The Penn State Nittany Lions finally caught a break 34 days after firing James Franklin. It was an emotional Pennsylvania native and interim head coach Terry Smith who picked up his first win of the season against Michigan State over the weekend. College Station wants the second-generation Penn State alum to be their long-term head coach. However, there is one thing besides quality wins that might prevent him from becoming that.

On November 16, after their 28-10 win against Michigan State, Terry Smith was in happy tears as he spoke to a reporter about what the victory meant to him. “Yes, it gets very emotional. You know, I played for the legendary Joe Paterno. Spent the past 12 years with James Franklin and just a lot of history. My son played here. My dad graduated here. We got 10 graduates of Penn State. Just means a lot to me that I’m able to grace the field and lead the team out here.”

Even Joe Paterno’s son, Scott Paterno, wants the program to remove Smith’s interim tag and make it permanent on X. “FWIW I am becoming convinced you take the interim tag off his title. You need a guy who fits your school and your roster. The “names” everyone’s tossing around are all signing extensions.” Scott even pointed to his late father as an example. After he was promoted from interim to head coach, Joe Paterno won 409 games for Penn State. Smith already knows the school and the players and could give Penn State stability and long-term success.

Still, there is a bigger challenge behind all the optimism. Coach Smith has support from his players and Penn State fans, many of whom are eager to see a hometown coach succeed. But recruiting has been a serious problem since James Franklin’s firing. 17 of Penn State’s committed recruits flipped their commitments when the news dropped that Franklin was gone. A bunch of future stars basically said, “Peace out.” The recruiting class for the next couple of years just got wrecked. It was a mass exodus with several talented players bouncing almost immediately because their guy was not in charge anymore.

We are talking about major talent too, like Kemon Spell, a five-star running back who was supposed to be a game-changer. A four-star quarterback prospect, Troy Huhn, also left. It was not just them. A whole group of highly rated offensive and defensive players decommitted. To put that in perspective, when LSU fired Brian Kelly, only two players decommitted. When Florida fired Billy Napier, none of their recruits decommitted.

Even with all the emotional support and legacy connections, a program like Penn State depends on top talent coming in every year. If the team cannot attract and hold recruits, it is very likely the school will eventually look outside for a high-profile coach to rebuild the roster. For Terry Smith, the road ahead is steep. Fans want him to succeed, players want him to lead, but without a strong recruiting pipeline, keeping Penn State competitive in the Big Ten will be extremely difficult. In the end, even a hometown hero cannot win alone. The program needs both trust and talent to thrive.

The former NFL coach is eyeing the Penn State job

Penn State may have a former NFL coach interested in taking over the program. Brian Daboll, who was the head coach of the New York Giants and the offensive coordinator at Alabama in 2017, is reportedly on some people’s radar.

Bruce Feldman spilled the tea: “One wild card in the mix is former New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll, who was the offensive coordinator at Alabama in 2017 and helped lead the Tide to a national title. The 50-year-old is believed to have an interest in the job and is expected to get some consideration in Happy Valley. We’ve heard some former NFL players with strong ties to Penn State have pushed for Daboll to get in the mix.”

Another top candidate before Brian Daboll was Mike Elko. However, the No.3 ranked Aggies locked him with a new contract extension. Also, James Franklin may take a new job at Virginia Tech next season. Penn State is currently 4-6 on the season. With 2 more games left in the season, it’s interesting to see which direction the Penn State board is from now on to!