Pat Kraft confirms Terry Smith is absolutely a candidate in coaching search

Penn State shocked the college football world this week when it parted ways with long-time head coach James Franklin, who had been with the program since 2014. Franklin led the Nittany Lions to a 104-45 (64-36) record over 12 seasons, but back-to-back-to-back losses to No. 6 Oregon, previously 0-4 UCLA and Northwestern this season ended his tenure.

Athletic Director Pat Kraft will now head the program’s first head coaching search since the 2013 offseason, when head coach Bill O’Brien departed for the Houston Texans after spending two seasons in Happy Valley. On Monday, Kraft confirmed that interim head coach Terry Smith will be a candidate in that search.

“Absolutely,” Kraft responded when asked. “Everybody’s under consideration. And I’m gonna help Terry do everything he can to run the table. But yes, he will be considered a candidate.”

Smith has been with the program since 2014, when he was hired as Penn State‘s cornerbacks coach. He was promoted to associate head coach/cornerbacks coach in 2021 and was elevated to the Nittany Lions’ interim head coach following Franklin’s firing. His first career game as a head coach will come this weekend on the road at Iowa.

Smith joins a loaded crop of potential head coaching hires

“Obviously, this is a challenging week,” Smith said on Wednesday. “The guys are responding somewhat. We still have some work to do. They’re all hurt and torn, disappointed in what happened. Coach brought everyone in the building in. These are young people.”

“We, as adults, we have to adjust quicker. We’re just taking the time to mentor these guys and spend some quality time with them to get them interested and motivated back out here. I thought [Wednesday] was a little bit better than [Tuesday], and that’s all we want, is each day to just make some progress.”

Nebraska‘s Matt Rhule, Notre Dame‘s Marcus Freeman, Iowa State‘s Matt Campbell, Vanderbilt‘s Clark Lea, Missouri‘s Eli Drinkwitz and Duke‘s Manny Diaz have all been floated as potential candidates for the Penn State opening. Now, according to Kraft, Smith’s name can be added to that list.

The Nittany Lions opened the season ranked No. 2 in the country and won their first three games of the season. This set up a top-six ‘White Out’ matchup between No. 3 Penn State and No. 6 Oregon in Happy Valley three weeks ago, which the Nittany Lions dropped in overtime. This spiraled into those losses to previously 0-4 UCLA and Northwestern, which turned into Franklin’s firing.

Kickoff for Saturday’s game between Penn State and Iowa is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET. The game can be seen on Peacock.