Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1544053
A P R I L 2 0 2 6 5 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M E D I T O R I A L MATT HERB MATT.HERB@ON3.COM VARSITY VIEWS I t should come as no surprise to any- one that the Penn State wrestling team romped to another national championship in March. The Nittany Lions dominated the dual meet season, beating their 15 opponents by a com- bined margin of 630-39, then they won seven individual titles at the Big Ten Tournament and followed that up by handily winning their 13th NCAA crown of the Cael Sanderson coaching era. On the same weekend the wrestlers were dominating at nationals, the PSU women's ice hockey team was making a run at an NCAA title of its own. That should have come as no surprise, either. The Nittany Lions had been trending in this direction ever since hiring coach Jeff Kampersal in 2017, and while they ultimately dropped a 4-3 overtime deci- sion to Wisconsin in the national semi- finals at Pegula Ice Arena, one gets the very distinct feeling this won't be their last Frozen Four appearance. What might surprise some people, maybe even some devoted Nittany Lion supporters, is that PSU ranks near the top of the leaderboard in all-time Divi- sion I national championships across all sports. Exactly where the Lions land de- pends on how you define a national title. If you count only NCAA crowns, Penn State has 57 all-time and is fifth behind Stanford (138), UCLA (125), USC (115) and Texas (60). If you count "mythical" football crowns, women's titles awarded by the long-defunct AIAW, and championships given out by other sanctioning bodies, Penn State's total climbs to 101 and ranks fourth behind the Cardinal (157), Bruins (145) and Trojans (137). The definitions get a bit complicated if we go with the latter number. For example, 12 of PSU's "other" national titles are in women's rugby, a club sport that has never had varsity status. But even if we stick to NCAA crowns, Penn State has one of the most crowded tro- phy cases in all of college sports. PSU's success across a range of sports is by design. The university's athletics administration has long been commit- ted to fielding a broad variety of teams, including squads that compete in sports like men's gymnastics and men's vol- leyball that have been hurt by cost- cutting moves at other schools. Under previous athletics directors Tim Curley and Sandy Barbour, Penn State resisted the pressure to balance its books at the expense of nonrevenue programs. When Patrick Kraft succeeded Barbour in 2022, he echoed that philosophical approach, speaking of his desire to keep piling up Big Ten and NCAA champion- ship trophies. "I'm here to win," Kraft said, "and we are going to win." Penn State has continued to win, but there were disparities before he arrived, and they have largely continued. Three programs — wrestling, fencing and women's volleyball — have accounted for 26 of the school's 28 NCAA team championships since 2000. The only other programs to win titles in that span have been men's volleyball in 2008 and women's soccer in 2015. A number of Penn State programs don't have a realistic path to title con- tention. Some are overdue for facilities upgrades. Others don't have a storied history of producing professional ath- letes or Olympians. Many are hindered by geography, which plays a large role in the kind of athletes they can recruit and the times of the year when they're able to practice and compete outdoors. The rationale for fielding teams in a wide variety of sports, including those that aren't destined to bring home NCAA championship trophies, is that they help diversify the student body and give the university community some- thing to rally around throughout the academic year. Those are worthy goals, and Penn State should strive to continue pursuing them. Kraft, though, is faced with financial imperatives that his predecessors didn't have to deal with — at least not to the same degree. Much more than in ear- lier eras, there is pressure on athletics directors to funnel ever more resources into football in order to keep pace with their rivals. Penn State is no exception. Let's be honest, most PSU followers would trade every epee ever made for one more football championship. Kraft has to be mindful of that reality. But the success of wrestling and women's ice hockey teams, along with that of the men's hockey team, which will be contending for a title of its own in the days ahead, is a reminder that there's a lot of value in having a broad- based athletics program that can keep generating interest and enthusiasm long after football season ends. You can't win 'em all, but as Penn State has proven over the years, you can win a lot. ■ Championship Seasons Are By Design Since Patrick Kraft took over as athletics director in 2022, Penn State has won five NCAA team championships — four in wrestling and one in women's volleyball. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS