INDIANAPOLIS — Pat Kraft is less than a month into his tenure as Penn State’s athletic director. And he has plenty of interesting ideas about shaping the future of collegiate sports in State College.
Kraft, formerly the athletic director at Boston College and Temple, was also a walk-on football player at Indiana. He succeeded Sandy Barbour.
Kraft participated in his first Big Ten Media Days at Lucas Oil Stadium and shared his thoughts with the assembled press (mostly PSU reporters) on what’s next at Penn State.
Here are some takeaways.
Big Ten scheduling issues
Kraft believes the Big Ten must change its approach to scheduling Penn State’s conference openers. James Franklin’s Lions will open Big Ten play at Purdue on Sept. 1. Here’s the problem — Penn State’s opener with Purdue marks the seventh consecutive year the Lions have opened up on the road in the Big Ten.
During Franklin’s time with the Lions, PSU has opened Big Ten play at home just once, in 2015 vs. Rutgers.
The Lions have opened on the road in the Big Ten in 12 of the last 13 years.
Neither Franklin nor Kraft are happy about it.
“It stinks. It stinks,” Kraft said on Wednesday.
“(Franklin) called me the other day (about it). I said, what? I called the conference office and said, ‘this is unacceptable.’ So we’re addressing that right away. … This shouldn’t happen to Penn State. We should be at home for our opener. I did deal with that.”
Said Franklin about the Big Ten openers on the road: “I don’t know how that’s statistically even possible, especially when it’s been brought up before. Pat’s pounding that drum.”
Wrestling coach sticking around
Kraft is glad Cael Sanderson is on Penn State’s side. The wrestling legend recently signed a contract extension to stay with the Lions. Kraft confirmed the news Wednesday. And his love for what Sanderson has done at Penn State may be unrivaled (get it?).
“He’s the ‘GOAT;’ he can be here for as long as he wants,” Kraft said of Sanderson, breaking into a big smile.
“My thing with Cael, I don’t know the specifics. He is signed up, which I’m very happy about. As great as Cael is, there’s things that we have to do to continue to support him. He is special. That whole program is special. … The NIL space is not just for football. I’m very happy that Cael’s locked up with us.”
More use at Beaver Stadium
Kraft envisions a larger role for Beaver Stadium as a PSU venue moving forward. The Lions’ AD wants to keep the historic home of Lions football right where it is, if possible.
“I’ve played there, I’ve been on the sidelines as an administrator,” Kraft said when asked about Beaver Stadium.
“I get goose bumps every time I come from the airport and I look at that lit-up logo. It’s a special, iconic building. … It’s a historical building, in my eyes.
“What I have to figure out is, is it safe? How long can we keep it standing? That’s the question. But if it’s going to fall down, then you gotta figure it out.
“We’re going to do everything to keep that thing up and running, but we’ve gotta find other ways to use it. That building should be used more than seven days (a year), in my opinion. We have to find ways to do that.”
