Skip to main content
Join Now
Team Avatar
Penn State

Terry Smith admits Penn State players are 'hurt and torn' by James Franklin firing

Grant Grubbs Profile Pictureby: Grant Grubbs10/16/25grant_grubbs_
terry-smith-penn-state-football-on3
Penn State cornerback coach Terry Smith. (Credit: Ryan Snyder | Blue White Illustrated)

While Penn State‘s decision to fire head coach James Franklin may have been a business decision, there are plenty of emotions surrounding the move. On Wednesday, Penn State interim coach Terry Smith revealed how the team is handling Franklin’s firing.

“Obviously, this is a challenging week,” Smith said. “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.”

Franklin had been Penn State’s head coach since 2014. Hopes were sky-high for the Nittany Lions ahead of the 2025 campaign after Franklin led the program to the College Football Playoff semifinals last season.

Penn State was ranked No. 2 in the preseason AP Top 25 and began its season with three consecutive wins, albeit against inferior competition. The Nittany Lions hit a speed bump in Week 5 when they fell in double overtime to Oregon.

Alas, the loss was far from season-ending. It wasn’t until Penn State suffered back-to-back losses to UCLA and Northwestern following its loss to Oregon that the school decided to fire James Franklin.

It hasn’t been easy for the players, who feel some guilt for the longtime head coach’s unexpected termination. Now, Terry Smith is attempting to channel’s team’s despair toward a common goal.

“We all failed Coach Franklin, right? That’s why he’s not here. We failed him. And so we have to take ownership in that, and as we move forward, we have to correct it, right?” Smith said. “We want to play for him. We want to play for us. But at the end of the day, it’s the game of football that we love. So every guy in the locker room has their own why. That’s why you line up and play every snap.”

On Saturday, Smith will make his debut as Penn State’s interim coach when the Nittany Lions square off against Iowa at 7 p.m. ET. The game will air live on Peacock.