Terry Smith has spent enough time at Penn State that he understands what the place asks of people. This past season, though, he learned something else: how much Penn State can give back.
Smith, now back in his role as cornerbacks coach and associate head coach, said the response around Happy Valley has been a daily surprise. What used to be a familiar walk now comes with honks, waves and impromptu photo requests.
“Yeah,” a grinning Smith told a group of reporters at media day. “It kind of shocks me every day.
I’m a walker; I walk every day. And, on my walks now, I get a lot of toot-toot horn blowing and waves.
I’ve had people jump out at the middle of a stop sign and want to take a picture or want to shake my hand.
“It’s pretty cool. I’m just thankful that I have the opportunity to stay here and be here and be a part of the future and just trying to make this team better.”
That kind of reaction would have been hard to imagine a year ago, when Smith was not the guy most casual Penn State fans could have picked out of a lineup. Then James Franklin was fired Oct. 12, and Smith was handed the tough job of guiding a team that had already lost its NFL-caliber quarterback for the season.
The season could have gone off the rails completely. Penn State was already staring at a brutal finish, and the Nittany Lions opened the Big Ten slate with six straight losses. But the team kept playing for Smith, and fans quickly saw he wasn’t backing away from the mess.
Ryan Jones, former interim CEO of the Penn State Alumni Association and now editor of the Penn Stater magazine, said alumni noticed that support building fast.
“We got a lot of feedback from alumni about how the season was going, and they made it pretty clear pretty quickly when he stepped in, there was a lot of support for him - even if they might not have recognized his name that much,” Jones said. “But, certainly in the last month or so of the season, we saw so much of an outpouring of appreciation.
‘We love this guy.’ ‘We hope he stays.’”
Penn State’s finish gave that affection somewhere to land. After a 3-6 start, Smith led the Nittany Lions to three straight wins to close the regular season, get bowl eligible and then beat Clemson 22-10 in the Pinstripe Bowl for a winning season.
Smith has said all along that he wanted to put a team on the field fans could be proud of. Months later, it’s clear that a lot of people around the program are proud of him, too.
That’s especially true in an era when players and coaches can seem to move on to the next opportunity as soon as a bigger paycheck appears. Smith stayed, and people around Penn State noticed.
“Penn State football is more than just football, right?” asked Matt Wolosz, a longtime Nittany Lions fan who was behind the viral “Hire Terry Smith” signs vs.
Nebraska. “It’s how we bond with our families.
It’s who we tailgate with. It’s how we sometimes plan our winter vacations, around the bowl games.
It’s more than just football, in a positive way, and Terry was able to keep that all together for us.”
Wolosz said Smith helped make Penn State still feel like Penn State, even with nearly half the roster turning over this offseason because of the transfer portal.
The new regime clearly sees Smith the same way. At his opening press conference, head coach Matt Campbell called Smith a “cornerstone,” and athletic director Pat Kraft went even further.
“Terry is Penn State.”
That message has carried inside the building, too. Cornerback Jahmir Joseph said Smith’s decision to remain mattered to him.
“I knew I wanted to stay after Terry said he wanted to stay,” Joseph acknowledged earlier this month.
Cornerback Daryus Dixson echoed that feeling.
“Terry’s a very special coach that we have, and it’s still a blessing to keep him here with Coach Campbell’s staff and everything.”
Smith’s profile has risen sharply in the process. Around Happy Valley, he may be just as recognizable as the head coach. Joseph laughed while recalling a summer field trip to a hibachi restaurant in State College, where one group of fans asked for a photo with Smith and barely acknowledged the players.
“A lot of people love him and what he’s done,” Joseph explained. “It’s been good for Penn State.”
Smith said the attention has spilled over into the rest of his life, too. He said he’s been asked to speak at “probably 10 times” more banquets and fundraisers this offseason than he ever has before. And every day, whether he’s out early in the morning or later on campus, somebody seems to stop him.
“I get the double-look, the horn, and it’s just - you know - I’m grateful for people seeing me,” Smith said.
For all the attention, he still tried to push the conversation forward, turning the focus toward September and what this 2026 team wants to become.
But that instinct may be part of why Penn State fans have embraced him so fully. As Wolosz put it, Smith has always been motivated the right way.
“He’s always done it for the right reasons,” Wolosz added. “And, when you do things for the right reasons, people will eventually recognize it.”
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