Kragthorpe Named Louisville Coach
It didn’t take long for Louisville to get over the loss of head coach Bobby Petrino to the Atlanta Falcons before finding his replacement.
It took only 48 hours for Louisville Athletic Director Tom Julich to lure Steve Kragthorpe away from Tulsa and name him the new head coach of the Cardinals.
The process was less of a search and more of a mission for Jurich, whose relationship with Kragthorpe dates to 1990, when Jurich was the athletic director at Northern Arizona and Kragthorpe was hired as quarterbacks coach.
After four successful years under the relentless but ultimately restless Petrino, Jurich wanted some stability. And with national signing day less than a month away, Jurich knew he didn’t have time to form a search committee and go through a formal interview process.
Kragthorpe, 41, signed a five-year, $1.1-million deal that runs through the 2012 season, the first of what he hopes will be several contracts he signs with the Cardinals.
Kragthorpe takes over a Louisville program that flourished under Petrino. The Cardinals went 12-1 this season, won the Big East and the Orange Bowl and finished sixth in the final Associated Press poll. The Cardinals were 41-9 under Petrino.
It’s a long way from Kragthorpe’s first days at Tulsa four years ago, when he took over a program that had won just two games in the two years before he arrived.
But after posting a 29-22 record in four seasons — including three bowl appearances and the Conference USA championship in 2005 — Kragthorpe knew he was at a crossroads. Though he’d turned down numerous job offers in the past, he didn’t hesitate when Jurich called.
The first thing on Kragthorpe’s agenda will be to convince junior quarterback Brian Brohm to stay for his senior season. Louisville has already lost RB Michael Bush, who announced he will enter the NFL Draft despite missing all of the 2006 season.
Brohm hasn’t spoken to the media since winning the Orange Bowl MVP last week and has until Jan. 15 to decide whether to return for his senior season. Kragthorpe intends to do his best to assure Brohm that the high-flying offense that made the Cardinals so successful under Petrino didn’t end when Petrino headed to Atlanta.
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