On Monday, Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft met with the media for the first time since the Big Ten Media Days last summer.
Entering his third year with the university, Kraft discussed various topics with the media over 40 minutes including about the university’s top-ranked wrestling program.
The main topic when it came to the Nittany Lions’ wrestling team was the upcoming changes to scholarship limits. For the 2025-2026 academic school year, the scholarship limit will increase from just 9.9 scholarships to 30.
With that, one common question is how many scholarships will the Nittany Lions wrestling team likely use going forward? Will the country’s top program utilize all 30 scholarships?
“So no, we’re not going to have 30 scholarships,” Kraft said when asked. “We’re working through the scholarship number right now, but Cael will have more scholarships to invest in the program,” he added. He later noted that he doesn’t expect any program to do 30 scholarships for wrestling.
Kraft noted that there is a lot to consider with the increase in scholarships.
“I think another piece of the $20.5 (million from revenue sharing) and another follow up question is like, well, how are you spending that money? And Cael will be part of our rev share world,” Kraft said.
That being said, Kraft had one very simple message when it came to the Nittany Lions’ wrestling team. “I always tell Cael, “Cael, we’re going to do whatever we need to do to give you all you need and the resources you need,” Kraft explained.
“We’re going to give Cael what he needs, and we have, I can tell you that we’ve added scholarships for him in the future.”
Already the premier wrestling program in the country, the Nittany Lions having more scholarships at their disposal could be a scary thought for the rest of the college wrestling world.
Kraft also noted that Cael Sanderson is not one to usually come to the NIttany Lions’ athletic director asking for things.
“Everyone knows there’s no joke, if Cael walked in there and wanted $100 million, “I will find you $100 million Cael.” Kraft said. “But the reality is, it’s opposite to that. “I’m good. Pat, don’t worry.” And we talk about what Audrey asked about scholarships, whatever we need to do to get better, but he’s never asking for anything more than what he believes it takes to just win.”
And winning is just what Penn State wrestling does. Since 2011, the Nittany Lions have won 11 of 13 possible team championships including each of the last three. Last year, the program set an NCAA Tournament team record with 172.5 points, finishing 100 points ahead of second place Cornell.
Last Friday, the Nittany Lions completed a perfect regular season with a 50-3 win over American. It was the Nittany Lions’ 70th consecutive dual meet win. They’ll now prepare for the Big Ten Championships in Evanston, Illinois starting on Saturday, March 8.
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