What Penn State's New AD Doesn't Want to Change About Beaver Stadium
Patrick Kraft, Penn State's next athletic director, hated two things about Beaver Stadium when he played linebacker for Indiana: the visitor's locker room and the Lion roar. He loves them now, along with another memory of his 1999 visit to Penn State.
That's when Joe Paterno visited a stranded Indiana football team the next morning. It's quite a story.
Penn State recently introduced Kraft as its new athletic director, bringing in an administrator with experience running departments at Boston College and Temple after he earned three degrees from Indiana. Kraft played football for the Hoosiers as a walk-on before earning a scholarship in 1999, the year he and Indiana visited the second-ranked Lions.
At his introductory press conference, Kraft told stories about walking on at Indiana, about getting to know former Penn State player Matt Rhule and about the time he waited in line after a 21-point loss to meet Paterno.
"My biggest takeaway was actually meeting Jay's dad," Kraft said, pointing to Penn State Trustee Jay Paterno, who was at the press conference. "Every time you played Penn State, you didn't know if it was the last time you were going to meet Joe Paterno."
Indiana quarterback Antwaan Randle-El had a terrific game that September day at Beaver Stadium, throwing for two touchdowns and rushing for another in a 45-24 loss. Penn State quarterback Rashard Casey was just as good, throwing two touchdown passes and rushing for a 31-yard score in the win.
Dejected though he was, Kraft went on a mission after the game. He wasn't alone.
"No matter how upset we were that we lost, there was a line to shake Joe's hand," Kraft said. "And I was one of those people."
The story gets better. Evidently, Indiana had flight issues and was forced to stay in State College overnight. With hotel rooms sold out, players slept on chairs in a conference room. Though they did get ice cream delivered from the Berkey Creamery.
Early Sunday morning, Joe Paterno stopped by to address the team and apologize for the circumstances.
"At about 6 a.m., Coach came in and talked to us," Kraft remembered, "and it was pretty incredible. ... My teammates and I, we still talk about that moment."
As for Beaver Stadium, Kraft has plenty of decisions to make. At least one will be easy.
"I will tell you one that that's not going to change is the visitor's locker room," Kraft said. "I hated it as a visitor, but I love it now."
Watch the video above as Kraft recalls his first visit to Beaver Stadium.
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