That's a great question and there was plenty of speculation, but the fact remains that it was Smith's demands specific to Gateway getting King that led to the situation.
Should some blame go to the school board? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean that Smith shouldn't be blamed as well.
From my understanding (I haven't followed PSU football in awhile), there seems to be an unhappy subset of fans too that see his pins as a political play/attempt to strong-arm Penn State and.... hey... I suppose it worked for him once with Gateway, why not again with Penn State?