Penn State head coach Terry Smith discusses first win: Monday Press Conference

The Penn State Nittany Lions football team will continue to try to climb back to .500 this week when they host the Nebraska Cornhuskers for Senior Day at Beaver Stadium. The team earned its first conference win of the 2025 season this past weekend, beating the Michigan State Spartans. They’ll need to do it again this week to have a shot at bowl eligibility by season’s end. Interim head coach Terry Smith got his first win as leader of the Nittany Lions on Saturday and talked about the experience, plus the matchup with Nebraska during his weekly Monday press conference.

You can hear the complete press conference on the Blue White Illustrated YouTube Channel, or embedded below in this article. Be the first to hear Penn State’s new coach speak with the team by announcing the signing by subscribing to the Blue White Illustrated YouTube Channel.

Terry Smith Press Conference

Smith spoke for roughly 30 minutes on Monday, a few minutes longer than his normal pace. He became emotional when asked about how many people had reached out to him about his first win as the interim head coach.

“I have two phones,” Smith said. “Each phone had about 500 text messages on it, plus direct messages was like another five or 600. So, it was really busy. I’ve been reached out to by basically every person I’ve ever known in my entire life. People are super proud of me. It’s just humbling sitting in this seat.”

“There’s so many people in my life that speak life into me, and they all reach out. I’m just so blessed. God has been so good to me through everything in my life. I have the opportunity to be the head coach of Penn State. I don’t think anything has made me or my family happier than this opportunity. I’m thankful for all my friends, my family, my supporters. Saturday was, I can’t even tell you how I felt. I’ve never been lifted off of the field in my career. A great moment.”

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There are just two more weeks in the college football regular season. Join Blue White Illustrated right now to get in on the next generation of Penn State football! The team will hire a new coach soon, and you’ll want to be ahead of the curve on who is in the running for one of the most coveted jobs in the sport. Subscribe now by clicking here so you can get access to our premium articles and intel in the final weeks of the coaching search.

The team still has important games to play. We’ll be discussing Penn State and Michigan State on Tuesday’s BWI Live Show at 10 a.m. Join the show to give your thoughts on the team’s performance against the Spartans and what we learned from the first win since September.