Martin Jarmond isn’t exactly the reason why James Franklin got fired at Penn State. But he did have something to do with it.
Jarmond, who became UCLA’s athletic director in 2020, fired Deshaun Foster and placed Tim Skipper as the Bruins’ interim head coach. In the game immediately following Foster’s firing, Skipper and the Bruins beat Franklin and Penn State in a stunning loss that led to the downfall of Franklin in Happy Valley.
However, had Jarmond not left his position at Boston College back in 2020 for his alma mater and had a rising star in the athletic director world of Pat Kraft not taken over in Chestnut Hill and then not leveraged his success at BC for the same job at Penn State, we might not be here.
Alas, that’s more or less, with some other parts in between there, how it played out. In 2020, Jarmond left for UCLA. Kraft took over at Boston College then used that experience to get the job at Penn State and while at Penn State, fired Franklin earlier this month.
It’s butterfly effect that can be added to the many “what ifs” in the 2025 Penn State football season.
And nonetheless, Kraft’s body of work is in part how Penn State to this moment.
Now facing his biggest decision after making another massive one in firing Franklin, Kraft must pick a permanent replacement for the role.
This will be by far the biggest hire Kraft had made to date. Here are, over the course of that body of work, the other biggest hires Kraft has made in various sports.
Temple
Geoff Collins – Football
Three years after getting the athletic director job at Temple, Kraft’s first major hire came by way of Geoff Collins after the 2016 season. Kraft plucked Collins from Florida, where Collins was Jim McElwain’s defensive coordinator.
Collins coached at Temple for two seasons before he took the Georgia Tech job.
It is at this point in the article that we must point out what may seem obvious if you know Temple football history.
Kraft did not hire Matt Rhule.
Collins coached Temple after the Rhule tenure ended, and Kraft started at Temple after the Rhule tenure started.
Rhule and Kraft are close friends to this day and Kraft was a massive advocate for Rhule during their time at Temple together. Kraft helped broker a new four-year extension in 2015.
Of course, Rhule has become a popular suggestion for Penn State’s open position – both because of the relationship between the two and the fact that Rhule is from State College and played football at Penn State.
But Temple’s hiring of Rhule came before Kraft came on board.
Manny Diaz – Football
Arguably Kraft’s biggest hire never coached a game at Temple.
Kraft hired the then Miami defensive coordinator after Collins left. But when Mark Richt, then Miami’s head coach, suddenly retired, Diaz went back to southern Florida on Dec. 30 for that job.
That was that. The Manny Diaz era lasted 17 days in Philly.
Rod Carey – Football
In early January of 2019, Kraft hired Rod Carey who had been Northern Illinois’s head coach and that was largely Kraft’s final big hire at Temple.
Temple made a bowl every season while Kraft was the athletic director.
There is one other key coaching change that happened at Temple during this time but it is difficult to say that Kraft made the hire for. Fran Dunphy retired as men’s basketball coach after the 2018-19 season and when his retirement was announced ahead of the season, Aaron McKie — on staff for a number of years already — had been selected as his replacement with the announcement.
Boston College
Earl Grant – Men’s Basketball
By the time Kraft got to Chestnut Hill in July of 2020, Boston College had already hired Jeff Hafley as its football head coach. While Kraft did give Hafley an extension in 2021, Kraft’s biggest set of decisions came around the men’s basketball program.
In February of 2021, Kraft fired Jim Christian after the Eagles started the season 3-13. Of the major revenue-producing sports – football and basketball – Christian was the only one fired by Kraft until Franklin.
Then in the offseason, Kraft hired Grant from the College of Charleston where he had helped the program to an NCAA Tournament berth in 2018.
Grant remains the coach at Boston College to this day.
A year later, Kraft left Boston College to take the job at Penn State from Sandy Barbour. And while legendary Boston College men’s hockey coach Jerry York retired that same month, Kraft was in Happy Valley when the Eagles found their replacement in Greg Brown.
Penn State
Lisa Bervinchak Love – Field Hockey
When Penn State field hockey coaching legend Char Morett-Curtiss retired in 2022, Kraft promoted Bervinchak Love, who was an assistant under Morett-Curtiss, to the head coaching role.
Mike Rhoades – Men’s Basketball
After losing Micah Shrewsberry to Notre Dame for a host of reasons, Penn State needed Kraft to make his first revenue-producing sport head coaching hire. Kraft nabbed Rhoades from VCU in March of 2023. Now, Rhoades enters his third season at Penn State.
Mike Gambino – Baseball
After Rob Cooper resigned after 10 seasons at Penn State, Kraft hired a previous employee of his to take over Penn State’s baseball team.
Gambino had been Boston College’s head coach for 13 years before he somewhat surprisingly moved to Happy Valley to work again under Kraft. While at BC, Gambino led the Eagles to two NCAA Tournament appearances; however, neither came under Kraft’s watch.
Kayla Treanor – Women’s Lacrosse
Kraft’s most recent head coaching hire came earlier this year, swiping Treanor away from Syracuse’s head coaching job after four seasons, in May. Treanor had been a part of Boston College’s staff when the Eagles won a national title during Kraft’s tenure.
Treanor replaced Missy Doherty.
?????? – Football
While those hires were important to Kraft’s career, none will be more important to his legacy at Penn State than the one he makes next. Kraft, in his press conference after firing Franklin, made it clear he will be leading the search.
It’s likely that Penn State will make the hire ahead of key recruiting dates in December – once the final games of the regular season are played. While it could run longer if Kraft sets his targets on a coach in the College Football Playoffs, it’s likely the hire could come before that based on the language he used in that press conference.
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