On Sunday, Penn State associate head coach Terry Smith was welcomed into the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame during a packed ceremony at Cumberland Valley High School. That HoF honor carried extra weight because it came after those seven weeks at Penn State, when he stepped in, handled a tough job, and gave the season real heart.

Standing alongside six other legendary Pennsylvania coaches who changed the trajectory of Pennsylvania football, the former interim head coach became emotional while reflecting on what he called the best seven weeks of his life.

“Football has given me far more than I could ever give it back… Thank you for the game of football,” Terry Smith said in a grateful tone. “You know, I love this game. It’s rewarded me. It’s given me everything. I’m blessed to be an assistant coach at Penn State. My opportunities have been just tremendous. My dad alluded to being the interim head coach.”

I’ve been very, very blessed that I played and graduated from Gateway High School, and I was able to go back to Gateway High School and be the head coach,” the 56-year-old added.

Long before he was coaching at the college level, he was a standout quarterback, free safety, and graduate right there at Gateway Gators. He eventually returned to his alma mater as the head coach from 2002 to 2012. During that run, he turned the program into a state-known powerhouse. Smith took them to a 101-30 record, grabbing seven conference titles, and taking his squad to the WPIAL AAAA championship game four different times. That incredible high school run is exactly what earned him this prestigious Hall of Fame spot in the very first place.

But for him, Happy Valley was the end goal, just as it was for his dad before him: “Penn State holds a dear place in my heart. I’m a third-generation Penn Stater. My dad sits up top. He’s a ’68 grad; I’m a ’91 grad; my son is an ’07 grad; and my daughter graduated here recently. I call this place home,” said last year.

However, one of the most emotional moments of his acceptance speech centered on the seven weeks in his coaching career.

“I played at Penn State University, and I had a stint of seven games to be the head football coach at Penn State University, and you want to talk about it. It wasn’t even a dream I dreamed, but I lived a dream as I became the head coach for those seven weeks. Just very, very humbled by that opportunity, very, very humbled by this moment today.”

To fully understand the depth of his emotion in nuance, it’s very important and necessary to revisit the difficult situation he stepped into mid-season. Penn State had just canned James Franklin after a brutal three-game losing streak, despite being ranked the second-best preseason team in the country.

Smith, who was a legendary team captain and star wide receiver for the team back in the day, took the wheel as interim boss, and the majority of analysts in the country bet their house on Terry Smith losing most of his games, for good reason.

Smith inherited a locker room of adversity and tribulation. Smith inherited a locker room full of doubts and tribulations. His run began with extreme hardship. The Nittany Lions lost their debut game 25-24 to lowa, followed by a daunting matchup against a No. 1-ranked Ohio State squad. After going 0-3, the fruits of labour started to fall into place.

Smith captured his very first win as a college head coach with a 28–10 victory over Michigan State. During his post-game talk, he actually burst into tears because he was so overwhelmed by the moment. He later told reporters he had received over 1,000 text messages from former players and childhood friends.

The fruition

From that moment on, the team caught absolute fire. Smith gave a legendary private speech where he told his players to grab a “pencil and a pencil sharpener” because they were the only ones who could write the script for how their college careers would end.

The motivation worked like a charm. Penn State rattled off a four-game winning streak to close out the year, which included blowing out Nebraska and taking down Rutgers. The Cinderella run came to an end on December 27, 2025, when Smith led his guys to a 22-10 victory over Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl.

The players loved Smith so much that they openly campaigned for him to get the permanent head coaching job. Even though Penn State ended up hiring Matt Campbell instead, Smith handled the transition with total class and signed a big deal to stay on staff as the Associate Head Coach. Looking back, he told the crowd that leading his alma mater for those seven weeks wasn’t even a dream he was brave enough to dream, but he got to live it anyway.