Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Pat Kraft took to the stand Monday morning for a press conference to provide updates on the state of Penn State Athletics.

Kraft covered everything from NIL, the changing college football calendar, and wrestling scholarships during his 45-minute conference.

Here are a few highlights from Kraft’s time at the podium.

On Penn State’s NIL Positioning

Since the onset of NIL, Penn State has been playing catch up. Kraft, however, has worked extensively to ramp up the university’s NIL efforts to get to a place where Penn State is competitive. With a ruling on revenue sharing expected to go into effect in 2025, Kraft will once again have to adapt.

Regardless, the efforts have been successful so far.

“From a traditional NIL piece, I think we’re where we need to be,” he said. “We can always be better. I’m a competitor, and I want to be the best in the country, but I think the new landscape is going to change the way that plays out.”

Kraft also called NIL money “marketing dollars” and said conversations around how to go forward into the ever-changing landscape are still ongoing.

“They’re not coming here just for the ‘Oh man, I love you.’ That’s pollyannaish,” he said. “We as college sports have to come together and fix this for the better of the athlete and the program as a whole.”

On Penn State Wrestling

After notching its 71st consecutive dual win to complete its fifth straight undefeated regular season, Kraft had high praise for Penn State wrestling and head coach Cael Sanderson.

Right now, the wrestling program operates with 9.9 scholarships. After the new revenue sharing and distribution rules take effect, that number will almost certainly go up.

“We’re going to give Cael what he needs,” Kraft said. “I can tell you that we’ve added scholarships for him in the future.”

Kraft and the administration’s willingness to invest in the wrestling program comes after a period of sustained domination that saw it win three straight national championships and 11 in the past 13 years. According to Kraft, though, that’s not what sets Sanderson apart.

“He recruits amazing young men who understand and are fully committed to being the best. He does it in a way that is so special and unique,” Kraft said. “It sounds so simple, but the culture he builds in that building with Casey [Cunningham] and Cody [Sanderson], there’s nothing like it.”

On Penn State Hoops

Year two of the Mike Rhoades era hasn’t gone as planned for Penn State men’s basketball. What started as a season with high expectations and an early upset of Purdue became a disaster as the team dropped 11 of its last 14 games.

With a berth in the Big Ten Tournament on the line, the Nittany Lions have rattled off two wins in a row, and Kraft is happy for every win, regardless of the point of the season.

“I’m proud of them the last two games, and I think Mike has done a remarkable job,” he said. “The expectations he’s built for us to go to the tournament every year is a step forward. I don’t know if that was the case all the time for Penn State basketball.”

While the season isn’t over yet, the results haven’t been what was expected by Penn State fans. Close games and injuries have plagued the Nittany Lions this season, but Kraft is dedicated to the program Rhoades is building.

“We haven’t won those close games this year, and I think it’s still a work in progress. I just tell everybody to stick with us and sweat with us,” Kraft said. “I’m more than confident in what he can do here.”

On The College Football Calendar & The Future Of The Sport

Penn State embodied the problems within the current college football calendar when former backup quarterback Beau Pribula was forced to miss the Nittany Lions’ College Football Playoff run because of the transfer portal window. With talks of the playoff expanding to 14 or even 16 teams with automatic byes for the SEC and the Big Ten, that calendar could get even more complicated.

But the answer isn’t simple, either. Spring games are continuing to be canceled throughout the NCAA, and Kraft echoed James Franklin’s sentiments from two weeks ago, saying the format for this year’s Blue-White Game is still unknown.

“If you look at the football calendar and recruiting and everything, it’s like Frankenstein,” Kraft said. “It’s bits and pieces from years of putting this here, putting that there, and now we’re in a totally new world.”

Part of that new world might be the hiring of a general manager. Kraft said he would support the hiring of a general manager by Franklin, but there are limited candidates who would fit the role.

While Kraft said a lot of work has been done for a potential hiring, he also said that type of position may spread to other Olympic sports within the university as the new rules begin to take effect.

“A lot of these general managers that you’re seeing hired have full roster discretion, meaning they choose the players just like in the pros,” Kraft said. “I don’t agree with that. I don’t think that’s right… There’s different ways to look at a general manager, but I would not put it past James and us to have a GM at some point.”