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Terry Smith jokes that he could have gotten hypothermia after having Gatorade dumped on him

On3 imageby: Dan Morrison5 hours agodan_morrison96
Terry Smith, Penn State
Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Terry Smith looks on prior to the game against the Indiana Hoosiers at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

It’s been an emotional season for the Penn State Nittany Lions, going through a coaching change after failing to live up to preseason expectations. Finally, on Saturday, the Nittany Lions got their first win under interim head coach Terry Smith, knocking off Michigan State.

Celebrating Smith, his first win as a head coach, and snapping a six-game losing streak, Penn State players would dump Gatorade on their interim coach. It would become a special moment for Smith, which he emphasized after the game, even while joking about the cold and wet.

“It’s always a special moment when people celebrate you that way,” Terry Smith said. “It’s very humbling. I love those guys to death. I would do anything for them. They played so hard for us, and it was just a great moment. You know, I’m sitting here soaking wet. I’m just like hypothermia or something. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. It was just a great moment for Penn State football.”

Terry Smith initially took over following the Northwestern loss. That was on October 11th. Since then, the Nittany Lions took three losses, including to some of the Big Ten’s premier teams, like Ohio State and Indiana. With that, they’d fall to 3-6 on the season. So, getting back on the winning side became an emotional release for the team, saving a chance to go bowling.

For Smith personally, it was his first win as a college head coach. That made him a little distracted while trying to figure out the final moments of the game, opening him up to the Gatorade bath.

“Yeah, so I was a little bit distracted,” Smith said. “I told the offense to take a knee. They were asking me should we go in and score. I said no. Victory formation is the best football formation. Let’s end the game on our terms. Then Danny O’Brien, our QB coach, walked up to me and he said, ‘You know, I don’t normally get emotional,’ and I’m looking at him sideways, like, we don’t never have these conversations and the bucket hit me. So, that was the setup. You know it was fun, it was good. As a coach, you relish in those moments, because you pour your heart and soul into the players, and you hope that they respect and honor you back by playing hard.”

Penn State and Smith are hoping to make winning a habit in the last few weeks of the season and build up some momentum. That will continue next week in Happy Valley against Nebraska.