Penn State's Athletic Director Pat Kraft On Building a Culture of Champions
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
iHeartPodcasts
4.5 • 11.4K Ratings
🗓️ 25 June 2025
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
📍Rut welcomes Penn State AD, Dr. Pat Kraft, for a deep dive into the mindset, mission, and transformation of one of America’s most storied athletic departments. From building a culture of toughness and grit to achieving academic excellence across 31 sports, Kraft reveals the leadership principles driving Penn State’s meteoric rise. If you love college sports, culture, and the power of belief—this one’s for you.
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Pat’s Focus After Becoming The Penn State AD
05:03 - The Commitment It Takes To Be An Elite College Athlete
08:15 - How Pat’s Competitive Nature Spreads Across The Department
13:20 - Not Falling Prey To Success
19:49 - What Is Penn State’s Culture?
24:42 - How Penn State’s Legendary Fan Base Fuels Their Motivation
30:57 - Pat’s Goals For Penn State Athletics
34:22 - Rut On The Meaning And Importance of Sports For Kids And Culture
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
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| 0:34.5 | In the crazy world that we have going right now, the one thing that can always get you motivated is athletics. |
| 0:41.0 | We'll stand by as we welcome the number one athletic director in all of NCAA Division I sports, |
| 0:51.0 | Dr. Pat Kraft at Penn State University. |
| 0:56.1 | This is the David Rutherford show. |
| 1:05.1 | One of the most important things that I think all people can ever participate in is athletics. |
| 1:13.4 | We learn so much about ourselves, about working with teams, about working in a mission-oriented focus, |
| 1:17.8 | and really pushing ourselves to be the best version of ourselves. |
| 1:25.1 | Well, in this country right now, in my opinion, the number one athletic director by far is Dr. Pat Kraft at Penn State. And this year alone, he has transformed the |
| 1:31.8 | storied institution into one of the most successful athletic departments around. And the reason he does it |
| 1:39.0 | is because he teaches these young people how to win. So ladies and gentlemen, I'm so privileged to welcome |
| 1:45.2 | one of my favorite people of all time, Dr. Pat Kraft to the show. Doc, how are you doing? |
| 1:51.7 | I appreciate that, Rod. I was squirming in my seat a little bit because, as you know, |
| 1:57.5 | I don't have that much to do with what we're doing right now, but I appreciate |
... |
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