Why Terry Smith Believes He's the Best Coaching Candidate for Penn State

Smith has received significant support from players, lettermen and fans to become the Nittany Lions' head coach.

Penn State Nittany Lions interim head coach Terry Smith reacts from the sideline during the second quarter against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

After earning multiple endorsements to become Penn State's next football coach, Terry Smith made the case for himself Monday. Penn State's interim head coach reiterated that he wants the full-time job but also detailed specific reasons for his candidacy.

"No one knows Penn State better than me," Smith said at his weekly press conference. "Of all the candidates that are out there, I know the history of Penn State. I know the culture, the DNA. I know the locker room. I know the administration. I think I'm a good leader. I think I'm a leader of men, and that will take care of itself when the time comes."

Smith seemed to indicate that he hasn't yet spoken with Penn State Athletic Director Pat Kraft about the position, saying that, "I think there will be an opportunity to sit with Pat, and we'll just go from there." Brandon Marcello, a national reporter for CBS, said in a post on X that Smith would meet with Kraft this week.

Penn State's coaching search is nearing its conclusion, though Kraft has kept its details largely in-house. Some of the candidates mentioned publicly (though not by Kraft) include Alabama's Kalen DeBoer, Missouri's Eli Drinkwitz, Georga Tech's Brent Key and James Madison's Bob Chesney.

Smith's candidacy took on a life of its own last Saturday, when the Nittany Lions defeated Nebraska 37-10. Players held up signs that read "Hire Terry Smith," and NBC's Michael Robinson, the former Penn State quarterback, endorsed Smith on-air at halftime. Smith encouraged the groundswell of support after the game.

"I'm a leader of men," Smith said late Saturday night at Beaver Stadium. "You guys see it. You're witnessing it every day."

Smith, who is 2-3 as Penn State's interim head coach, was more subdued Monday, though he did speak to the support from fans and lettermen, notably Robinson.

"It means everything," Smith said. "Obviously the support that the lettermen are giving me, especially Michael Robinson doing that, it means we're doing something right. We're just trying to create a culture for our team to play hard, play tough, and for our fans to get behind us and support us and stay in our corner. "

Smith remains close with James Franklin

New Virginia Tech football coach James Franklin speaks to fans on the sideline before the Hokes' game vs. Miami at Lane Stadium. | Brian Bishop-Imagn Images

Smith and former Penn State coach James Franklin, now at Virginia Tech, remain close. Smith said that they speak almost daily and that Franklin wished him good luck before the Nebraska game and congratulated him on the win afterward.

And though he's working to recruit Penn State players and staff members to Virginia Tech, Franklin remains a trusted advisor to Smith.

"I've spoken to James several times, maybe like every other day or so, sometimes every day, just picking his brain," Smith said. "James is very organized and very structured, and even something as simple as last week when we lost the staff members, [on] how to reorganize. He's been a mentor to me that I can bounce some ideas off of, and then ultimately I go back and make all the final decisions now. But he's been great. He's been there."

What Terry Smith has learned as the interim coach

Penn State Nittany Lions interim head coach Terry Smith walks on the field during a warm up prior to the game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

After losing his first three games to Iowa, No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Indiana, Smith has recalibrated Penn State against friendlier competition. The Nittany Lions have won consecutive games over Michigan State and Nebraska by a combined score of 65-20.

Smith said he has learned a lot about himself and the job over the past six weeks, including grace notes as small as why he can't carry his own bag off the bus at road games.

"I continue to learn patience," Smith said. "I continue to learn new things about this job. I keep getting new gifts, like people send random gifts to my house. Right now, I'm the head coach at Penn State University. It's a big deal. It's crazy. This job is very busy.

"You know, when I was an assistant, I always would make comments like, 'I'm going to carry my own bag off the bus.' And then next thing I know, I'm in that seat, and I'm like, I'm not going to my room, I'm going to an interview, so my bag has to disappear somewhere. And there's reasons why things are happening that you just don't know. So it's just a very, very busy role, being the head coach. Someone's knocking on your door every five minutes for something that's going on in the program, ... and you have to be the answer."

Penn State concludes the regular season Saturday at Rutgers. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network.

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