On first day, Patrick Kraft takes stock of Penn State Athletics

Patrick Kraft has been making the rounds. 

First introduced as Penn State’s new athletic director on April 29, the month of May was about exiting gracefully from his former employer, Boston College. But since June 1, outgoing AD Sandy Barbour and new university president Neeli Bendapudi agreed to begin the process in which Kraft could acclimate himself to the Penn State community. 

And he has.

Though missing his wife, Betsy, and children, Annabelle and Joseph, Kraft has used the time as an opportunity to better understand Penn State Athletics and the people within it. 

“I think professionally here, it’s been good,” Kraft told BWI in a one-on-one interview earlier this week. “I’ve been able to get to see people, start to figure out where we got to go.”

It’s the biggest question facing not just Penn State Athletics or football, but the whole of college sports. At a moment in which NIL, the transfer portal, television contracts, and conference realignment create new headlines daily, the challenges that accompany the issues need to be met. 

Describing himself as a “fact-driven” operator, working to assess strengths, weaknesses, and areas of dire concern, Kraft’s early objective has been straightforward.  

“It’s just trying to figure out, Okay, where do we go first?” he said. “But I’m moving. We’re gonna make decisions and we’re gonna go. We’re gonna grind, and we gotta fix some things. So that’s why this month has been really, really important.”

Taking over in a full-time capacity on July 1, Kraft very much has an initial set of priorities in mind. 

Central to the Penn State Athletics picture is that of football and its place in it. Kraft said as much at his introductory press conference and has embraced what it means for the rest of the department. But he also insisted that the quality of the experience for Penn State’s remaining student-athletes shouldn’t be diminished as a result.

“We have to understand that you can do all these things for football, but you don’t have to marginalize anything else,” Kraft said. “It goes back to being honest with everyone… how we treat (student-athletes) is the most important thing and it doesn’t matter what you do. And I think we have to get to where, we are as a community, as a group, moving in the same direction.

“When you win a national championship like Cael does, that sense of pride in the community is huge. Cael is the greatest ever. Char winning a field hockey National Championship or Erica winning her national championship, those things help build blocks to creating a program. So yes, football is critically important. And it drives a lot of the revenue that helps the other programs. But that doesn’t mean you have to take away from anybody else. And I think that comes with open dialogue, and communication, and partnership, and honest feedback with one another.”

As part of that honesty, Kraft acknowledged a difficult assessment of where Penn State stands institutionally with NIL. 

Initially rolling out a plan entitled STATEment, focusing resources and energies on student-athlete education and building entrepreneurial skills, one year later, Kraft insists improvements are necessary, and quickly. They’re also something he believes can be corrected in relatively short order.

“We’re behind, just candidly,” Kraft said. “But I will tell you this, we’ll have it fixed in three to four weeks. What’s happened is there’s just been a lack of information going around everywhere.

“Success with Honor, one of these first collectives, is doing the right things. We are not going to be in the market to pay someone to come to Penn State. That’s that. That’s not who we are. And we don’t need to do that and we shouldn’t do that.”

Warning that the practice is happening nationally, Kraft said its proliferation doesn’t excuse Penn State from its responsibilities to its student-athletes. Citing a massive and passionate base of alumni, Kraft said opportunities can and should be plentiful. That’s social media, digital content, photos, camps, and clinics, among others, he added.

Believing as much can be done at a “high, high level” at Penn State, Kraft has landed at that confidence through a range of conversations. Working to establish that Penn State isn’t going to do NIL “the wrong way,” the feedback he’s collected has been receptive to the initiatives that could maximize opportunities for student-athletes. 

“What we’ve got to do is show them there are many facets to it. Be able to sell their uniforms, NFTs, all that stuff should be up and running already, and it’s not. So that’s where we have to hit the gas. We gotta go,” he said. “I look at it as giving the athletes every opportunity to be successful in this space.”

Confident that can be done by establishing a foundation of trust and honesty among a broad spectrum of stakeholders, Kraft intends to implement improvements quickly. But taking steps in NIL is not where Kraft’s initial assessment ends. 

Surveying the facilities within the department, Kraft left no room for misinterpretation.

“We have to fix our facilities. Point blank,” he said, citing a donor-driven need to implement those fixes. “Our facilities right now, and mainly for our Olympic sports, are woefully inadequate. We’ve got to build a men’s and women’s soccer facility. It’s unacceptable. The training room situation and the weight room situation. I’m not talking about palatial estates. I’m talking about the bare minimum to give our athletes what they need. So that is a priority.”

Urging transparency and honesty at the onset of his tenure as Penn State AD, Kraft is committed to delivering an unfiltered view of where the department stands. 

But, through doing so, he expressed confidence that many of the priority areas for improvement within Penn State Athletics can be rectified. 

“I don’t think we’ve been very transparent and honest with it,” he said. “NIL is a problem right now. A lot of our facilities stink right now and we’re doing a disservice to our student-athletes. We’ve got to fix that. We’ve got to fix (our mental health support.) We’ve got to be budget-conscious and understand our budget constraints. 

“There’s no reason to hide. That’s who we are. And I know the only way we can attack those is if the Penn State community comes together because when they come together, now that’s powerful, and we’ve seen that. So for me, I think it’s everything, all of the above. The staff needs to connect, coaches need to connect, athletes are a critical part, donors, alums, and supporters. But we can’t say, ‘We are!’ and not be all-in.”

In Kraft’s first day in the role he’s been tasked to fulfill, it’s a personal investment he’s determined to make from the start.