Who is coaching Penn State in Pinstripe Bowl? Terry Smith to lead Nittany Lions
- - Who is coaching Penn State in Pinstripe Bowl? Terry Smith to lead Nittany Lions
Craig Meyer, USA TODAY NETWORKDecember 27, 2025 at 5:01 AM
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Who is coaching Penn State in Pinstripe Bowl? Terry Smith to lead Nittany Lions
Penn State football’s 2025 season didn’t exactly go according to plan.
After a run to the College Football Playoff semifinals during the 2024 season, the Nittany Lions entered the 2025 campaign with justifiably lofty expectations. Several key pieces from that 2024 team – namely, running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen – put off their NFL dreams to come back to college. Penn State made several key offseason moves, from bolstering its maligned group of wide receivers to plucking defensive coordinator Jim Knowles away from Ohio State.
With a No. 3 ranking in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll, a Nittany Lions program that had grown accustomed to falling painfully shy of its biggest goals under James Franklin seemed as well-positioned as ever to win a national title.
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Those hopes evaporated much sooner and quicker than anyone could have realistically foreseen. Starting with a gutting double-overtime loss to Oregon on Sept. 27, a team that had risen as high as No. 2 in the Coaches Poll dropped three consecutive games, including against UCLA and Northwestern teams it was heavily favored to beat. After the third of those setbacks, and just two weeks after the Nittany Lions welcomed "College GameDay" for their top-10 matchup with Oregon, Franklin was fired.
After dropping its first three games under interim head coach Terry Smith, Penn State was able to rebound, ending the regular season on a three-game win streak to become bowl eligible and earn a spot in the Pinstripe Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 27 against Clemson at Yankee Stadium in New York.
With new head coach Matt Campbell in place, who will be coaching the Nittany Lions when they take the field against the Tigers?
Here’s what you :
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Who is coaching Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl?
Penn State will be led in the Pinstripe Bowl by interim head coach Terry Smith, who coached the Nittany Lions for the final six games of the regular season after Franklin was fired following a 3-3 start.
Smith, a former star wide receiver at the school, is in his 12th season on the Nittany Lions’ staff, having returned to his alma mater when Franklin was hired as head coach after the 2013 season. Since 2021, and before being elevated to interim head coach after Franklin’s firing, he had been the associate head coach, defensive recruiting coordinator and cornerbacks coach.
In recent years, Smith has overseen one of the best cornerback rooms in both the Big Ten and nationally. As a recruiter, he helped Penn State secure top-15 recruiting classes in nine of the past 11 years.
Smith impressed in his work as interim head coach, guiding the Nittany Lions to a 3-3 mark. Two of those losses, against Indiana and Ohio State, came against top-five teams. Against the Hoosiers, Penn State nearly handed the College Football Playoff’s No. 1 overall seed a loss, with Indiana needing a miraculous touchdown pass from Fernando Mendoza to Omar Cooper Jr. with 36 seconds remaining in regulation to avoid the upset. The Nittany Lions rallied to win each of their final three regular-season games, highlighted by a 37-10 thumping of Nebraska and one-time Penn State coaching candidate Matt Rhule. During that game, Smith attracted attention and, in some circles of the Nittany Lions fanbase, rallied support for wearing a "409" button, a nod to the number of career victories for Joe Paterno, under whom he played at Penn State.
Smith interviewed for the full-time coaching position and though he wasn’t ultimately selected, he elected to stay at Penn State as an assistant, agreeing to a new, four-year deal.
Beyond Smith, the Nittany Lions’ staff is in flux a bit heading into the bowl game against Clemson. Knowles is no longer with the program, having been named the defensive coordinator at Tennessee. Tight ends coach Ty Howle and quarterbacks coach Danny O’Brien are both gone, as well, with the pair headed to join Franklin at Virginia Tech.
REQUIRED READING: Who is Terry Smith? Meet Penn State interim coach after James Franklin firing
Is Matt Campbell coaching Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl?
Though he was hired earlier this month as the program’s next head coach, Matt Campbell will not be coaching Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl, with interim Nittany Lions head coach Terry Smith handling those duties.
Campbell’s arrival marked the end of a long, sometimes meandering search for Franklin’s replacement.
Campbell had spent the previous 10 seasons at Iowa State, where he went 72-55 and turned the Cyclones into one of the best programs in the Big 12. Campbell is responsible for the two winningest teams in Iowa State history, including a 2024 squad that went 11-3 and narrowly missed out on the College Football Playoff.
Prior to Iowa State, Campbell coached for four seasons at Toledo, where he went 35-15.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who is coaching Penn State football in Pinstripe Bowl vs Clemson?
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