Steve Kragthorpe Fired From University Of Louisville
If you don’t emerse yourself into college football like I do or not a University of Louisville alumni then you probably didn’t notice or care that Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich fired head coach Steve Kragthorpe.
The Kragthorpe firing is the first in Division 1A and will ultimately cause the domino effect amongst the coaching ranks as we head into bowl season. With Jurich having ties to the Mountain West Conference could he lure TCU’s Gary Patterson or Utah’s Kyle Whittingham to a BCS eligible school? Could Houston’s Kevin Sumlin be on the Cardinals radar as I believe he will be the most sought after coach outside of Stanford’s Jim Harbaugh.
Kragthorpe was 15-21 in three seasons at Louisville and the Cardinals finished 1-6 in the Big East (4-8 overall) this season, their second consecutive losing season under Kragthorpe. He had two years remaining on his contract that pays about $1.1 million a year.
In January 2007, Kragthorpe replaced Bobby Petrino, but was unable to match the success UL had under Petrino, which included the 2006 Big East and Orange Bowl championship. Kragthorpe’s best season at UL was his first in 2007, when the Cardinals went 6-6 but did not receive a bowl bid.
The Cardinals struggles have lead to small crowds attending Louisville’s home games, as they saw back to back the smallest crowds in Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium history. Louisville is in the midst of expanding its stadium from 42,000 to 55,000 and it’s scheduled to be completed in 2010.
Kragthorpe came to Louisville after three seasons at Tulsa, where he was 29-22 and won the Conference USA title in 2005.
Can I suggest Houston’s head coach Kevin Sumlin or Florida’s defensive cordinator Charlie Strong.



