- Dave Kragthorpe
-
Dave Kragthorpe Sport(s) Football Biographical details Born May 1, 1933 Playing career 1951–1954 Utah State Position(s) Tackle Coaching career (HC unless noted) 1969
1970–1979
1980–1982
1985–1990South Dakota State
BYU (assistant)
Idaho State
Oregon StateAdministrative career (AD unless noted) 1983–1985 Utah State Head coaching record Overall 41–69–2 Tournaments 3–0 (NCAA D-I-AA playoffs) Statistics College Football Data Warehouse Accomplishments and honors Championships 1 Division I-AA National (1981)
1 Big Sky (1981)Awards Pac-10 Coach of the Year (1989) Dave Kragthorpe (born May 1, 1933) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at South Dakota State University in 1969, at Idaho State University from 1980 to 1982, and at Oregon State University from 1985 to 1990, compiling a career college football record of 41–69–2.
Contents
Early life
Kragthorpe attended Utah State University where he excelled as a two-way tackle for the Aggies from 1951 to 1954. In addition, he was also on the baseball team. Despite all his athletic obligations, Kragthorpe graduated with double bachelors' degrees in physical education and recreation education in 1955. A short time later, he returned to Utah State and earned his master's degree in secondary education.
Coaching career
Kragthorpe spent one season as the head coach at South Dakota State University in 1969. In that season, he posted a 3–7 record. From there, Dave served as offensive line coach and offensive coordinator at Brigham Young University, under LaVell Edwards. The Cougars were one of the first programs committed to throwing the football in the 1970s, a time when "three yards and a cloud of dust" was still the dominant sentiment in college football.
After going 0–11 in 1979, Idaho State athletic director, I. J. Babe Caccia, decided to try to import some of the passing magic from nearby Provo, Utah. He hired Kragthorpe as his head coach, and the Bengals immediately improved to 6–5 his first season, 1980, coming within a final game loss to eventual national champion Boise State from winning a share of the Big Sky Conference championship and going to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.
Kragthorpe recorded a 21–14 record in three seasons, from 1980 to 1982. The best results were definitely in his second season, a 12–1 season in 1981, when the Bengals won the Big Sky Conference title and the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship behind quarterback Mike Machurek, who went on to become a reserve player with the Detroit Lions. During the 1981 season, Idaho State outscored its opponents 422–172.
In the 1983, Kragthorpe stepped away from the sidelines to take over as athletics director at Utah State University. After two years in this capacity, he returned to coaching in 1985.
In 1985, Kragthorpe was named the head coach at Oregon State. He implemented a pass-oriented offense, penned the "Air Express" in Corvallis. This offense did not correlate to much success in the Pacific-10 Conference, as Kragthorpe failed to have a winning record in any of his six seasons with Oregon State, compiling an overall record of 17–48–2. In recognition of how difficult the Oregon State job was perceived to be in those days, Kragthorpe won the Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors in 1989, despite having a losing record that year with the Beavers.
1985 Oregon State vs. Washington
Despite Kragthorpe's record at Oregon State, he will be forever linked to one if the greatest wins in Oregon State history. In his first season under the helm at OSU, Kragthorpe took his team in to Husky Stadium in Seattle, Washington to take on the Washington Huskies. The Beavers entered the game as 38-point underdogs. After sixty minutes of play, and a blocked punt for a touchdown with 1:29 left to go in the game that was recovered for a Beaver touchdown, Oregon State pulled off one of the biggest upsets in college football history, 21–20.
Coaching tree
Kragthorpe's "coaching tree" includes both Jim and Brent Koetter, multiple state championship winning coaches at Pocatello and Highland High School in Pocatello; Marvin Lewis, who played and coached under Kragthorpe at ISU, now head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals; and Mike Shepherd, receivers and quarterbacks coach under Kragthorpe at Idaho State; who has had a long career as a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator in the National Football League.
Later life
In 1994, Kragthorpe was hired by the USU Alumni Association to resurrect the university's alumni chapters program. Despite officially retiring in 2001, Kragthorpe can still be found at his desk in the Alumni Office, overseeing the USU alumni chapters in Idaho and northern Nevada.
Kragthorpe is a huge supporter of USU and Aggie athletics. He is a member of the Old Main Society, Alumni Sustaining Membership program, Big Blue Club, and the Emeriti Association. In 2005, he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award. His love of sports continues to live on in his children also. His son, Kurt, is a sports writer for the Salt Lake Tribune. Another son, Steve Kragthorpe, was the head football coach at the University of Louisville from 2007 to 2009, but was fired in November 2009.
Kragthorpe and his wife, Barbara, split their time between Logan, Utah and Louisville, Kentucky.
Head coaching record
Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs South Dakota State Jackrabbits (North Central Conference) (1969) 1969 South Dakota State 3–7 3–3 3rd South Dakota State: 3–7 3–3 Idaho State Bengals (Big Sky Conference) (1980–1982) 1980 Idaho State 6–5 4–4 T–3rd 1981 Idaho State 12–1 6–1 T–1st 1982 Idaho State 3–8 1–6 8th Idaho State: 21–14 11–11 Oregon State Beavers (Pacific-10 Conference) (1985–1990) 1985 Oregon State 3–8 2–6 9th 1986 Oregon State 3–8 2–5 10th 1987 Oregon State 2–9 0–7 10th 1988 Oregon State 4–6–1 2–5–1 8th 1989 Oregon State 4–7–1 3–4–1 6th 1990 Oregon State 1–10 1–6 10th Oregon State: 17–48–2 10–33–2 Total: 41–69–2 National Championship Conference Title Conference Division Title References
External links
South Dakota State Jackrabbits head football coaches Unknown (1889) • No team (1890–1896) • Unknown (1897–1900) • Coach Morrison (1901) • L. L. Gilkey (1902) • Unknown (1903) • J. Harrison Werner (1904) • William Blaine (1905) • William Juneau (1906–1907) • J. M. Saunderson (1908–1910) • Fred Johnson (1911) • Harry W. Ewing (1912–1917) • No team (1918) • Charles A. West (1919–1927) • Cy Kasper (1928–1933) • Red Threlfall (1934–1937) • Jack V. Barnes (1938–1940) • Thurlo McCrady (1941–1942) • No team (1943) • Thurlo McCrady (1944–1946) Ralph Ginn (1947–1968) • Dave Kragthorpe (1969) • Dean Pryer (1970–1971) • John Gregory (1972–1981) • Wayne Haensel (1982–1990) • Mike Daly (1991–1997) • John Stiegelmeier (1998–)
Idaho State Bengals head football coaches Herbert Cheney (1902–1903) • Charles Rowe (1904) • Hubert Upjohn (1905–1906) • John Morris (1907–1908) • Harvey Holmes (1909–1914) • Reuben Bronson (1915–1916) • J. T. Fogt (1917) • No team (1918) • Reuben Bronson (1919) • Ralph Hutchinson (1920–1927) • Felix Plastino (1928–1934) • Guy Wicks (1935–1940) • John Vesser (1941–1942) • No team (1943) • John Vesser (1944) • No team (1945) • John Vesser (1946–1951) • Babe Caccia (1952–1965) • Leo McKillip (1966–1967) • Ed Cavanaugh (1968–1971) • Bob Griffin (1972–1975) • Joe Pascale (1976) • Bud Hake (1977–1979) • Dave Kragthorpe (1980–1982) • Jim Koetter (1983–1987) • Garth Hall (1988–1991) • Brian McNeely (1992–1996) • Tom Walsh (1997–1998) • Larry Lewis (1999–2006) • John Zamberlin (2007–2010) • Mike Kramer (2011–)
Oregon State Beavers head football coaches Bill Bloss (1893) • Guy Kennedy (1894) • Paul Downing (1895) • Tommy Code (1896) • Bill Bloss (1897–1898) • Highland Stickney (1899) • No team (1900) • No coach (1901) • Frank Herbold (1902) • Thomas L. McFadden (1903) • Allen Steckle (1904–1905) • Fred Norcross (1906–1908) • Sol Metzger (1909) • George Schildmiller (1910) • Sam Dolan (1911–1912) • E. J. Stewart (1913–1915) • Joseph Pipal (1916–1917) • Homer Woodson Hargiss (1918–1919) • R. B. Rutherford (1920–1923) • Paul J. Schissler (1924–1932) • Lon Stiner (1933–1942) • No team (1943–1944) • Lon Stiner (1945–1948) • Kip Taylor (1949–1954) • Tommy Prothro (1955–1964) • Dee Andros (1965–1975) • Craig Fertig (1976–1979) • Joe Avezzano (1980–1984) • Dave Kragthorpe (1985–1990) • Jerry Pettibone (1991–1996) • Mike Riley (1997–1998) • Dennis Erickson (1999–2002) • Mike Riley (2003– )
Categories:- 1933 births
- Living people
- BYU Cougars football coaches
- Idaho State Bengals football coaches
- Oregon State Beavers football coaches
- South Dakota State Jackrabbits football coaches
- Utah State Aggies athletic directors
- Utah State Aggies football players
- College baseball players in the United States
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
