Steve Kragthorpe - Head Coaching Career

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

In 2007, Kragthorpe carried around a baseball bat in an attempt to motivate his players to become "Better After Today" and placed mousetraps around the locker room in another effort at motivation. Despite these motivational tactics, the team finished 6–6 and did not earn a bowl invite.

Although Louisville started the 2007 season as #10 in the AP Poll and returned the majority of the 2007 Orange Bowl champion team, including Heisman Trophy candidate Brian Brohm at quarterback, the Cards finished the season a disappointing 6–6, including a loss to Syracuse in which the Cardinals were 37 point favorites. Nine consecutive winnings seasons and bowl games came to an end under the direction of Kragthrope in year one of his coaching tenure at Louisville with a team that had enough talent to see five of its players taken in the NFL Draft. 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. 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. 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, who was expected to install an offense similar to that run by former Louisville 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, falling to the Wildcats 27–2 in Louisville's first opening day loss since 2002. On October 25, 2008, Louisville defeated a ranked South Florida team 24–20. Kragthorpe also lost to Syracuse in back to back seasons, giving Syracuse head coach Greg Robinson two of his three Big East wins as a head coach. Following the Syracuse loss, Kragthorpe's Cardinals lost the next four games capped off by a 63–14 loss to Rutgers (Louisville's worst defeat since 1987.) This marked the team's first losing season since 1997.

Louisville fired Kragthorpe on November 28, 2009. He accepted the wide receivers coaching position at Texas A&M in February 2010, but later resigned due to a family member's illness. After spending the 2010 season out of football, on January 20, 2011 he was hired as the new offensive coordinator at LSU.

On August 4, 2011, Kragthorpe stepped down from the offensive coordinator position at LSU, due to Parkinson's Disease. He said he would remain as quarterbacks coach.