Penn State interim HC Terry Smith promoted himself to be the next full-time guy Saturday night at Beaver Stadium.
When Smith was given the chance to talk himself up a little bit to reporters after Saturday’s 37-10 win over Nebraska, he took it.
“I was always ready to be a head coach,” Smith said. “I was a head coach for 12 years in high school. It’s a different level, but leading men is leading men. Coaching is coaching. It’s no different than when I worked for Matt Rhule as a receivers coach. I came here for James Franklin; I went to DB coach. Coaching is coaching. I went from taking DBs, a DB history here at Penn State that we didn’t put DBs in the NFL, to now, we’re one of the top in the country. Coaching is coaching. I’ve always been a head coach, so 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. I’m a leader of men. You guys see it. You’re witnessing it every day.”
Less than 48 hours later, during Smith’s weekly press conference, he was asked the reasoning behind this.
“If I don’t speak for myself, who will?” Smith said.
Earlier in the press conference, he was asked why he feels he’s the best man for the job.
Here’s what he said.
WHAT SMITH SAID
Photo by Penn State Athletics: Terry Smith
“No one knows Penn State better than me of all the candidates that are out there,” Smith said. “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.”
Smith then made it clear that he’s thinking about the task at hand.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“That will take care of itself when the time comes,” Smith said. “My focus right now is obviously, we have to beat Rutgers. “We approached these last couple of weeks as do-or-die, playoff-type games, and this is another playoff game for us in our own reality of our world.”
At the end of the presser, Smith was asked about his main takeaways from the interim job, which he’s held for more than a month now.
“I continue to learn patience,” Smith said. “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 at Penn State University. It’s a big deal. It’s crazy. This job’s very busy.
“When I was an assistant, I’d always make my own comments like ‘I’m going to carry my own bag off the bus.‘ Smith said.
“Then, the next thing I know, I’m in my seat, and I’m like, ‘I’m not going to my room, I’m going to an interview, so my bag has to disappear somewhere.’“ And there’s reasons why things are happening that you just don’t know. It’s a very, very busy role being the head coach. Someone’s knocking on your door every five minutes for something that’s going on in the program. We have 75 to 80 people working in the building, and they all need something, and 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.”
M-ROB’S SUPPORT
Plenty of ex-Penn State players want Terry Smith to be the next full-time head coach, but perhaps the most eye-opening endorsement came from former PSU QB and current NBC analyst Michael Robinson.
“Athletic director Pat Kraft, he made a decision to let James Franklin go,” Robinson told NBC’s Kathryn Tappen at halftime of the Nebraska game, which aired on NBC. “But I’m not sure he had a plan for what comes next.”
“This group seems to be having fun, and they all said they want Terry Smith to be their head coach,” Robinson said. “Every single player I talked to, every guy I talked to that said they’re thinking about leaving, they said, ‘I’m staying if Terry Smith gets this job.’ I talked to hundreds of alumni since we’ve been here, and every single one of them thinks Terry Smith should be the head coach, and I think Terry Smith should be the head coach.”
Smith can further help his case by beating Rutgers and getting to 6-6 and bowl eligibility Saturday in Piscataway. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 on the Big Ten Network.
