Penn State and Boston College Athletic Director Patrick Kraft are expected to finalize a deal for Kraft to succeed Sandy Barbour in the role by the end of this week, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports.
Kraft has been in Boston since the summer of 2020. In his short time at Boston College, he’s hired Earl Grant as the school’s new basketball coach, securing $15 million to go toward building a basketball facility and singing long-term deals with Adidas and New Balance for apparel.
Before Boston, Kraft was the athletic director at Temple University for five years. In that time, he worked with then-football coach and current Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule to help the Owls become American Athletic Conference champions in 2016. Temple football made five consecutive bowl games for the first time in school history during Kraft time at Temple. The Owls also beat Penn State in 2015, which hadn’t been accomplished since before World War II.
Additionally the Owls’ men’s basketball team won the AAC regular season championship in 2015-16, and Temple’s women’s basketball team also broke a five-year NCAA tournament drought during Kraft’s tenure.
Kraft is familiar with the Big Ten, having played football at Indiana and been linked to the Maryland athletic director job in 2018.
Kraft got his PHD in Sports Management from Indiana in 2008, and became Temple’s Deputy Director of Athletics in 2013
Penn State coach James Franklin said finding Barbour’s replacement would be “critical.” Barbour announced her plans to retire in March.
