It was Terry Smith's redshirt freshman season in 1988, when Penn State finished the year with a 5-6 record. That was also the first losing season under Joe Paterno. "So I experienced one of the lower points in Penn State history for football," Smith said on a conference call Tuesday morning.
Over his final three seasons, PSU went on to achieve a combined record of 28-8-1, including a win in the 1991 Fiesta Bowl vs. Tennessee. This week, following Penn State's first loss to Temple since 1941 – another low point in PSU football history – Smith has drawn upon his past as a PSU WR to help his student-athletes "move past Temple," he said, and keep their focus on the future.
"You always try to dwell on your experiences as a player and as a coach and try to teach your players certain aspects on how to handle it," Smith added. "Nobody goes out and wants to lose, but those things happen. That's the beauty of sports, and they’re life lessons that are taught and are so valuable."
To get back on the winning track this weekend vs. Buffalo, Smith and his fellow defensive coaches have, what he calls, "overemphasized" communication during practice. In fact, that's something head coach James Franklin harped on during staff meetings earlier in the week, he said.
"He communicated to us that the communication gap and the breakdown that we had in the (Temple) game is unacceptable and we have to continue to get better at that," Smith said.
During practice this week, that's been a focus for his defense.
For example, instead of a coach signaling the plays to only the middle linebacker and safety, and then have them relay the message to the rest of the defense, all 11 players have been held responsible for receiving the play call directly from the sideline. Then they each must mimic the sign in order to prove that they understand what's being called.
"Typically you have the Mike and safety signal the call. Where this week we have all 11 guys signal the call and get the signal in and do the signal," Smith said. "When you say overemphasize, all 11 get the call and all 11 had to demonstrate the physical signal (in order) to be sure that all 11 were on the same page and communicating."
Over his final three seasons, PSU went on to achieve a combined record of 28-8-1, including a win in the 1991 Fiesta Bowl vs. Tennessee. This week, following Penn State's first loss to Temple since 1941 – another low point in PSU football history – Smith has drawn upon his past as a PSU WR to help his student-athletes "move past Temple," he said, and keep their focus on the future.
"You always try to dwell on your experiences as a player and as a coach and try to teach your players certain aspects on how to handle it," Smith added. "Nobody goes out and wants to lose, but those things happen. That's the beauty of sports, and they’re life lessons that are taught and are so valuable."
To get back on the winning track this weekend vs. Buffalo, Smith and his fellow defensive coaches have, what he calls, "overemphasized" communication during practice. In fact, that's something head coach James Franklin harped on during staff meetings earlier in the week, he said.
"He communicated to us that the communication gap and the breakdown that we had in the (Temple) game is unacceptable and we have to continue to get better at that," Smith said.
During practice this week, that's been a focus for his defense.
For example, instead of a coach signaling the plays to only the middle linebacker and safety, and then have them relay the message to the rest of the defense, all 11 players have been held responsible for receiving the play call directly from the sideline. Then they each must mimic the sign in order to prove that they understand what's being called.
"Typically you have the Mike and safety signal the call. Where this week we have all 11 guys signal the call and get the signal in and do the signal," Smith said. "When you say overemphasize, all 11 get the call and all 11 had to demonstrate the physical signal (in order) to be sure that all 11 were on the same page and communicating."
