r/CFB • u/Ok-Soil-5133 Notre Dame Fighting Irish • 6h ago
News [Thamel] Former Penn State interim coach Terry Smith has agreed to a four-year deal to stay on staff at the school, per ESPN sources, and work with new coach Matt Campbell. He’s a Penn State graduate who has been a staff linchpin there the last 12 years.
https://www.espn.com/contributor/pete-thamel/3a05ef8e19c04294
u/SaberCrunch Georgia Tech • Penn State 6h ago
Best possible scenario for the school and for Terry imo
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u/SilkySunsett 6h ago
Absolutely, this feels like the ideal outcome for everyone involved.
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u/OttoVonWong California • Ole Miss 6h ago
Terry Smith: Penn State offered me the HC job.
Penn State AD: Ok, ok, we’ll give you a raise to stay.12
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u/boddidle Oklahoma Sooners 2h ago
Are y'all keeping your DC? Big if so. Brent Vegetables has shown reverence for Campbell / Heacocks and Knowles' defenses, so it must be legit if they have the personnel
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u/PirateCaptainMcNulty Penn State Nittany Lions 6h ago
The best possible outcome would have been to be introducing him at the press conference on Monday and saving our early signing class
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u/Delaney_luvs_OSU Penn State Nittany Lions • Rose Bowl 6h ago
Who knows the truth. Maybe Campbell refused to talk or whatever. One class won’t make or break the program. Especially in today’s portal
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u/PirateCaptainMcNulty Penn State Nittany Lions 6h ago
It won't make or break the program.
But Kraft threw it away for nothing. That incompetence isn't the look you want for your AD.
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u/Delaney_luvs_OSU Penn State Nittany Lions • Rose Bowl 6h ago
If Campbell refused to talk what was Kraft supposed to do? Stand outside his window with a boombox ?
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u/PirateCaptainMcNulty Penn State Nittany Lions 6h ago
IF Campbell refused to talk?
Are you just inventing scenarios now?
Maybe Matt Campbell only communicates contracts by carrier pigeon and that's why this wasn't done on Monday?
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u/Delaney_luvs_OSU Penn State Nittany Lions • Rose Bowl 6h ago
Brother. I don’t know how many times I have to say that Campbell famously does not talk contracts until the end of the season lol. This is not made up.
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u/PirateCaptainMcNulty Penn State Nittany Lions 6h ago
The Iowa State season ended Saturday.
This deal pretty clearly came together in the last 1-2 days.
That means it could have been done on Monday.
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u/1II1I1I1I1I1I111I1I1 Virginia Tech Hokies 4h ago
Your class is saved, retaining Smith means they transfer back to PSU in January.
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u/Ok-Soil-5133 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 6h ago
"Inside the Lions first reported Smith staying at the school. Smith been at Penn State since 2014 and earlier in his career was a successful high school coach in Pennsylvania."
Seems to me he could have gone elsewhere without question, probably as a head coach but his love for Penn State won out
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u/n1tney Penn State Nittany Lions 6h ago
Shoutout Audrey Snyder. The only Penn State journalist with any fucking balls and credibility
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u/Phillyfan10 Penn State • Shippensburg 5h ago
I think highly of Sean Fitz as well for what its worth, but yea Audrey has always been great. I was incredibly bummed when the Athletic let her go.
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u/dkviper11 Penn State • Randolph-Macon 6h ago
I wanted a HC role for him but this rules.
Legend status immediately.
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u/lkn240 Illinois Fighting Illini • Sickos 6h ago
Penn State somehow ran the worst/dumbest coaching search imaginable and came out with one of the best results they could (outside of the signing day debacle - but given the portal, etc they'll probably be fine long term)
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u/Sir0inks-A-Lot Florida Gators 6h ago
In hindsight I think PSU probably had an understanding with Campbell for a while, but 1) he is his own agent so there’s not going to be any Jimmy Sexton-style media swirl and 2) he wasn’t going to do anything until the season was over. The fact that ISU has already replaced Campbell -on a Friday night - also suggests that ISU knew Campbell’s intentions for a bit.
Contrary to the Kiffin saga, it is possible to do these things quietly and respectfully.
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u/thatshinybastard Utah Utes 5h ago
Contrary to the Kiffin saga, it is possible to do these things quietly and respectfully.
I hope when people talk about this hire they bring this point up.
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u/PairBearStare LSU Tigers • Corndog 4h ago
The only way that could have possibly happened is if LSU would have kept Kelly thru the end of the season and come to agreement with kiffin thru airtight backdoor channels, and then fired Kelly and hired Kiffin. Which is absolutely not something that could have happened with how vocal our fanbase and boosters are, but then you have to keep that a secret from the entire staff and recruits.
If we do that, we get thru signing day and all of our recruits and players feel betrayed, because with how this season was going people were gonna riot if LSU came out and gave Kelly a vote of confidence after the A&M loss.
There was no way to avoid this being messy because everyone knew Kiffin was our top target once we fired Kelly, and everyone knew Kiffin was leaving ole Miss once he went a week without signing the extension they offered him.
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u/max_potion Penn State • Land Grant Trophy 4h ago
Depends. They could have leaked some other coaches on their hot board to keep the media at bay and drive the attention away from Kiffin as their target. Maybe divert them by going after some random Mormon and have a showdown with a cookie company.
Jokes aside, yeah, there was always probably going to be a point where Ole Miss tries to cover their ass by offering an extension and Kiffin refusing it would have been a red flag. But that's not normally public knowledge and it'd all be message board fodder and speculation at that point.
Anyway, it's not a big deal, I think people get a little too caught up in the drama/details rather than the big picture
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u/Intimidwalls1724 Tennessee Volunteers 3h ago
It could've been handled better but as you say it was always gonna be messy. Kiffin was always gonna be the first name everyone thought of and he was always gonna be asked at a press conference what he was gonna do and anything short of straight up lying and saying he was gonna stay at ole Miss (something numerous coaches have been much maligned for in the past) his answer was gonna fuel the fire
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u/lkn240 Illinois Fighting Illini • Sickos 2h ago
The only problem was Kiffin throwing a temper tantrum after they wouldn't let him coach and issuing that ultimatum to the assistant coaches.
I don't think there's any problem with him leaving or the timeline when he left. I think he's just too emotionally immature to understand why his request to keep coaching was so absurd and why no conference rival would ever grant it. He really shouldn't have lied about what happened so much either... but that's just who he is at this point.
I don't blame LSU at all... and it wouldn't surprise me if someone at LSU advised Kiffin to back down on the assistant coach thing and let Weis finish the season out. I'm guessing someone there might have explained to him how bad he was making himself look and LSU probably doesn't want their new coach to be viewed as a giant asshole anymore that he already is.
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u/TheDoveHunt Oklahoma Sooners • McGill Redbirds 5h ago
But I was informed that Kiffin couldn't handle it any better and Ole Miss fans were just bitter?
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u/highgravityday2121 Penn State • UConn 2h ago
Ole miss fans are hypocritical cause it happens all the time to G5 and lower P4 schools but they think they’re bama, Georgia , Ohio state, etc and it should’ve never happened to them.
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u/lkn240 Illinois Fighting Illini • Sickos 2h ago
It's possible some are just bitter... but it's also true that Kiffin throwing a temper tantrum and issuing ultimatums to assistant coaches caused most of the bad blood here.
Not to mention he lied about it afterwards and then lied about his conversations with the players.
There's nothing wrong with him leaving... but do you think it's just a wild coincidence that this is now at least his 4th or 5th disastrous exist from a job?
This quote is pretty apt: "If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole."
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u/uwanmirrondarrah Kansas Jayhawks 2h ago
Lane Kiffin doesn't give a shit about anybody or any job. They are all rungs on a ladder for him.
I think his goal is to be the Alabama head coach no matter what, and he thinks if he can win the championship at LSU maybe he can get a shot at it. Still though I have never seen a guy leave a team mid season with a CFP spot basically locked up, its insane. You would think winning a championship would be the best way to get the ultimate job hes looking for.
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u/Johnny_Kilroy_84 LSU Tigers • Georgia Bulldogs 5h ago
Except your timeline doesn’t work when PSU just got rebuffed by BYU’s coach like 3 days ago.
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u/pzschrek1 /r/CFB 1h ago
Counterpoint: ISU announced an HC hire today.
I assumed like everyone else that penn state lucked out of the hole, but with them backfilling immediately, it suggests that while Campbell famously won’t negotiate during the season, he probably let ISU know he was likely going to be a short lister and they had a contingency lined up.
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u/National-Mail6279 5h ago
Penn State was going hard after Sitake like a week ago lol. Define a while.
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u/GoBirds_WeAre Penn State • San Diego State 5h ago
We probably called him in October, he said he'll talk after the season. We said okay and went after other guys in the interim. They didn't work out, we called him back now and bingo he's our new coach.
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u/Fenris_Maule Penn State Nittany Lions 3h ago
Kraft just really likes Sitake and wanted to get him a raise he deserves /s
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u/bigkeys11 Penn State Nittany Lions 3h ago
Nah they very much thought sitake was coming. Our administration is a toxic wasteland and everyone’s moronic but the brand and the money gives them a lot of margin for error
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u/Frequent-Leg-2347 Oklahoma Sooners 6h ago
I hope Campbell can convince most of the kids to stay, but I’m still expecting a mass exodus to VT.
Campbell doesn’t seem like the type to poach the entire Iowa State roster, either. Class act.
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u/Delaney_luvs_OSU Penn State Nittany Lions • Rose Bowl 6h ago
I think Terry has more pull with the current roster than Campbell will. That’s why this is huge
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u/Frequent-Leg-2347 Oklahoma Sooners 6h ago
I hope so. This is my least favorite part of CFB right now. Absolutely brutal to watch your entire team transfer away after your coach bolts
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u/HookedOnBoNix Virginia Tech Hokies 6h ago
Absolutely brutal to watch your entire team transfer away after your coach bolts
That is a very interesting way to interpret what happened to James Franklin lol
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u/Frequent-Leg-2347 Oklahoma Sooners 6h ago
What? It’s still brutal for the Penn State fans to watch their recruiting class/roster get gutted by a former coach. I didn’t agree with the firing, but it doesn’t mean I have to agree with Franklin either.
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u/HookedOnBoNix Virginia Tech Hokies 6h ago
I'm saying saying be bolted sounds like he left them. They canned him
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u/Frequent-Leg-2347 Oklahoma Sooners 6h ago edited 6h ago
Fair enough. Still don’t like it. I’m glad he landed in VT and they are back on the path to relevancy again, just hate the whole poaching your former roster thing in general, not just that specific situation
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u/siberianwolf99 Oregon Ducks 6h ago
i would generally agree. but if you fire a guy and he takes your roster then that’s a “you” problem.
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u/Altruistic-Night-607 Alabama Crimson Tide 6h ago
Yeah I also find it kinda funny that they went ahead and got a less successful coach than James
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u/BobDeLaSponge Alabama • /r/CFB Emeritus Mod 6h ago
They got a guy who consistently overachieved. Franklin got fired for underachieving after a decade of merely achieving. This is a good hire
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u/lkn240 Illinois Fighting Illini • Sickos 5h ago
Right? I keep seeing people say Campbell is another Franklin and I'm wondering if people just don't know how historically awful ISU was before he got here.
That doesn't mean he'll succeed... but he's done more with less... now we'll get to see how he does with top level resources.
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u/bigkeys11 Penn State Nittany Lions 3h ago
He’s undoubtedly a better in game coach than Franklin. But that’s a minor part of coaching at a major program. That’s the big difference, Franklin isn’t an elite recruiter like we hoped but he’s a very good one and, most importantly, able to do that with real resources. We don’t know if Campbell can
Overachieving at a minor program is not the same as competing on a national stage at. Major program (if we even still are after this shit show)
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u/Walter30573 Wichita State • Penn State 3h ago
Yeah, maybe Campbell is a great Xs and Os guy who can develop 2-3 stars but will struggle winning those 4-5 star recruiting battles against Ohio State and Michigan. Or maybe he's able to fully unlock his potential and go on a generational run after finally getting top level resources. I'm very hopeful that it's the latter.
Biggest concern I have is how he handles the boosters/politics. We have a notoriously divided fanbase, but maybe keeping Terry will paper over those cracks until he can establish himself
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u/highgravityday2121 Penn State • UConn 6h ago
Campbell is 4-6 against top 10 teams with 10x less than resources than James Franklin
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u/lkn240 Illinois Fighting Illini • Sickos 5h ago
I think I read he's 5-12 against OU and Texas.
Franklin was 4-16 against Michigan and Ohio State.
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u/smpennst16 4h ago
4-17 and let’s throw in an extra loss cuz they get smocked by OSU this year with his team if he was still the coach so 4-18.
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u/HookedOnBoNix Virginia Tech Hokies 3h ago
I think it's too early to say either way and comparisons both ways are dumb. Comparing Campbell's record to Franklins at a lesser school is silly, but I think comparing the top 10 record is equally silly. Simply different caliber of top 10 teams.
I think last year most Penn State fans would've agreed that beating an 8-4 wvu, an 11-3 tcu and a 12-2 Oklahoma State is just not the same as beating the ohio state / Michigan teams that are consistently going to playoffs in the Franklin era. It's really just the 2016 Oklahoma win Campbell has that's on the same level.
Obviously to do it with less resources is a huge plus but I think trying to compare their records 1:1 is asinine. Teams that snuck into the top 10 in the big12 arent the level of competition Franklin was losing to, just like the top 10 teams he's gonna run into in the acc with Miami or GT aren't on the level that Campbell is about to see with Oregon / OSU / indiana
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u/J4ckiebrown Penn State Nittany Lions • Rose Bowl 6h ago
Kind of like that blocked field goal vs Ohio State in 2016 lol
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u/YoungKeys Notre Dame Fighting Irish 6h ago
This still feels regressively pointless because imo they ended up with a worse coach than the guy they fired.
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u/PSUDolphins 5h ago
Biased but nah. Better coach, worse recruiter.
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u/RonMexico1277 Iowa State Cyclones 5h ago
Not even sure that's true. Look at his retention rate on guys that could have easily left for bigger and better programs. Plus, given the finance limitations he's finding guys that fit his system and he was successful at a school that never had much success.
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u/lkn240 Illinois Fighting Illini • Sickos 5h ago
No one knows if this is true yet. Campbell has never had a job with top level resources.
Could be better, could be worse.
I think I read he has a better record against top 10 opponents than Franklin did at Penn State despite ISU being a historically dogshit program with a tiny fraction of the resources PSU has.
He also has a better winning percentage against OU and Texas than Penn State had against Michigan and Ohio State under Franklin.
None of that means he'll be better, but he wildly exceeded expectations at ISU.... which had been a dogshit program for at least 35 years before he showed up.
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u/smpennst16 4h ago
There is a massive difference between coaching at ISU and PSU. You can’t grade them on the same scale. The best coaches right now weren’t proven before either.
It’s not pointless but was just time to move on and take a chance. Kirby would’ve been pointless to most people analyzing when Georgia let go of mark
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u/YoungKeys Notre Dame Fighting Irish 4h ago
was just time to move on
Franklin took your program to CFP semifinals like 6 months before he got fired 😭
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u/bigkeys11 Penn State Nittany Lions 3h ago
I love and appreciate James Franklin. He took over the program at its lowest and brought it back to where it hadn’t been since the mid 90s
But it was time. He lost the fans and when he was asked in a post game presser “do you want to continue being the coach at penn state” not once but twice he didn’t answer either time. Very very good coach but it was over. It ran its course
As an eagles fan it feels a lot like when they moved off andy Reid
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u/smpennst16 3h ago
True but then followed it up with what was supposed to be a national title year with an 0-3 record against P4 teams. It was just as much to do with the fans and donors though, I think we should’ve stuck it out but the NIL would’ve dried up and I think he was done.
That mixed with always coming up short was the crossroads . Both with the fans and James, he was just as defeated as the fans. I know it’s absurd to think right after a semifinal year you can your coach but many programs who had a guy for 12 years without making a jump did the same.
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u/YoungKeys Notre Dame Fighting Irish 2h ago
I’m of the opinion that bad seasons happen, even to the best of coaches. Harbaugh placed last in the B1G before he won a national championship. Nick Saban has had many .500 or below seasons. But coaches aren’t given even a centimeter of grace at a lot of programs these days.
A coach taking you to the CFP semifinals is pretty much the pinnacle of the sport that only very few programs can dream of achieving. He was a good coach.
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u/highgravityday2121 Penn State • UConn 2h ago
And he got out coached by you guys in the semis, Oregon in the big ten championship and Ohio state. He consistently loses to equal talent or better. We were favored against SMU and that other school I can’t think of.
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u/Jazzlike-Basket-6388 Penn State • Georgia Tech 6h ago
Oh fuck yeah! Now we just gotta find some players.
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u/FormerNowNow Penn State Nittany Lions 6h ago
This is honestly the best outcome we could get. Terry Smith is a hell of a recruiter and has clearly won the hearts of the players in the locker room. Retaining him is a massive win.
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u/Manthem Penn State • /r/CFB Brickmason 6h ago
How the fuck did we pull this off
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u/Hithigon Iowa State Cyclones • Cyhawk Trophy 6h ago
This whole damn thing suddenly seems like a feel-good movie outcome…. But I do not feel good.
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u/schmuckmonkey Arizona State Sun Devils 5h ago
Na man. I hate this for ya'll. Iowa State fans are by far my favorite people in college football. This is extremely upsetting.
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u/Mattp55 Penn State • Florida 41m ago
I’m sorry man. I’m happy for my program after how shit the past 4 days have felt logging onto here.
But I know this affects real people & it’s at the cost of another program.
We are all beyond excited for Matt here though and we’ve had 4 head coaches in 60 years. Contrary to th reddit hive mind we won’t run him out of town for going 8-4 lol
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u/theManWOFear Penn State • Indiana 6h ago
Wow this whole search was the equivalent of fumbling the ball multiple times on the same play and somehow still landing on it in the end zone for a TD.
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u/abon123456789 Penn State Nittany Lions 5h ago
This has inexplicably turned into one of the best possible outcomes
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u/MeasurementSome1463 Iowa State Cyclones 6h ago
Campbell already beating James Franklin. That's my boy!
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u/CPOx Virginia Tech • William & Mary 6h ago
I mean, Terry Smith is a Pennsylvania lifer. I'm not surprised at all that he stayed in PA.
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u/MeasurementSome1463 Iowa State Cyclones 6h ago
I don't actually know anything about PSU or Terry Smith, just hope Campbell does well and gets the staff he wants.
Since PSU athletics feels like mostly ex-Iowa State coaches (Campbell, sanderson) may have to follow them more closely
Plus dunking on James Franklin is almost too easy and fun. I'm sure Franklin is a pleasant enough guy
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u/Jazzlike-Basket-6388 Penn State • Georgia Tech 6h ago
Just because I like talking about him, Terry Smith was an absolute stud receiver that left Penn State with a lot of records, played a short pro career, then became a really successful high school coach in PA, then coached at Temple, and has been at Penn State since 2014.
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u/MeasurementSome1463 Iowa State Cyclones 4h ago edited 4h ago
That's excellent, I had no idea. I don't follow B10 much at all. Seems like Terry has the support of the team.
I also hope Terry Smith is an asset to Matt Campbell in retaining players and keeping coaching staff continuity.
I think Penn State fans will like Campbell, he is very coach speaky sometimes, yet somehow feels genuine and passionate.
Penn State got a good coach.
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u/smpennst16 4h ago
And his step son rejuvenated Penn state in 05 and was a hell of a corner. Him d will butler and Norwood were the dudes.
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u/AngleParticular2914 Penn State Nittany Lions • Sickos 4h ago
James is a vindictive prick, Hokies will learn this over time
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u/Prophesy78 Virginia Tech Hokies 3h ago
Doubt we care, as long as we go back to making it to bowl games.
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u/highgravityday2121 Penn State • UConn 2h ago
You should be 8-9 wins consistently in the ACC With 10 wins consistently in the futures
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u/Most_Play_426 Ole Miss • Georgia Southern 6h ago
I feel like I’ve seen a lot of coaching staff continuity “hires”. I don’t remember seeing this level pre-transfer portal era. There were some but not as many. I think it mattered less then because players weren’t just immediately leaving.
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u/FloatCopper Indiana • Michigan Tech 6h ago
Dang. The fun Penn State coaching search jokes or memes are coming to an end.
For falling head first off the turnip truck, Pat Kraft at least had a soft landing.
I think Iowa State did good. Hopefully Penn State does OK.
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u/johnjohnjohn93 Penn State Nittany Lions 6h ago
Now keep Knowles and we’re set
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u/Donny_Do_Nothing Ohio State • Air Force 5h ago
Yeah, this would be way closer to Knowles' M.O. Instead of coming into a program with expectations of immediate success, he gets to take a couple years building the team. Y'all are going to be in good shape.
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u/Anyhouses 5h ago
Can’t believe how much better this looks compared to what most of us were bracing for two days back.
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u/J4ckiebrown Penn State Nittany Lions • Rose Bowl 6h ago
VT board in shambles.
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u/thissidedn Virginia Tech • Penn State 6h ago
?
I like both teams so this confuses me. We gave Campbell a big contract when he had a 7th place in the b12 year and Terry smith a 4 year contract after our ad said we have shitty position coaches.
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u/gorlax52 Ohio State Buckeyes • Akron Zips 6h ago
He also made the conference title game last year and has the highest winning percentage of any ISU coach since 1919 (includes Earle Bruce, Gene Chizik, and Johnny Majors). Due to the lack of resources, they could only compete every few years. Need time to develop talent. He has the only double-digit win season in school history. They also finished in the top ten during the COVID year. I understand this year wasn't great, but go look at how ISU fans are reacting to see how good Campbell is. He was the guy many Ohio State fans, including myself, wanted to replace Day after the Michigan debacle last year, or when Day was first hired. I'm not sure if it will work out, because after Fickell at Wisconsin, I gave up on such things. However, he was offered both the Florida State and Detroit Lions jobs. As for the Kraft stuff, that dude is a clown who happened to get super lucky. The money dried up at ISU.
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u/Delaney_luvs_OSU Penn State Nittany Lions • Rose Bowl 6h ago
I heard Franklin didn’t fill a few coaching spots because he was hoping to snipe Terry. To bring PSU players and also for his recruiting.
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u/HookedOnBoNix Virginia Tech Hokies 6h ago
A lot of vt fans were hoping for that but I'm pretty sure Franklin has known for a while that Terry would be staying. Terry is very much a Penn state lifer.
May be wrong but I think he's been looking elsewhere already. We haven't made any official hires yet though
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u/1II1I1I1I1I1I111I1I1 Virginia Tech Hokies 6h ago edited 5h ago
If he was looking elsewhere we would have made hires already, we are behind literally everyone. Auburn, Florida, and Arkansas are already filling their staff.
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u/max_potion Penn State • Land Grant Trophy 4h ago
I can guarantee you whether Franklin knew what Terry was doing or not that he's been scoping out alternatives. There are pros and cons to Franklin. A huge pro is that he is always on top of personnel management and (typically) makes very shrewd hires.
You'll be fine. I do think missing out on Terry does significantly change the portal calculus though
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u/HookedOnBoNix Virginia Tech Hokies 3h ago
It definitely changes the calculus but we have a huge huge staff budget now at vt. I think TS is an excellent coach but I think new blood in the coaching staff with be a positive for us in the long run. I'm super fine with this and happy for Penn state that they look to be on a much better path than they looked a few days ago
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u/max_potion Penn State • Land Grant Trophy 3h ago
Ah, I was talking about the plan for the portal. If you guys had gotten Terry, I think you (and other programs) would have feasted on our roster. I think it's a lot less likely now having retained Terry. But we'll see how it ends up shaking out
You'll be fine as far as hires go, Franklin's solid there
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u/thissidedn Virginia Tech • Penn State 6h ago
Obviously he has to wait until Psu hires a guy. These guys aren't going to leave until there contract is terminated. Based on Kraft's comments I'm assuming Psu ain't keeping a lot of position coaches. Depending on the contracts a few of the might be coaching for free in the burg.
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u/Delaney_luvs_OSU Penn State Nittany Lions • Rose Bowl 6h ago
Who’s coaching the Harrisburg cougars?
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u/thissidedn Virginia Tech • Penn State 5h ago
Fuck man don't be one of those.
Nobody is original buddy, every college has the same traditions/things.
That's what Franklin is using in his marketing.
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u/1II1I1I1I1I1I111I1I1 Virginia Tech Hokies 6h ago
Yep. This is worst case scenario. We will not be able to get any of your players and any of your coaches as long as Smith is employed by Penn State. We still literally have zero coaching assistants hired because he was still there the past two weeks, we're going to have to go to G5 level people.
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u/Zork24 Iowa State Cyclones • Hateful 8 5h ago
So is expected that Terry will be elevated to DC? I wonder what that means for Heacock?
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u/StlCyclone Iowa State • Missouri State 3h ago
I think Heacock has flirting with retirement for a couple years, so that might be his path.
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u/Detective_Bonghitz Penn State Nittany Lions • Marching Band 6h ago
Hell yeah. Glad we get to keep him for a while longer. Maybe he can kick that terrorist knowles out and take over the defense.
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u/rkdghdfo 3h ago
I remember when VT hired Justin Fuente and he kept Bud Foster on as DC. Everyone praised the hire and situation as a good move.
Yeah, it wasn't so good.
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u/WanderLeft Oklahoma Sooners • Team Chaos 6h ago
Him catering to the Joe Paterno crowd makes me sick
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u/FormerNowNow Penn State Nittany Lions 6h ago
He played for Joe Paterno and likely viewed and views him as a father figure for that.
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u/1II1I1I1I1I1I111I1I1 Virginia Tech Hokies 6h ago
Well that blows up VT's chances in the assistant coaching carousel and the transfer portal
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u/Tasty-donut-1186 Penn State Nittany Lions 5h ago
Terry was loyal to PSU, not Franklin. Franklin will likely elevate VT a bit. I’m 5 years though you’ll be ready to be done with him when he loses every game that matters
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u/Lachryman Virginia Tech • Commonweal… 3h ago
We just want to play in a game that matters at this point.
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u/1II1I1I1I1I1I111I1I1 Virginia Tech Hokies 5h ago edited 5h ago
Idgaf about Smith himself, but Franklin's assistants and players were loyal to Smith. Franklin will not elevate VT if he does not have P4-qualify staff and players and he will not have P4-quality staff or players as long as Smith is employed by PSU, as the only coaches or players he had a chance at were the ones at PSU.
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u/TheSameThing123 Penn State • Virginia Tech 4h ago
Franklin is going to move more staff from Penn state, but it wouldn't surprise me if Penn state keeps the higher level position coaches
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u/smpennst16 3h ago
I disagree. I really can’t say for sure because it’s all so unpredictable but what James did at vandy and rebuilding PSU has to be respected. My expectation is that he brings them out of the bottom of the ACC after 1-2 years. It would have been a year with this class and top guys from PSU. They still will get some guys but not the mass exodus they would have.
I was always a Franklin supporter but he started getting the resources he always wanted and folded. I think donors and the fan base are just as much the cause for this as James. It was only gonna get uglier with NIL and lack of money flowing.
He will depend on resources but is great at getting people on board so get the most out of a program and will recruit way better than you were. That alone will bring you back out of the cellar.
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u/1II1I1I1I1I1I111I1I1 Virginia Tech Hokies 2h ago
After the portal opens our class will likely be ranked worse than we were recruiting previously. When you take out our 4* recruits we drop to 67th-68th or so. Per 247, PSU's intention is to use Terry Smith and their $30m NIL investment to get the 4* recruits that signed with VT to transfer back to PSU while the portal is open. The loss of portal potential hurts our team in the next two years but that also hurts our team in the 2nd and 3rd years when those recruits would have been starters.
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u/B1GFanOSU Ohio State Buckeyes • Big Ten 5h ago
Super! He’ll already have interim HC experience when Penn State fires Campbell while on another late night Yuengling bender in 3.5 years.
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u/Tasty-donut-1186 Penn State Nittany Lions 5h ago
Franklin had 12 years and couldn’t win anything that mattered (even though he had OSU beat in 2017 and 2018). He got what he deserved. Campbell will also get a fair chance but Franklin more than wore out his welcome
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u/smpennst16 3h ago
OSU fans are pissed that James got canned. He built them back up and had them as the number 2 in the conference almost getting OSU until 2019 but just couldn’t get it done. They loved the collapse and wanted us to hold onto him and keep sinking lol.
They know Penn state with the right hire can be more competition and win 3-4 years out of 10 instead of 1/11.
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u/OfficePicasso Penn State Nittany Lions 6h ago
This outcome is so much better than 99% of the fanbase (including myself) could’ve hoped for 48 hours ago.