Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/260491
"It was important for us to get a Penn State person on the staff," Shoop said. "I mentioned to Coach, 'Remember Terry Smith. He's a guy with Pennsylvania ties and an outstanding recruiter. The guy's been a head coach, and he's coached nu- merous positions, so he has versatility.' Coach reached out to him, and Terry did a great job on the interview. He and I have spent a lot of time together, be- cause he's making the transition from being a receiver guy to a corner guy, and I'm excited and looking forward to working with him." The feeling is mutual. Smith said he doesn't anticipate any difficulties tran- sitioning to defense, having coached two prominent Penn State defensive backs in Lydell Sargeant and Justin King. And if he ends up recruiting the WPIAL for Penn State – those assignments hadn't been made official as of this writing – it should be a perfect fit for the western Pennsylvania native. In addition to his coaching and re- cruiting responsibilities, Smith sees himself serving as a link to the past. He used to come back to Penn State from time to time when King, who also hap- pens to be his son, was playing for the Lions in the mid-2000s. And when Bill O'Brien sought out former lettermen to speak to players following the impo- sition of harsh NCAA sanctions in 2012, Smith was among those who an- swered the call, feeling as though he had a responsibility to support his alma mater. "When I was a high school coach, I was a big teacher of history – where you come from and the school that you [rep- resent]," he said. "Here at Penn State, we've obviously got a lot of history. I hope to represent that history. We've got a proud tradition, and we want to con- tinue that, and then we want to take this thing and accelerate it, make it bigger and better." – MATT HERB S T R E N G T H DWIGHT GALT TITLE Director of perform- ance enhancement HOMETOWN Silver Spring, Md. ALMA MATER Maryland FRANKLIN CONNECTION Galt worked with Franklin at Maryland, and later left the Terrapins to join Franklin's staff at Vanderbilt. QUOTABLE "Our whole ob- jective is performance in Beaver Stadium. Not in the weight room or on the practice field, but in Beaver Stadium. That's what the program is designed for. It's extremely aggressive, dynamic, and it's greedy. Anything that's going to help make them great, we're going to tackle it full force." SEAN SPENCER TITLE Defensive line coach HOMETOWN Hartford, Conn. ALMA MATER Clarion FRANKLIN CONNECTION Spencer – nicknamed "Coach Chaos" – joined Franklin's staff at Vander- bilt in 2011 after spending the previous two seasons as defensive line coach at Bowling Green. QUOTABLE "We get after it [in practice]. We talk about competition, so when we talk about it, we have to in- still it in practices. You have to put competitive situations together. You can't just say 'be competi- tive.' We will call the kids out and make them go one- on-one in practice. We try and get the guys fired up." TERRY SMITH TITLE Defensive recruiting coordinator/cornerbacks coach HOMETOWN Monroeville, Pa. ALMA MATER Penn State FRANKLIN CONNECTION Penn State's new head coach first got to know Smith while recruiting in western Pennsylvania. At the time, Smith was head coach at Gateway High in Mon- roeville. QUOTABLE "Back when I was a player, I never dreamed or even thought of coaching. ... It's all sur- real and I never would have dreamed this. I'm over- whelmed and really excited about the opportunity to come back and coach here." RICKY RAHNE TITLE Passing game coordi- nator/quarterbacks coach HOMETOWN Morrison, Colo. ALMA MATER Cornell FRANKLIN CONNECTION Rahne met Franklin at Kansas State in the mid- 2000s when he was an as- sistant coach and Franklin was the Wildcats' offensive coordinator. After Franklin was named Vanderbilt's head coach, he hired Rahne to coach the Commodores' quarterbacks. QUOTABLE "Obviously, [Christian Hackenberg] is extremely talented. ... I know he was well-coached last year, which is always a leg up, and I'm just looking forward to taking him to the next level." BRENT PRY TITLE Assistant head coach/co-defensive coor- dinator/linebackers coach HOMETOWN Altoona, Pa. ALMA MATER University of Buffalo FRANKLIN CONNECTION Pry was a grad assistant at East Stroudsburg in 1993 and '94 when Franklin was the team's starting quarter- back. They renewed ac- quaintances at Vanderbilt, where Pry held the same titles he now holds at PSU. QUOTABLE "I grew up a Penn State fan, and 95 per- cent of my family is [made up of] Penn State people. So we understand prestige and we understand the nostalgia and what Penn State football represents." Mark Selders/ Penn State Athletics Mark Selders/ Penn State Athletics Mark Selders/ Penn State Athletics Mark Selders/ Penn State Athletics Mark Selders/ Penn State Athletics