Why Penn State interim head coach Terry Smith chose to stay with the Nittany Lions
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Penn State will be turning over most of its coaching staff over the next few weeks for the first time in over a decade as new head coach Matt Campbell builds the program in his image. But there will be at least one holdover from the previous regime. Terry Smith will return in a role to be determined after being the team’s interim head coach through its final six regular season games.
Before Smith transitions back to being an assistant, he will coach one final game as the team’s interim head coach — its Pinstripe Bowl matchup with Clemson on Dec. 27. Smith said Tuesday morning during a Pinstripe Bowl press conference that his time leading Penn State has meant quite a bit to him.
“For me, personally, this has been the greatest seven weeks of my coaching career,” Smith said. “The opportunity to represent my alma mater and sit at the very top of it, to try to salvage a season that didn’t start off the way we wanted — it was a tremendous opportunity for me. ... I can’t be thankful enough of our guys, our leadership in the locker room. They allowed me to lead them. And it turned out to be a better ending than what the season started out.”
Smith could have chosen to move on from Penn State after he did not get the permanent head coaching position — especially after a very public campaign from his players to get him the job.
But instead he chose to stay with the Nittany Lions and continue building his legacy after playing for the program in college and joining it as an assistant coach in 2014.
Smith, who was on the team’s roster in the lone other matchup in program history with Clemson at the end of the 1987 season, said his love for the university played a major role in why he chose to stay.
“’I’ve expressed that time after time, I love the university,” Smith said. “I’ve known Matt Campbell probably 15-plus years. When I was a high school head coach at Gateway High School, Matt was, at that time, the head coach at the University of Toledo. He recruited my high school. We went up there, had done some seven on seven camps there. Just had a relationship with him. I’ve known him. I know what he’s about.
“At this point in my career, I truly can only work for certain types of individuals. And we’re aligned at the point of — he’s blue collar. He creates toughness, discipline, and just the core values of what Penn State represents. And felt like he was the right leadership at the time, and I wanted to stay a part of it, and it’s worked out for my family. And obviously I’m excited that Matt is welcoming me to his staff.”
