Penn State football fans who have followed the program closely could not have predicted that their team would set the market for assistant coaches. Yet the Nittany Lions recently made defensive coordinator Jim Knowles the nation’s highest-paid assistant, stamping their position in the financial hierarchy of college football. Pat Kraft, Penn State Athletics Director, said the program is ready to do even more to win that elusive national championship.

“Look, I’m going to go get the best coordinators we can because I think you need to understand, the

coordinators set the tone,” Kraft said this week during his first media availability of 2025. “It’s James [Franklin’s] team. James is the CEO. And I think James has done a masterful job of building the best staff in the country and you got to pay market, right? I think when we get down to it, you look at the numbers, they are, but we can afford it. We can go and do what we’re going to do. Why would I short-change it? You’ve got a chance to go get the best coordinator. I think we have two of the best coordinators in the country.”

Knowles and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, who stayed at Penn State after getting head-coaching attention, represent just the beginning of Penn State’s offseason financial investment. Following their 13-3 season, Penn State retained quarterback Drew Allar, running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton, five offensive linemen with starting experience and four team captains. The program hired former Temple head coach Stan Drayton to coach running backs. It also hired former Albany head coach Greg Gattuso as a defensive consultant.

The investment, Kraft said, is in not only Penn State football but also in Franklin, who enters his 12th season as head coach after taking the team to the College Football Playoff semifinals.

“The way this world is now, the head coach truly is [the CEO],” Kraft said. “I mean, James has to deal with so many new things in the last three years. You’ve got the portal and you’ve got players dealing with so many different elements of life now, real money, and I believe you have to have strong leaders in the offense and the defensive room to help give you the best chance to succeed. We don’t take those decisions lightly. But for me, it was a no-brainer with Jim Knowles, and I think he’s already had dividends and it’s paid off in this way. But we’re going to give ourselves the best chance to win, and we’re going to do it any means necessary to do that. We’re going to do it the right way.”

Penn State football has been a popular pick atop the too-early 2025 college football rankings. The Nittany Lions are following a similar blueprint that Michigan and Ohio State used to win the past two national championships. Further, an “all-in” ethos has emerged from the program. Kraft said that Penn State is “close” to winning a national championship but isn’t the only Nittany Lions program with that goal.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that too,” Kraft said. “I’ve been all in on football. I’ve been all in on basketball, baseball,

field hockey. I think if you’ve gotten to know me, I’m here to win. By the way, it’s not always about money. It’s how you’re investing your money. And I think we’ve shown that we’re committed. I’m committed to working with [everyone], whether it’s James Franklin or [wrestling coach] Cael Sanderson or [women’s soccer coach] Erica Dambach, whoever the coach is, to win. And different programs are at different parts of their kind of growth.

“I mean, you don’t come to Penn State and just willy nilly, let’s see what happens. I’m here to win a national championship. We’re here to win national championships, and we’re here to do it the right way. I’m committed whatever you want to call it. We’re committed to it. It takes everybody. When it comes to football, we’re close, we’re close, and we’re going to keep going and keepoing and keep going until we get to where we want to be. And it’s working together with James and all of my coaches.”

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