Penn State men's basketball hired its first program-specific general manager Scott Pera in the offseason. Now the Nittany Lions' women's basketball team has followed suit, hiring its program-specific general manager for the first time too. He will also act as an assistant coach to head coach Carolyn Kieger.
Jason Crafton, Penn State women's basketball new general manager, is coming from his most recent stint at Columbia University. He was the chief program strategist for the Lions since Dec. 2024, working with Columbia head coach Jim Engles.
Penn State women's basketball hires Jason Craft as general manager and assistant coach
Craft brings head coaching experience to Kieger's staff. Before heading to Columbia, he served as the head coach of Maryland Eastern Shore's men's basketball team from 2019 to 2024. In his second-to-last season, Craft was a finalist for the Ben Jobe Coach of the Year Award. He also worked under former Penn State coach Ed DeChellis at Navy and Jay Wright at Villanova.
“We are thrilled to welcome Jason to our staff,” Kieger said in a statement as reported by Penn State Nittany Lions On SI. "With extensive experience coaching and managing at the highest levels of the game, Jason brings an elite understanding of player development, roster construction and competitive excellence. His proven leadership, deep knowledge of the game and ability to build string relationships will play a vital role in advancing our program’s pursuit of excellence.”
Jason Craft's role with the women's team will be similar to Scott Pera's for the men's team
According to a news release, Craft will be a part of roster building and maintaining strategies as well as developing NIL plans.
Penn State's lackluster 2024-25 season ended with a 10-19 overall record and 1-17 Big Ten record. Adding Craft to the staff will use his experiences both on and off the court to try and stabilize the Nittany Lions to slowly build the program.
When looking at the current roster, Kieger has three incoming freshman: guard and forward Nyla McFadden, guard Shayla Smith, and forward Rachel Okokoh.
With the amount of rebuilding Kieger initiated last season, slowly piecing together and filling the holes should be her focus. Having Crafton on her staff, specifically assisting in the roster building area, should start to translate onto the court as well.
Smith, at Universal Audenried Charter High School, became the fastest player to reach 1,000 points in her league and tallied 2,666 total points throughout her high school career.
As the Nittany Lions struggled to return to their hot start last season, it will be important for Smith to be consistent and build off her foundation from Universal Audenried. If her development goes in the direction its expected, keeping her in the program long-term will draw positive attention to Penn State. However, if the Nittany Lions don't pull together a better record, it's possible for Smith to start looking elsewhere during her NCAA career.