Terry Smith reveals how much communication he holds with James Franklin

Former Penn State associate head coach/cornerbacks coach Terry Smith was promoted to interim head coach after James Franklin was fired following the Nittany Lions’ 3-3 start to the season. Under Smith, Penn State is 1-3 with a 28-10 win over Michigan State last Saturday.

During a Wednesday media opportunity, Smith revealed how much communication he has with Franklin, who was just hired as Virginia Tech‘s new head coach. Apparently, the duo still speaks frequently.

“I talk to him probably every other day,” Smith said. “So I’m in communication with him.”

During his 12-year stint at Penn State, Franklin led the Nittany Lions to a 104-45 (64-36) record with an appearance in the 2024 College Football Playoff. However, he was quickly let go this year following back-to-back bad losses to UCLA and Northwestern.

“The immediate threat is to take Penn State players,” Smith continued, when discussing how Franklin can still impact the program. “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.”

Pollack says Virginia Tech fans should be ‘jacked’ over Franklin hiring

Virginia Tech, in addition to hiring James Franklin, has approved $229 million for its athletics department. The ‘Invest To Fund’ initiative should do wonders for NIL, which Franklin has excelled at using since its inception.

“If I’m a Virginia Tech fan, I’m absolutely jacked,” David Pollack said on the latest edition of ‘See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack‘. “I’m playing ‘Enter Sandman‘ right now. I’m running around the house. When you think about Virginia Tech and this job in this era, since Frank Beamer left, it has not been great.”

“Brent Pry finished 16-24 and gets fired, but before that I think it was (Justin) Fuente who won 10 games, nine games, and then the last six years for Virginia Tech they’ve won seven games. That’s the best finish they’ve had. It’s in the SEC, so obviously, the competition weekly isn’t as bad. It isn’t as bad as the Big Ten, where James Franklin came from.”

Although Smith has led the program to competitive outings in three of his four games, he isn’t expected to be a serious candidate in Penn State‘s coaching search. It is currently unknown whether or not he will return to the program next season or possibly join Franklin and his staff at Virginia Tech next year.