Steve Kragthorpe

College coach infobox


Name = Steve Kragthorpe
| ImageWidth =
Caption =
Title = Head coach
College = Louisville
Sport = Football
Conference = Big East
DateOfBirth = birth date and age|1965|4|28
Birthplace = flagicon|Montana Missoula, MT
DateOfDeath =
Deathplace =
CurrentRecord = 8–8
OverallRecord = 37–30
BowlRecord = 1–2
Contract =
TournamentRecord =
CFbDWID = 2833
Championships = 2005 C-USA championship
Awards =
CoachingRecords =
Player = Y
Years = 1983-1984
1985-1987
Team = Eastern New Mexico
West Texas
Position = QB
Coach = Y
CoachYears = 1990-1991
1992-1993 1994-1995 1996 1997
1998-2000 2001-2002 2003-2006 2007-"present"
CoachTeams = Northern Arizona (QB)
Northern Arizona (OC)
North Texas (OC)
Boston College (QB)
Texas A&M (QB)
Texas A&M (OC)
Buffalo Bills (QB)
Tulsa
Louisiville
FootballHOF =
CollegeHOFID =
BBallHOF =

Steve Kragthorpe (born April 28 1965 in Missoula, Montana) is the head coach for the University of Louisville football team. From 2003 through 2006 he was the head coach at the University of Tulsa.

Early career

Kragthorpe was born in Missoula, Montana but attended Highland High School in Pocatello, Idaho. He was recruited by Bill Kelly to play at Eastern New Mexico University, where he played quarterback in 1983 and '84. When Kelly left ENMU for West Texas State (now West Texas A&M University), Kragthorpe followed him. After sitting out the 1985 season, he played in 1986 and '87. He started 11 games as a senior and completed 179-of-344 passes for 1,980 yards and nine TDs.

Kragthorpe earned a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1988 from West Texas State and received his MBA in 1989 from Oregon State University. He then spent more than a decade as an assistant coach at several colleges. At age 26, he became offensive coordinator under Steve Axman at Northern Arizona University. He left in 1994 to join Matt Simon's coaching staff at the University of North Texas. After leaving the state of Texas for one year, serving as quarterbacks coach under Dan Henning at Boston College in 1996, Kragthorpe came back to join R. C. Slocum's staff at Texas A&M. He served as quarterbacks coach in 1997 before replacing Steve Marshall as offensive coordinator in 1998. Texas A&M won a Big 12 championship in 1998.

In 2001, Kragthorpe left the collegiate ranks to become quarterback coach under head coach Gregg Williams for the Buffalo Bills. He trained quarterback Drew Bledsoe. who had arguably the best season of his career in 2002. In 2003, Kragthorpe took over his first head coaching position, succeeding Keith Burns at the University of Tulsa.

Head coaching career

In his first season at Tulsa, Kragthorpe guided a program that had won just two games during the previous two seasons to a 8–5 record and its first bowl game appearance since 1991. In 2005, Tulsa won the Conference USA championship and then went on to beat Fresno State in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.

Kragthorpe took over the University of Louisville vacancy on January 9, 2007. He replaced former head coach, and fellow Montanan, Bobby Petrino who agreed to serve as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. Kragthorpe's contract is a 1.1 million dollar a year contract (with bonuses) for five years. Louisville hired Kragthorpe in what many consider to be a “whirlwind courtship,” becoming the head coach in less than 48 hours after Petrino submitted his resignation. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2725663 ESPN - Kragthorpe leaves Tulsa for Louisville - College Football ] ]

Although Louisville started the 2007 season as #10 in the AP Poll and returned the majority of the 2007 Orange Bowl Champion team, the Cards finished the season a disappointing 6–6. Nine consecutive winnings seasons and bowl games came to a end under the direction of Kragthrope in year one of his coaching tenure at U of L. Rumors swirled on whether Kragthorpe would return for a second season. After days of speculation whether Kragthorpe could leave for the vacant head coaching job at Southern Methodist University, Louisville sports information director Rocco Gasparro confirmed on November 21, that there is a “50-50 chance” Kragthorpe will be at SMU in 2008. [ [http://www.whas11.com/news/local/stories/112007whasjdtopstorysports.22339825.html Kragthorpe could be leaving] ] In a press conference that same day Kragthorpe ruled out any speculations that he was entertaining an offer from SMU, saying he was “100 percent committed” to Louisville. [ [http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/7473992 FoxSports: Kragthorpe shoots down SMU rumor] ] Following Louisville's dismal 2007 season, Kragthorpe released both offensive coordinator Charlie Stubbs and defensive coordinator Mike Cassity and then hired Michigan defensive coordinator Ron English to guide the Cardinals defense and handed the offensive coordinator duties to Jeff Brohm [ [http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071202/SPORTS02/71202018/1002/SPORTS "Louisville Courier-Journal:" Kragthorpe announces changes on his staff] ] , who is expected to install an offense similar to that run by former U of L head coach Bobby Petrino.

Kragthorpe opened his second season at Louisville with very low expectations. A year removed from being a preseason top 10 program, the Cardinals entered the 2008 season picked 7th in the 8 team Big East Conference by members of the media. Louisville hosted in-state rival Kentucky on Sunday, August 31 and failed to even live up to such low expectations, falling to the Wildcats 27-2. The last time Louisville opened its season with a loss was 2002.

Head coaching record

CFB Yearly Record Subhead
name = Tulsa Golden Hurricane
startyear = 2003
conf = Western Athletic Conference
endyear = 2004CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 2003
name = Tulsa
overall = 8–5
conference = 6–2
confstanding = T–3^rd
bowlname = Humanitarian Bowl
bowloutcome = L
bcsbowl =
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 2004
name = Tulsa
overall = 4–8
conference = 3–5
confstanding = T–6^th
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = Tulsa
overall = 12–13
confrecord = 9–7CFB Yearly Record Subhead
name = Tulsa Golden Hurricane
startyear = 2005
conf = Conference USA
endyear = 2006CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship = conference
year = 2005
name = Tulsa
overall = 9–4
conference = 6–2
confstanding = 1^st
bowlname = AutoZone Liberty Bowl
bowloutcome = W
bcsbowl =
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 2006
name = Tulsa
overall = 8–5
conference = 5–3
confstanding = 3^rd (West)
bowlname = Armed Forces Bowl
bowloutcome = L
bcsbowl =
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = Tulsa
overall = 17–9
confrecord = 11–5CFB Yearly Record Subhead
name = Louisville Cardinals
startyear = 2007
conf = Big East Conference
endyear = presentCFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 2007
name = Louisville
overall = 6–6
conference = 3–4
confstanding = T-5^th
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 2008
name = Louisville
overall = 2–2
conference = 0–1
confstanding = T–7th
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking = —
ranking2 = —CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = Louisville
overall = 8–8
confrecord = 3–5CFB Yearly Record End
overall = 37–30
bcs = no
poll = two
polltype =

Personal

Coach Kragthorpe and his wife, Cynthia, have three sons: Chris, Brad, and Nik. Steve's brother, Kurt, is a sports columnist for the Salt Lake City Tribune; their father, Dave Kragthorpe, was also a college football coach, most notably at Oregon State.

Trivia

Kragthorpe is the third straight Louisville coach with Rocky Mountain ties. John L. Smith was an Idaho native, and Bobby Petrino was a fellow Montana native.

References

External links

* [http://uoflsports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/kragthorpe_steve00.html Official profile at the University of Louisville Athletics Web Site]
* [http://tulsahurricane.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/kragthorpe_steve00.html Official Profile at the University of Tulsa's athletics site]