STATE COLLEGE – Penn State director of athletics Pat Kraft said Monday that the search for a new football coach could be made into a Netflix documentary.
Kraft certainly would be a central figure.
He fired James Franklin in the middle of his 12th season and nine months after the Nittany Lions set a school record for wins and reached the College Football Playoff semifinals.
He conducted a search that lasted nearly 60 days, swinging and missing at several candidates until hiring Iowa State’s Matt Campbell as Penn State’s coach.
Audio from Kraft’s meeting with a group of players two weeks ago was secretly recorded and leaked last Friday. Kraft could be heard using a lot of profanity, criticizing fellow Big Ten football programs Michigan, Oregon, Indiana, Rutgers and Iowa and telling the players that he would never lie to them.
“I’m embarrassed,” Kraft said after formally introducing Campbell. “I apologize to anyone that I may have offended with that (audio) that leaked. Personally it’s been challenging for me, but I am very passionate about Penn State.
“I fell short of the standard I should represent for all my staff that sits up there, all 833 athletes that I represent. You know, I can’t apologize enough for those who I may have offended. I’ve got to get better.”
Kraft told the players that he felt pressure to get the right man for the football job.
“If I don’t get this right, my career is over,” Kraft said two weeks ago. “If I don’t hire the right person, my career is over. If I don’t find the right person, in two years they will fire my (expletive) and I don’t get another AD job.
“How could you (expletive) up Penn State?”
Kraft said Monday that “we’re moving on.”
“We handled it in the family,” he said. “I’m proud of our guys. I’m proud of them and excited for them to move forward.”
