Penn State Coaching Search: Josh Pate pitches Bob Chesney over hiring Terry Smith

Josh Pate admits that the coaching search he currently knows the least about right now is the one that’s ongoing in Happy Valley. However, based on what’s happened over the last few days, he now has a better idea of which direction he at least thinks it’s going in for Penn State.

Pate discussed the latest regarding the Nittany Lions’ search during ‘Josh Pate’s College Football Show’ on Sunday. He began by addressing the newfound interest, and some of his concerns with the idea of it, of making the interim coach as the official hire in Terry Smith, who is now 2-3 since taking over in University Park.

“There is a big groundswell of support up there to make the interim, Terry Smith, the permanent head coach. I know a lot of Penn State fans have their thoughts on this…The people that want Terry Smith to have the permanent job? Totally get it. Totally understand it,” said Pate. “I don’t think it would work long-term. I’ve got several reasons for that, but it’s nothing different than you guys have already hashed out amongst yourselves. So, if you disagree with me on that front, you disagree with me on that front.”

Pate used several metaphors to explain why he disagreed with hiring the interim, like comparing it to getting excited just off of a sugar high in questioning how long-term that success can be once everyone comes down from it. That’s not to take away from the job done by Smith, with the Nittany Lions now having won two straight over Michigan State and Nebraska. But, beyond that, Pate also thinks it’d be an odd admission in a situation where they hire the new coach in Smith from this staff that was under the former coach in James Franklin.

“I just want to caution, and, look, I’m an outsider. I know there’s a lot of former player support up there for Terry Smith. A lot of fans support Terry Smith getting the job. I get it. I understand how emotion works. I understand the dynamics of the roster there, how the recruiting class has fallen apart. How everyone, rightfully, is worried that, if we bring a total outsider in here? We’re not starting from scratch. You don’t start from scratch at Penn State. But, we’re going to have a lot of attrition no matter what. Our former guy just got hired at Virginia Tech. He’s going to snatch a lot of our players. He could snatch a lot of our staffers. So, like, we’re draining, we’re leaking right now, and so maybe Terry Smith is the guy who holds it together. There is a lot of merit to those points,” Pate said. “But, you’ve got to hire the guy that is the long-term face of a winning Penn State football operation. And, if you think that’s Terry Smith, hire him. There’s no way you can know that. How would you ever know that? The only thing you can go on is how they’ve performed in the back half of the season. It’s very admirable.”

“In this case, the interim was already there. You fired James Franklin, and you fired him with the intent on upgrading, right? That’s why you fire a coach, because you think you can do better. In this event, you will be openly admitting that the better option had been on his staff all along. And, if you believe that that was the dynamic there? Maybe you’re right. I don’t tend to think that’s the situation, nor do I think that ever was the situation,” said Pate. “I think there’s a good option for Penn State out there. I just don’t think the guy who would win there long-term, to the degree of above and beyond what James Franklin did, which is important to note here, is Terry Smith. I don’t personally think that.”

With that, Pate has instead circled a candidate elsewhere in James Madison’s Bob Chesney, who he was fascinated in based on all kinds of collegiate stops before now having JMU at 19-5 (.792) since taking over in 2024. He is another one of these options that could end up complicated because of the Dukes’ chances at being in the College Football Playoff. Still, based on that resumé, not to mention his ties to the northeast, this is the one that has caught the attention of Pate when it comes to the Nittany Lions’ options.

“Here’s what I will say. I think they have zeroed in on their guy for the past several days. I think that guy may be Bob Chesney. That’s who I think that guy may be,” said Pate. “Now, that’s not the only one who’s gotten a look here. I don’t even think that’s the only guy who they will have gotten well down the road in contract negotiation with. Whoever they hire they will claim was the only guy they offered the job to, which is what everybody does because technically it’s true. Big question here is, well, what about Bob Chesney? Because he’s the head coach at James Madison right now. They could be in the playoff. They could have their season extended. This is why I’ve had trouble, like, zoning in and zeroing in on Lane at Ole Miss as the only coach that could potentially be in this mess. Lane has just been way more performative about it, but there are other guys. Sumrall could be in a position where his season is extended, but he gets a new job and he has to make a decision. Bob Chesney could be in that situation. He gets a new job, but team is in the playoff and he’s got to make a decision. So, like, a lot of guys could be in this situation.”

“I think that, if you were to go and look at Bob Chesney’s Wikipedia page, it’s really crazy. Now, if you’re a winner, you’re a winner. I mean, Curt Cignetti has taught us that, so I’m not going to doubt just because a guy has been somewhere, hasn’t been somewhere. But, go look at Chesney’s Wikipedia page, if he gets the Penn State job, where he will have come from to where he will be going, because that it is a pretty steep ascension,” said Pate. “If he can win, he can win. I’m not pushing back on it.”

From there on, though, again, Pate was admittedly unsure where this one is as opposed to some of the other searches still happening around college football. He’s not sure of what that means about how well it’s going or not, but that it’s of note considering how little he knows, let alone how little some people within the search may even know, about the happenings right now for Penn State.

“So, if it’s not Bob Chesney, where do they go? That’s actually a great question. I have centered in on Bob Chesney for a couple of days now, so I think that’s where they’ll go. If they don’t? Look, this is the one I’ve had the least amount of feel on. This is the one, this is the search behind the scenes that I’ve had a lot of people really look sideways at me about,” Pate said. “I’ll hit some folks up, I’ll ask them where they think the search is, and, I mean, some of these folks are involved in these searches. And they’ll say, look, I mean, I can give you an angle on it, but we really don’t know. Sometimes, that’s just a hallmark of a really, really high-functioning coaching search. I’m not sure Penn State has been that.”

“So, again, not pulling against any of these folks,” said Pate. “Would love to be wrong, but I don’t know.”