Penn State Players Make Case for Interim HC Terry Smith to Get the Full-Time Job

Penn State’s 2025 has been a wild one, starting with championship aspirations before losing three straight games that led to the firing of coach James Franklin.

After Franklin’s departure, interim head coaching duties fell to associate head coach and cornerbacks coach Terry Smith.

On Saturday, Penn State took down Nebraska on senior night, running away with a 37–10 win. In a season where the Nittany Lions have lacked an identity, Saturday’s performance showed flashes of the team that many expected to contend for a title—a swarming defense and a dominant rushing attack that kept the Huskers from ever threatening.

As they celebrated the big win, Penn State players sent a pretty clear message to the decision-makers at the school—they were backing Smith to take the “interim” tag off of his job title and take over as the team’s next official head coach.

“HIRE THIS MAN IMMEDIATELY!”

Safe to say @PennStateFball players want interim head coach Terry Smith brought on full time 😅

📺: NBC pic.twitter.com/0NRS1sLVTP
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 23, 2025

Smith was clearly feeling the love himself. Speaking on the field, Smith was emotional, saying “I love my guys, I love my locker room. You see how hard my guys play.”

"It's my locker room."@PennStateFball's Terry Smith 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/RHXXNdVjZE
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 23, 2025

It wasn’t just the players on the field calling for Smith’s job to be made official. As he left the field, fans across Beaver Stadium chanted Smith’s name.

Student section chanting “Terry” as Penn State interim head coach Terry Smith heads down the tunnel.

Smith stops and pumps his fists up. pic.twitter.com/jJ4vMBAPro
— Lexie Linderman (@lexielinderman) November 23, 2025

The student newspaper, The Daily Collegian, is also clearly on board.

While Penn State will undoubtedly take a wide look at the coaching market heading into 2026, there’s a lot of reasons that Smith would make sense for the program.

He played his college football for the Nittany Lions, and has now been a part of the coaching staff for 10 years. And given just how wild the coaching market looks like it is going to get this offseason, handing the reins over to Smith could be a comfortable solution if the school doesn’t want to get involved in what is sure to be some expensive bidding wars for other big coaching free agents.

Further, in most offseasons, a job opening at Penn State would be the top spot in the country, but with the likes of LSU and Florida also looking for a new coach, the Nittany Lions have a lot of competition if they’re trying to land a top name.

We’ll see what Penn State ultimately decides to do, but as the reaction to Saturday’s win clearly showed, there’s a chance the best man for the job is already in the building.