University Park— It’s hard to say if literally every single Penn State football player wants interim head coach Terry Smith to be the full-time guy.
But it sure felt that way on the field after Saturday’s 37-10 Senior Night win over Nebraska, and that feeling carried over into the media room.
On the field, players held up signs that said “Hire Terry Smith.”
“Hire this man,” offensive lineman Anthony Donkoh said while holding the sign.
In Smith’s postgame press conference— which started and ended with cheers from the non-media members in the audience, he stated his own case for why he should be promoted.
Afterward, the players stated theirs.
PICKING UP THE PIECES
This season was already a disappointment for Penn State on Oct. 12, and if that weren’t the case, James Franklin wouldn’t have been fired.
But the season could have been an outright disaster.
With Penn State at 3-3 and coming off losses as heavy favorites to UCLA and Northwestern, people wondered if a veteran-heavy team would pack it in.
Smith made it clear in his introductory presser that it wouldn’t be the case, and through his time as interim coach, the team’s effort has always been there.
Even though Penn State lost its first three games with Smith in charge, two of them— at Iowa and at home against No. 2 Indiana— were a play away from being upset wins, and that’s because the players bought in.
Now, the wins are coming.
“He’s brought us all together,” an emotional LB Dom DeLuca said afterward. “I mean, he put all the broken pieces back. He did everything he could for us to fight and change our whole culture.”
“He pulled us out of a dark spot,” OL Vega Ioane said. “He’s a guy that’s led a team in the right way. He deserves it all. Simple as that.”
A PENN STATE MAN
The list of people who love Penn State as much as Terry Smith isn’t a long run.
As a player, he became a team captain on the 1991 Fiesta Bowl team.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.As a coach, he was Franklin’s right-hand man for 12 years.
Earlier in the week, Smith broke down when talking about what being in this position means to him.
Penn State great Michael Robinson, who was part of NBC’s Penn State-Nebraska broadcast, gave Smith an eye-opening endorsement for the job.
Pretty soon, some current players such as sixth-year senior center Nick Dawkins will be alumni, as well, and the group of ex-players backing Smith will grow.
“Our fellow letterman, brother of Penn State,” Dawkins said. “Leading us, leader of men. He is what Penn State should be, and who we are, and I think he’s earned the opportunity.”
ROSTER RETENTION
The only way Penn State can realistically keep a lot of its young players from entering the transfer portal would be to make Smith the full-time guy.
QB Ethan Grunkemeyer, who, like Smith with Franklin’s firing, was thrown into the fire unexpectedly due to starter Drew Allar’s season-ending injury, has gotten better every week.
Against Nebraska, he threw 12 passes and completed 11 of them.
With Grunkemeyer only being a redshirt freshman, Penn State would like to see what he could do in 2026. But if Smith isn’t retained as interim coach, it’s quite possible the odds of him playing somewhere else would increase.
So is it fair to say that Penn State would keep Ethan Grunkemeyer by keeping Terry Smith?
“It’s definitely something I would for sure consider,” he said. “I’m not going to get into too much of it, but, yeah, absolutely.”
For as impressive as Smith’s run as interim coach has been, a lot of the goodwill generated by wins at Michigan State and against Nebraska at home would dissipate with a loss to Rutgers.
Losing in Piscataway would drop Penn State to 5-7 and, most likely, out of a bowl game.
For Smith to be the guy for the future, the guys of the present need to keep it up, and DeLuca knows that.
“We’re just going to keep on trying to win,” DeLuca said. Hopefully, it leads to (Smith being promoted). We all have Coach Terry’s back. We love playing for him. We love everything about him and what he does for our team.”
