Penn State HC Terry Smith has experience a lot of thrills in football.
As a player at Penn State, he was a captain on a team that finished No. 3 in the country and won the Fiesta Bowl.
As a high school head coach, he won a lot more than he lost over 10 seasons at WPIAL Gateway.
From there, Smith became an assistant at Penn State, where he was there for each one of the team’s 104 wins over 11.5 seasons under James Franklin.
Now, after three disheartening losses— two of them by a combined four points— Smith finally has his first win as an interim coach.
The team honored him with a Gatorade bath and lifting him up on their shoulders.
“I’m really happy,” Smith said afterward. “I’m just happy for those guys in the locker room, like for all you that are parents, you understand exactly what I’m saying. These are my kids, and there’s nothing more than to make your kids happy, and the sacrifice we do as parents for our kids, that’s what I’m happy about. Obviously, this is a great moment for me, for my family. It’s just humbling to be honest.”
It had been more than two months since Penn State got a win, almost a full year since it won a Big Ten game and a little less than 11 months since its last Power 4 win of any kind.
Yep, it was a long time coming, and Terry Smith and company were sure to make the most of it.
Hear Smith’s full victorious postgame presser below.
