Penn State Safety Calls Out Program’s Lack of Leadership After Leaked Audio Incident

“That shows the lack of leadership and accountability.”

Penn State Nittany Lions safety King Mack called out the program’s leadership after audio was leaked from a team meeting. / Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Before Penn State hired Matt Campbell as their next coach, the school was involved in a tenuous coaching search that appeared grim at times. Despite being one of the first programs to fire their head coach this season, it took the Nittany Lions significant time to find their next lead man while programs ranging from UCLA to LSU quickly moved to hire their new coaches.

During the arduous coaching search, audio was leaked from an alleged meeting, including shots at programs like Ohio State and Oregon and the person leading the meeting, identified as athletic director Pat Kraft by the York Daily Record, saying, “I want y’all to know this too: If I don’t get this [hire] right, my career is over. Understand that. If I don’t hire the right person, my career is over. So it’s very serious to me … If I don’t hire the right person, in two years they will fire my ass. And I don’t get another AD job. ‘How could you [expletive] up Penn State?’”

One player was heard allegedly saying, “To be very frank with you, I think the biggest reason why players do not want to come here is we’re in the middle of nowhere, honestly.”

Kraft has since apologized for the leaked audio and said he was “embarrassed” by it.

Penn State safety King Mack became one of the first players to publicly address the leak. He did not hold back, saying Wednesday, “A meeting like that should have never been broadcasted honestly. It shocked me because I didn’t even know I got broadcasted.”

Here's the video of Mack's quote. Says he didn't know it was public till his parents called him and asked about it. Understandably shocked and frustrated the meeting was recorded and put out there.

"That shows the lack of leadership and accountability." https://t.co/0hxqpZd3Nb pic.twitter.com/cwpEEdjE5Q

— Noah Chast (@NoahChastTV) December 17, 2025

“That shows the lack of leadership and accountability [on the team],” Mack continued. “... Anything could have been said in that meeting that could have jeopardized anyone's future or career. I feel like that's part of the selfishness and the lack of leadership around the team that we have to fix.”

The Nittany Lions will look to get their leadership and program back on track under Campbell, who comes to the Happy Valley after 10 seasons with Iowa State.

“He’s very honest,” Mack said of Campbell. “He’s straightforward. He sees where we went wrong this year and his job is to one, get it fixed as soon as possible and to use all the seniors as one big group to help us fix all those issues as well.”

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