Terry Smith says why he'd make the best Penn State football head coach
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The temporary Penn State football leader was asked why he would be its next, best full-time head coach.
As expected, Terry Smith was direct and succinct in his answer during his weekly Monday press conference on Nov. 24.
“No one knows Penn State better than me,” he said. “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.”
He then offered this in regarding his increasingly confident talk about his own permanent head coach candidacy.
“If I don’t speak for myself, who will?”
He’s not completely on-point with that assessment, in a sense, however.
As the Penn State head coaching search enters its sixth week, a wave of public support through fans, alumni and former players is building for Smith, the longtime Nittany Lion assistant and former player.
Former PSU star and NBC studio analyst Michael Robinson made a national-televised plea for Smith to get the job Saturday. Fans in Beaver Stadium chanted his name during the landslide victory over Nebraska.
And his players held up signs reading, “Hire Terry Smith.”
Smith is guaranteed only to lead Penn State during Saturday’s regular-season finale at Rutgers and in a possible bowl game. The Lions will qualify for the postseason if they win and finish 6-6.
Smith was vague Monday when asked about having a formal interview for the job this week with athletic director Pat Kraft.
“Right now, my focus is trying to beat Rutgers and become bowl eligible,” Smith said. “I think there will be an opportunity to sit with Pat, and we’ll just go from there.”
Clearly, though, he wants the permanent position and believes, through his ever-increasingly strong words, that he is qualified for it.
“I’ve always been a head coach,” Smith said late Saturday night. “I’m very confident in what I do. God has blessed me. My mom has anointed me. My wife keeps a covering over me. I have gifts that I don’t even realize I have.”
He certainly may have pushed himself into serious consideration, too, by the way he’s galvanized this freefalling team after James Franklin was fired on Oct. 12. The rise has culminated with three straight top-level performances and back-to-back victories.
Meanwhile, Penn State’s quite quiet coaching search has seen potential top candidates eliminate themselves by agreeing to contract extensions with their current schools (Nebraska’s Matt Rhule, Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, Texas A&M’s Mike Elko) or continue leading their teams into complicating College Football Playoff contention (Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer, Georgia Tech’s Brent Key).
Frank Bodani covers Penn State football for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at fbodani@ydr.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: What makes Terry Smith the next, best Penn State football head coach?
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