Everything Penn State’s Terry Smith said about making his case to be head coach
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Smith prioritizes beating Rutgers, securing bowl eligibility, then meeting AD Kraft.
- He emphasizes deep knowledge of Penn State history, culture and the locker room.
- Smith highlights mentorship from James Franklin and endorsements from Penn State alumni.
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Penn State interim head coach Terry Smith has made a case for himself to be the team’s permanent head coach on the field and off it in recent weeks. Fans chanted his name and his players ran around the field with papers that said “Hire Terry Smith” before they made their choice for their next coach clear in their postgame media availabilities.
Monday afternoon, Smith spoke about being a candidate, why he’s advocating for himself and more at his weekly press conference.
Here’s everything he said.
On if he will get an interview:
“Yeah, right now my focus is just trying to beat Rutgers and become bowl eligible. I think there will be an opportunity to sit with (Penn State athletic director) Pat (Kraft) and we’ll just go from there.”
On if he’s re-evaluated his stance that he would consider staying at Penn State if he isn’t the permanent head coach:
“Yeah, I’ll reiterate I love Penn State. I would be open to any possibilities of staying here. Obviously I would like to be the head coach here, but this week I’m worried about Rutgers. My goal is to finish this season off with three victories in a row, get us bowl eligible, and then get prepared for a bowl game after that.”
On why he thinks he’s the best candidate for the job:
“I think no one knows Penn State better than me of all the candidates out there. I know the history of Penn State. I know the culture, the DNA. I know the locker room. I know administration. I think I’m a good leader. I think I’m a leader of men. That will take care of itself when the time comes. My focus right now is obviously we have to beat Rutgers. We approach these last couple weeks as do or die, playoff type games, and this is another playoff game for us in our own reality of our world.”
On support from NBC’s Michael Robinson after the former Penn State QB endorsed him during Saturday’s broadcast:
“It means everything. Obviously the support that the lettermen are giving me, especially Michael Robinson doing that, obviously it means we’re doing something right. 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. They’ve done that, and hopefully our fans show up this week at Rutgers. That’s sometimes tough because of the holiday weekend, but come on out and support us.”
On him being increasingly intentional about advocating for himself to be the next head coach:
“If I don’t speak for myself, who will?”
On former head coach James Franklin supporting him:
“I’ve spoken to James several times, maybe every other day or so, sometimes every day. Just picking his brain as to — James is very organized and structured. Just even something as simple as last week when we lost the staff members, how to reorganize. He’s been a mentor to me that I can bounce some ideas off, and ultimately I go back and make all the final decisions now. But he’s been great. He’s been there, and right after the game Saturday he wished me — he wished me luck before and then congratulations after.”
On what his team’s identity would be on offense and defense if he was the permanent head coach:
“Well, I’m the head coach right here right now, so this is my offense and this is my defense and special teams. I can’t really answer that question. I’m grounded in the moment, and just trying to make sure that team is efficient in what we’re doing right now. I do like how we played Saturday with balance, almost equal passing yards with rushing yards — physical attacking defense just like you saw on Saturday. Those are the type of things you’re looking for to be successful.”
On what he’s learned from being the interim head coach:
“I continue to learn patience. I continue to learn new things about this job. I keep getting new gifts, like people send random gifts to my house now. Right now I’m the head coach of 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, ‘Imma carry my own bag off the bus.’ And then next thing I know I’m in that seat and I’m like, hey, I’m not going to my room, I’m going to an interview, so my bag has to disappear somewhere. There is 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 is knocking on your door every five minutes for something that’s going on in the program. We have, I don’t know, 75, 80, 85 people working in the building. They all need something. You have to be the answer. It’s good. It’s busy. I really enjoy it. You have to be very organized to be successful in this role because a lot of things can go over your head.”
