Potential new AD hire caps busy two days of Penn State moves

ALTOONA, Pa. -- It's been a very busy week already for Penn State, with the biggest news arriving early Tuesday morning with word that the school is getting close to hiring a new athletic director.

ESPN's Pete Thamel reported today that Boston College's Patrick Kraft will be Penn State's new AD, with the hiring "expected to be finalized by the end of the week." The school is looking to replace Sandy Barbour, who is set to retire.

Kraft has been the AD at Boston College the past two years, and was AD at Temple for seven years prior to that. He played football at Indiana and served as assistant AD there from 2009-11, before a two-year stint as associate AD at Loyola Chicago.

If Kraft gets the job, he will have a big task in front of him overseeing a Penn State program that is trying to navigate through a lot of interesting times financially. Not only does Penn State have to try and keep up with everyone else in the rapidly changing world of NIL, but the school still has a long, long way to go in order to be able to pay for the massive upgrade costs that are expected for Beaver Stadium and other venues on campus as part of the school's facilities master plan.

Kraft would not have to worry about hiring a new football or basketball coach -- the two most lucrative positions in college athletics -- because Penn State is already set there with James Franklin and Micah Shrewsberry. Pretty much all of the school's other top coaching positions also have strong leaders in place -- many recently hired -- so Kraft would be forging new relationships with those folks as opposed to having to bring in a bunch of new faces to lead various programs.

FORMER 4-STAR ENTERS PORTAL

Redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Cole Brevard entered the transfer portal Monday, two days after the conclusion of spring drills.

Brevard (6-3, 332) played in one game for Penn State (last year vs. Rutgers) and will have four years of eligibility remaining.

Brevard was a 4-star recruit out of Carmel, Ind., in the class of 2020. He was rated as Indiana's No. 1 prospect and the No. 19 defensive tackle prospect in the country by 247Sports.

He had a bunch of big-time offers in high school from programs such as Ohio State, Clemson, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oregon and Wisconsin.

LIONS LAND SAFETY

Penn State picked up a commitment Monday from 3-star safety Conrad Hussey from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Hussey (6-0, 190) is rated as the No. 84 prospect in Florida and No. 43 safety recruit in the nation by 247Sports. He also had offers from Florida State, Ole Miss, Kentucky and South Carolina, among others.

Penn State has 11 commits for the class of 2023 and ranks No. 4 in the nation, behind only Notre Dame, Texas Tech and Georgia.

FINDING NEW HOME

Former Penn State offensive lineman Anthony Whigan announced Monday that he is transferring to Akron, which is coached by former Nittany Lion offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead.

Whigan (6-4, 316) came to Penn State from Lackawanna Community College in Scranton and spent three years with the Lions. He appeared in 18 games, mostly on special teams.

HOOPS CONNECTION

Villanova replaced coach Jay Wright with Fordham's Kyle Neptune, and that opened the door for a former Penn State assistant to become the new head coach at Fordham.

Keith Urgo, who spent 10 years at Penn State on Patrick Chambers' staff, has been tabbed by Fordham as its next coach.

Urgo previously served as an assistant coach at Villanova and was a key part of the coaching staff that helped the Penn State program turned into a stronger force in the final years of Chambers' tenure.