Patrick Kraft was born and raised in the northern suburbs of Chicago. His mother, Linda, was a grade-school teacher and his father, Joe, owned a printing company. They set an example for their five children, including the middle one, Patrick.
“We’d just go over and play in the factory,” Kraft recalls. “They never let the business creep into our home life. My dad ran that for most of his life. He was everything to me.
“He was a dynamic personality. He worked really hard. He was always there for us. He never wavered. He was fun. He was really special. I hope I’m like him.”
Kraft officially began his new job as Penn State’s director of athletics and vice president for intercollegiate athletics on July 1, hoping he can have the same positive impact on athletes, coaches, and staff as his father had on his employees and his mother had on her students.
Kraft, 44, succeeds Sandy Barbour, who retired in June after eight years at Penn State. After two years as AD at Boston College, Kraft takes over a department that has 31 varsity sports, 800-plus athletes, and 340 employees, and that had a $165 million budget the year before the pandemic.
He spent most of June on campus, getting to know his new staff and his new surroundings.
“I want them to know that I’ll be here to support them and to have their backs,” Kraft says. “I’m trying to create an open dialogue and make sure everybody knows they have a voice.
“If we work at a high level, the rest will take care of itself.”
Transformative years
Kraft has always understood the importance of work ethic, perhaps from his father, who died eight years ago, and his mother, who later taught English as a second language.
“We never knew about the financial struggles that they would go through,” he says. “Whatever we needed, they gave us. They put us through Catholic schools.
“[Growing up] we were a very athletic and driven family. Everything revolved around sports.”
Kraft played football, basketball, and baseball at Carmel Catholic High School before enrolling at Division III Illinois Wesleyan to play football. He spent two seasons there and then transferred to Division I Indiana University as a walk-on.
“I had a wonderful time at Wesleyan, but I was missing something,” he recalls. “I knew I could play at the next level. I fell in love with Indiana. That was the best thing I ever did. We didn’t win a lot of games, but it was transformative for me.
“It was how hard we had to work and the grind that came with it. I believe that still resonates with me as the most impactful thing.”
Kraft played linebacker for three seasons (1997-99) for the Hoosiers and eventually earned a scholarship and three Indiana degrees—a bachelor’s degree in sport marketing management, a master’s in sport marketing administration, and a doctorate in sport management. He taught sport management and marketing at IU before he became an assistant athletic director there in 2009.
His older sister, Mary Therese, helped inspire him to go into athletic administration.
“She was a mentor of mine,” Kraft says. “She got into the sports business industry at its very infancy. She was with the [Chicago] Cubs and then she moved out to Nike in Oregon. Now she works for Jim Beam and runs their sponsorship branch, which is mainly athletics-driven.
“I looked at what my sister was doing in the corporate and business world. It wasn’t the same excitement that I got interacting with college athletes and seeing them have success on and off the field. It just wasn’t the same. I really cherish that side of our business. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
‘Aggressive in mental health’
Kraft moved on to Loyola University Chicago and Temple University, where he became AD in 2015 and oversaw the Owls’ greatest period of football success before moving on to Boston College in July 2020. Even though he was at BC for only two years, during his time there the Eagles built a new practice facility for men’s basketball, upgraded locker rooms and training rooms, and added staff in sports medicine, strength and conditioning, and mental health.
“We’re going to be aggressive in mental health,” Kraft says, looking ahead to the coming years with the Nittany Lions. “It’s tough because of the pressure that’s put on these young women and men. The stories of death threats and suicidal thoughts are real.
“We have to be able to give them an outlet. We have to be able to allow them to be free and allow them to let that burden go and be able to live their life.”
Bricks and mortar
Improving Penn State’s facilities also will be one of his top priorities, he says. During his five years as Temple AD, the Owls built a new training complex with a turf field and a new complex for soccer, lacrosse, and field hockey.
“We have to really focus on bricks and mortar,” Kraft says. “Our facilities, our Olympic facilities in particular, are woefully inadequate. I’m talking about weight rooms, nutrition, and recovery rooms. Those are the things that will help us grow and help us win championships.
“Men’s and women’s soccer, for example, are all over the place. It’s not right. They don’t have a flushing toilet at their facility. Those are national championship programs. We have to fix that.”
NIL collectives
Kraft says he also will focus on how to maximize name, image, and likeness (NIL) collectives for football players and other athletes at Penn State.
“We have to get that fixed,” he says. “I have a plan. It’s not something amazing. We just have to be better at communicating with all constituencies. We have a great infrastructure, but we’re not supporting it the right way.
“The coaches are on an island. The donors are on an island. I believe we will have the best NIL situation in the country, but it’s going to take time.”
Football ‘drives the brand’
NIL has impacted football more than any other college sport. Kraft made it clear at his introductory press conference in April how he views Penn State football.
“It is a driver,” he said. “Nationally, it drives the brand. Football game day helps recruiting for all the other sports. I think it starts [with football] and everything else falls in there.”
When asked where he sees Penn State football headed in the next five years, he answers, “National champions, that’s the goal.”
Kraft says excelling in football and in the other 30 varsity sports aren’t mutually exclusive goals.
“Football is important, yes, but so is women’s soccer, wrestling, field hockey, and all the other sports,” he says. “Everybody was important at BC. You have to put a strategy together that you provide the other sports what they need to be successful.
“We’ll be successful together. Everybody in the organization has to do it. We all have to be moving in the right direction. That’s how everybody succeeds.” T&G
Rich Scarcella has covered Penn State football for the Reading Eagle since 1989.
