Temple Athletic Director Patrick Kraft leaving for BC
Temple’s Athletic Director Patrick Kraft will be the next AD at Boston College. Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel was the first to report the news.
Kraft agreed to a five-year contract on Wednesday morning to be the Eagles’ new athletic director, replacing Martin Jarmond, who was recently hired to be UCLA’s next AD.
After serving two years as the Deputy Director of Athletics, Kraft was promoted as Temple’s Director of Athletics in May of 2015. Five years later, Temple will begin a search for his replacement.
During his tenure at Temple, Kraft oversaw the football program winning the 2016 American Athletic Conference Championship, as well as competing in four bowl games in each year of his tenure. Temple men’s basketball won its first regular season title in the AAC in 2016, as well. In 2019, Kraft was elected to represent the AAC on the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee.
“I am truly honored to be selected to serve Boston College as the steward of such a great intercollegiate athletics department,” Kraft said in a statement. “The core values of Boston College are in alignment with how I live my life and how I approach my job, creating world-class experiences for student-athletes with the utmost of integrity, character, faith and love. We will compete for championships, we will continue to graduate young men and women who will go on to change the world, and we will represent BC with pride.”
“Pat has been extraordinarily successful in his seven years here and Temple athletics has been run with enthusiasm and integrity, making us all proud Owls,” said Temple president Richard Englert in a statement released by the University.
Kraft has agreed to stay on until July 1 to help with the transition, which could ultimately prevent the need for the Owls to name an interim in the near future. It’s likely that Temple will begin a national search for its next Athletic Director as soon as possible.
The Owls' next AD will have large shoes to fill. Under Kraft’s direction, Temple enjoyed success on and off the field, with impressive results in the classroom that included a single-year Academic Performance Rate (APR) that ranked third-best in the nation among all Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs for 2018-19.