates with receiver Saeed Blacknall during the 2017 season. | Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

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