Most people miss the origin story.
Before he was Penn State’s associate head coach and arguably the nation’s steadiest cornerbacks coach, Terry Smith built his football brain on the offensive side of the ball—then used that vision to teach defense at the highest level. The résumé is hiding in plain sight: Hempfield (assistant, 1996), Duquesne (passing game coordinator, 1997–2000), Gateway HS (OC, then head coach, 2001–2012), Temple (WRs, 2013), and Penn State (CBs/defensive recruiting, 2014–present), where he later added the associate head coach title.
At every stop, the thread is unmistakable: he learned how to attack you—then flipped the board and taught corners how to erase the very advantages he once schemed to create.
The Offense-Born Coach
Smith’s first college job wasn’t on defense; it was orchestrating the pass game at Duquesne. That matters. The craft of sequencing routes, stressing leverage, forcing coverage conflicts—these are offensive dialects he speaks fluently.
At Gateway High School, he took over as offensive coordinator in 2001 and was head coach from 2002–2012, turning the program into a Western PA power (101–30, four WPIAL runner-up finishes). That’s not a run of one-off seasons; that’s sustained, system-level production—born from an offensive operator who understands how to move the chains and the crowd.
The Two-Way Blueprint: Justin King
If you want a living illustration of Smith’s blended philosophy—offense birthing elite defense—start with Justin King.
At Gateway, King was a true two-way force: a Gatorade Pennsylvania Player of the Year who piled up 4,500-ish career rushing yards and nearly 60 touchdowns while also ranking among the nation’s top cornerback recruits. As a senior, he rushed for about 1,900 yards and 33 TDs—and still found time to lock up receivers on defense. Those are not camp highlights; those are Friday night facts.
Why does that matter to Terry Smith’s coaching story? Because building a two-way star requires more than just letting a great athlete “play both ways.” It requires a coach who can translate what offenses are trying to accomplish—then teach a defender to steal it from them. King arrived at Penn State and, as a true freshman in 2005, immediately played on both sides of the ball before settling in as an All-Big Ten corner—again, development straight out of the Smith playbook: learn offense to dominate defense.
Gateway wasn’t a one-player mirage, either. Under Smith, the Gators kept sending waves of talent to college football, a reflection of a program that taught concepts, not just plays.
The Temple Year: Proof in Production
When Matt Rhule hired Smith to coach Temple’s wide receivers in 2013, the Owls’ passing game exploded statistically, setting a school record with 2,996 passing yards and tying the program mark with 23 receiving touchdowns. That’s not narrative—it’s the media guide.
Look at the receivers Smith had humming:
Robby (Robbie) Anderson—then a little-known sophomore—caught 44 passes for 791 yards and 9 TDs in nine games that season, including a school single-game record 239 receiving yards vs. SMU. The film from that day shows it wasn’t just “go long” ball; it was spacing, leverage, and yards-after-catch—an offense teaching receivers how to win at the break and after the catch.
Jalen Fitzpatrick—a former high school QB—threw an 83-yard touchdown to Anderson on an end-around pass, a call that lives in Temple’s explosive-play annals. That’s Smith’s world: receivers who understand the whole picture.
The roster that year (Anderson, Fitzpatrick, Ryan Alderman, John Christopher, Chris Coyer transitioning roles, etc.) tells you how wide Smith’s install had to travel—from route detail to position flexibility. And it worked.
Crossing the Ball: How an Offensive Brain Teaches Elite Cornerback Play
When James Franklin brought Smith to Penn State in 2014 as defensive recruiting coordinator and cornerbacks coach, the outside world read “defense.” In reality, Penn State hired a fully bilingual mind. Smith sees what offenses are trying to unlock—and builds corners who slam those doors shut.
The early returns were immediate: Penn State finished Smith’s first year top-10 nationally in multiple defensive categories, including second in total defense and second in pass efficiency defense—metrics that reflect technique, communication, and coverage integrity across the back end.
The corners who’ve come through his room—players like Grant Haley and John Reid—made high-leverage plays in championship moments because their coach taught them why routes live where they live. Leverage, split, motion tells—this is offensive information, weaponized for defense.
The Whole-Field View
Stack Terry Smith’s path end-to-end and the picture snaps into focus:
Built on offense (Duquesne pass game, Gateway OC/HC).
Proved it in college production (Temple’s record passing season; Anderson’s single-game yardage record).
Translated it to elite defense (Penn State’s secondary standards; Smith’s rise to associate head coach).
This is what “football IQ” looks like in practice: a coach who understands how offenses create advantages—and who can teach defenders to remove them. It’s also why, as he steps into bigger leadership, his teams often feel composed in high-leverage moments. They aren’t guessing. They are reading.
Why It Matters Now
In a sport that loves labels—“offensive guy,” “defensive guy”—Terry Smith is a systems thinker. He built a two-way star at Gateway (Justin King), elevated under-recruited receivers at Temple (Robby Anderson), then molded blue-chip corners at Penn State. That is not a résumé of silos; it’s a continuum.
And if you’re wondering whether that continuum plays at the top of college football, remember: the most valuable commodity on Saturdays isn’t a play sheet—it’s perspective. Smith has both: the eye of an OC and the hands of a DB coach. That’s the hidden edge.