At Penn State, It's Pat Kraft's Turn to Win a Big Game

After firing James Franklin, Penn State's athletic director faces enormous pressure to get the next hire right.

Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft gives two thumbs up to the student section at Beaver Stadium following a Nittany Lions win. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK

On some level, Penn State didn’t have to fire James Franklin. Fans might have been annoyed with the annual disappointments, but the last three weeks aside, the Franklin era at Penn State was still highlighted by winning and winning often.

And yes, losses to Northwestern and UCLA in particular hinted at a greater decline, but with a favorable 2026 schedule a bounce-back season wasn’t hard to imagine. If nothing else, you could make the loyalty-meets-risk-aversion argument that Franklin had done enough good things to merit one final season to make things right.

None of this is to say Franklin shouldn’t have been let go for reasons both on and off the field. But conventional wisdom is that coaches who get fired are generally the ones who fail to win at all.

Which means that Pat Kraft, Penn State’s Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics, owns what happens next.

Pat Kraft pitches Penn State's "elite" resources to a new coach

'I'm here to win a national championship'

Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft hugs head football coach James Franklin following a 2023 win over Indiana at Beaver Stadium. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Kraft is an interesting fixture of Penn State’s long athletics history. Where many of his predecessors have operated with a degree of (sometimes plodding) caution, Kraft seems happy to throw himself into the problems of the day. Kraft’s record of “‘yes” is more public than his record of “no,” but the volume of changes in the department suggests he isn’t turning down ideas often.

And in Kraft’s defense, Penn State found itself behind the pack in a variety of areas before he arrived. Kraft’s ambition is as much completing things on a mandatory to-do list as it is completely arbitrary and impulsive improvements. And while Penn State’s NIL space is not short on power struggles and bureaucracy, the Nittany Lions have become increasingly relevant there.

Much like Franklin did, Kraft, whose contract runs through June 2032, brought Penn State up to speed in nearly every area. But Kraft’s ambition is also matched by his willingness to swing big both in action and in words.

“I’m here to win a national championship,” Kraft said recently. “We’re here to win national championships and we’re here to do it the right way.”

He doubled down after Franklin’s firing.

“I'm not shy to admit it, I'm here to win a national championship,” Kraft said Monday. “I believe our fans deserve that. I wake up every day trying to achieve that goal.”

There is nothing wrong with that. Every athletic director in America wants to win national championships and says so out loud. But it does speak to the challenges Kraft faces. Can he actually get anyone better than Franklin? 

Now, it's Kraft's turn to win the big game

Penn State AD Pat Kraft was asked about bringing the fan base back together after the firing of James Franklin.

🎥 Penn State Athletics pic.twitter.com/cG9BTibwyb

— Mark Wogenrich (@MarkWogenrich) October 13, 2025

Kraft certainly wants to improve on what Franklin has done, but the room for regression has always been greater than the room for improvement. It’s an undeniable truth that no matter who Kraft hires, he will do so with no better than hope that things turn out. No coach is a guarantee.

The reports of Penn State courting big names will be endless, and they highlight the extent to which Franklin’s firing has happened without an obvious next step. Kraft offering everyone a lot of money is not a plan; it is a hope. 

And while Nebraska coach Matt Rhule’s relationship with Kraft from their time at Temple, and Rhule’s status as a Penn State letterman, make him a constant part of the conversation, his appeal is mixed. While it’s entirely possible that Rhule would do a better job, is he the coach you fire James Franklin to hire?

And if Kraft is willing to throw an absurd dollar amount at a marquee coach to drag him away from a well-established job, will that return ever match the investment?

All of this comes back to the uncertainty about what lies ahead. Kraft can swing, but it doesn’t mean he will connect. Penn State might be an attractive program, but that doesn’t mean it’s more attractive than those the game’s best coaches already lead.

None of this is to say Franklin should still be Penn State’s head coach, but there’s plenty of room for this to go sideways. If the next coach can’t match Franklin’s floor, Penn State may find that its quest for something more comes at the cost of what it had.

And all of that will come back to Kraft, facing his turn at winning the big game.