Penn State Nittany Lions interim head coach Terry Smith is close with former head coach James Franklin.
Smith, who was the associate head coach and quarterbacks coach before being promoted when Franklin was fired, has been at Penn State since 2014, not counting his time as a player there from 1987 to 1991.
That means he was coaching alongside Franklin, now the head coach at Virginia Tech, for over 10 seasons before Franklin was canned in mid-October. Still, the two remain in almost constant contact.
“I talk to him probably every other day,” Smith said in a recent news conference, according to On3. “So I’m in communication with him.”
Terry Smith knows that James Franklin can still have an impact on Penn State Nittany Lions
Although the two are close, it’s worth noting that Smith is cognizant of the specific danger that Franklin poses to his old program. Franklin recruited many of the players on Penn State’s team as well as the players in their 2026 and even 2027 recruiting classes. In the age of NIL deals and seemingly unlimited transfer portal access, Franklin could very well use those connections to start building up his new program at Virginia Tech.
Smith seems to be very aware of that fact, and he knows the Nittany Lions are vulnerable.
“The immediate threat is to take Penn State players,” Smith said, discussing how Franklin can still impact Penn State in the here and now. “Right? With the uncertainty of the next head coach. The locker room is — the most important thing that we can do is to protect the locker room. When it comes to recruits, high school recruits, he has an advantage right now because we don’t have a permanent head coach.”
Smith will certainly want to throw his hat in the ring for the new head-coaching opening at Penn State, but for now, all he can do is be a good steward of the program.
It’s a big-time job, and the Nittany Lions may require a big-time name to lead them into the future, and Smith is not that at this point in his career.
Potential targets for Penn State include Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz, Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea and Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline.
