ALTOONA, Pa. -- I love it when people speak their mind and give honest answers. It is so refreshing, because it's just so rare in major sports (and in life).
I enjoyed dealing with former Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour during her tenure, which ended a month ago. Barbour is a nice person, good leader and very professional. But she was also boring when it came to meaty subjects, meaning if you asked her a question about something important, you'd get a word salad answer without much content.
Barbour isn't alone in that regard, in sports or anything else. When we in the media ask questions of coaches, leaders, politicians, business folks or whatever, we've all come to expect a boring answer. Except for, it seems, when people ask Elon Musk something. That dude just goes off on things all the time speaking his mind.
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi does that kind of stuff, as well. Which I do respect, even when I don't come close to agreeing with what he said, such as the nutty stuff he came up with last week saying the Panthers would win the Big Ten every year. It was a bunch of nonsense, and Narduzzi got called out for it by lots of media, but hey, at least he gave an honest, candid response.
That's exactly what new Penn State AD Pat Kraft did Wednesday at Big Ten media days in Indianapolis, when asked about something that has long been an issue at Penn State with regards to the Big Ten.
The Nittany Lions pretty much always open conference play on the road, which I have written about extensively for several years. I'll get to the data in a second.
But yeah, everyone who follows Penn State knows about the bizarre Big Ten road opener thing, and Kraft was made aware of it recently by James Franklin.
So, this is what Kraft said Wednesday in Indianapolis when asked about the subject:
“It stinks. It stinks. He called me the other day. I said, ‘What?’ I called the conference office and said this is unacceptable. So we’re addressing that right away.”
(Note: You can watch the exchange here, and take note of how Kraft is so shocked about all of this.)
There's one awesome word there that jumps out -- "unacceptable."
Kraft is absolutely right. It's totally unacceptable and in no way a coincidence that the Big Ten has been doing this to Penn State for YEARS. This is from a story I wrote about this subject entering last season and details just how often Penn State has opened conference play on the road.
Note, this is seven years in a row for Penn State, plus the next two would make it NINE in a row, not to mention 18 out of 21 years.
Again, unacceptable.
2024: at Rutgers
2023: at Illinois
2022: at Purdue
2021: at Wisconsin (W 16-10)
2020: at Indiana (L 36-35, OT)
2019: at Maryland (W 59-0)
2018: at Illinois (W 63-24, on a Friday)
2017: at Iowa (W 21-19)
2016: at Michigan (L 49-10)
2015: vs. Rutgers (W 28-3)
2014: at Rutgers (W 13-10)
2013: at Indiana (L 44-24)
2012: at Illinois (W 35-7)
2011: at Indiana (W 16-10)
2010: at Iowa (L 24-3)
2009: vs. Iowa (L 21-10)
2008: vs. Illinois (W 38-24)
2007: at Michigan (L 14-9)
2006: at Ohio State (L 28-6)
2005: at NW (W 34-29)
2004: at Wisconsin (L 16-3)
2003: vs. Minnesota (L 20-14)
2002: vs. Iowa (L 42-35, OT)
2001: vs. Wisconsin (L 18-6)
2000: at Ohio State (L 45-6)
1999: vs. Indiana (W 45-24)
1998: at Ohio State (L 28-9)
1997: at Illinois (W 41-6)
1996: at Wisconsin (W 23-20)
1995: vs. Wisconsin (L 17-9)
1994: at Minnesota (W 56-3)
1993: vs. Minnesota (W 38-20)
Keeping score of all this, Penn State has gone 15-14 in Big Ten openers, including 11-9 on the road. So that's 20 road openers in 29 years in the league.
Did we ever hear Barbour say anything publicly like "it stinks" or that it's "unacceptable" with regards to this sort of thing? No. Because Barbour played things down the middle, always with politically correct answers that didn't rock the boat at all. Maybe she expressed anger or frustration toward the league office in private, but if so, it didn't do any good.
So it kept happening and happening and happening, with the Lions having to start on the road year after year after year.
With what Kraft said Wednesday, and the disdained amazement in which he said it, one gets the feeling that he's a straight shooter who isn't going to sit quietly -- in public or in private -- and just let weird stuff happen to Penn State.
I'm guessing he may ruffle some feathers or rub some people the wrong way from time to time, either in the Big Ten or even on the national stage. But at least we're going to be getting some meaty, candid answers from a Penn State athletic director.
And that's a good thing.
