Domain: tiger-web1.srvr.media3.us Kragthorpe and louisville (long) | Tiger Rant
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Kragthorpe and louisville (long)

Posted on 7/31/11 at 5:25 pm
Posted by dreaux
baton rouge
Member since Oct 2006
40882 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 5:25 pm
I was reading through his profile on wiki and i found some things that do not exactly instill confidence. I know he was a failure at the ville, but he has some real arse whoopings. What happened down there? Is there a reason they went to total shite (besides krags)?

there is this:
quote:

In 2007, Kragthorpe carried around a baseball bat in an attempt to motivate his players to become "Better After Today" [3] and placed mousetraps around the locker room in another effort at motivation.[4] Despite these motivational tactics, the team finished 6-6 and did not earn a bowl invite



this part is kinda long and goes through his time at louisville, so skip if you are not interested.

quote:

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.[6] 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.[7] 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,[8] who was expected to install an offense similar to that run by former Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino.


quote:

Kragthorpe opened his second season at Louisville with very low expectations.[9] 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.[10] 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.)[11][12] This marked the first losing season since 1987



i know there is great coaches that are not cut out for HC gigs (ron cooper is a good example, or was he a DC?). Anyway, I have watched some film of him doing a clinic and he 100% know exactly what he is talking about.

But this bio does not necessarily instill confidence. Does anyone know what exactly happened for louisville to go to shite so bad so fast? Is it just krags?
This post was edited on 7/31/11 at 5:27 pm
Posted by Camp Randall
The Shadow of the Valley of Death
Member since Nov 2005
17381 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 5:37 pm to
Ron Cooper was hc of Louisville too. He failed there but is doing pretty well here IMO.
Posted by covlatiger
Member since Feb 2006
2419 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 5:41 pm to
I believe he was forced to keep some assistants from the prior staff that didn't help things.
Posted by wryder1
Birmingham
Member since Feb 2008
4818 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 5:44 pm to
As a.cordinator he can concentrate on 1 aspect of the game and put all his attention there...
as a coach he has to focus on the entire team, the politics involved.and all the other bs involved in coaching a Division 1 football team.
The attention and pressure is taken of him as a cordinator. Some people can not take that pressure and etc. Let him cordinate, I think he will be just fine.
Posted by moneyg
Member since Jun 2006
62405 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 6:30 pm to
quote:

As a.cordinator he can concentrate on 1 aspect of the game and put all his attention there...
as a coach he has to focus on the entire team, the politics involved.and all the other bs involved in coaching a Division 1 football team.
The attention and pressure is taken of him as a cordinator. Some people can not take that pressure and etc. Let him cordinate, I think he will be just fine.


I agree with this. Make no mistake, he was a disaster as a Head Coach at Louisville. It was his job to handle all of the things that ended up getting causing him to fail. Not everything was his fault...but it was his job to roll with the punches and keep the program moving forward. That didn't happen.

Nevertheless, this has nothing to do with whether or not he will be successful at LSU. Kragthorpe will be successful if he can accomplish 2 single objectives at LSU:

1.) He needs to be able to successfully integrate Miles' basic philosophy within his own overall philosophy. I would hope that, given the fact that Miles basically has wanted Kragthorpe for 2 years now they are very close to being on the exact same page in this regard.

2.) He needs to be succesful enough and a good enough communicator with Miles that he earns total confidence in Miles...so that Miles doesn't feel the need to get involved in the offense. He can't be a yes man to Miles the way Crowton was. That relationship needs to be managed.

Crowton obviously had a different philosophy than Miles, but was never able to create an identity that matched the philosophy. Instead, there seemed to be infighting on the offensive staff and LSU seemed to be a mesh of too many different looks with no real identity.

No question, Miles was meddling in Crowton's offense. But, that isn't unusual...and it was almost assuredly for good reason. It's up to the offensive coordinator to keep that dynamic from ultimately interfering with the success of the offense. Crowton couldn't do that. Hopefully, Kragthorpe can.
Posted by Hair of the Dog
Alexandria
Member since Dec 2005
2205 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 6:38 pm to
His wife's health problems might have been part of it.
Posted by Geaux2002
Member since Jun 2011
3561 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 6:57 pm to
Stubbs was his buddy he brought along. The offense was actually great that initial season, so what does Krags do? He fires Stubbs as OC after the team finished #6 in total offense in the nation and 4th in passing.

His defense was 84th in total defense and 91st in scoring defense.

Then he took over and the offense dropped to 48th.

Krags got way too much credit for top offenses, even at A&M. Their offense was mediocre while he was there and they won because of their defense.

Stubbs was his OC at Tulsa where he was such an awesome OC. I think he's a decent QB coach, but he's a severely over-rated OC.
Posted by Lakebound
Member since Nov 2004
3975 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 7:02 pm to
quote:

placed mousetraps around the locker room


And his new boss eats grass...............we all have our peccadilloes.

Posted by dreaux
baton rouge
Member since Oct 2006
40882 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 7:09 pm to
quote:

Stubbs was his buddy he brought along. The offense was actually great that initial season, so what does Krags do? He fires Stubbs as OC after the team finished #6 in total offense in the nation and 4th in passing.


Why in gods name would he fire such a guy? A really good friend to boot.

So the consensus is krags had no hand in the top offenses he oversaw. Was he ever a OC?
Posted by Geaux2002
Member since Jun 2011
3561 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 7:13 pm to
He was an OC at Texas A&M, and brought them to just mediocre enough to allow their defense to win them games and the Big 12 one year.

Think of LSU's defense and special teams last year with the 2009 offense.

Why he fired Stubbs? He needed scapegoats, and at least on the surface shows Krags' true colors.

In the end, Krags' experience shows him to be a good QB coach and average OC without Stubbs. That said, I hope he does well at LSU and the offense rebounds.
Posted by ApexTiger
cary nc
Member since Oct 2003
56368 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 8:12 pm to
I know people who know Krapthorpe from his Tulsa days...obviously these people think very highly of him.

Tremendous coach... He got the Louisville gig because he did so well at Tulsa

Louisville was left a minefield of player problems...tons of distractions going on inside the program.

It would be best to leave it at that..

I think Krag is ready to get back to a clean slate and help LSU do really well
Posted by dreaux
baton rouge
Member since Oct 2006
40882 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 8:19 pm to
^^^^i have heard this on occasion as well.
Posted by SteveLSU35
Shreveport
Member since Mar 2004
14915 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 8:28 pm to
Saban got beat by Dinardo.............



In all seriousness, I really feel that his system is a good fit for what Miles is looking for. I'm excited.
Posted by Ringo cockerham
Jena, la
Member since Jul 2010
81 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 9:23 pm to
Did he have 2 different tenures at A&M? Because I though he quit before he really got started because of his wife's illness.
Posted by NorfolkVATiger
Guam
Member since Nov 2005
2786 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 9:32 pm to
Yeah he was OC from about '98 to '00 under RC Slocum.

Offense finished in the 50's or so in total offense each year.
Posted by ProjectP2294
South St. Louis city
Member since May 2007
76106 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 9:44 pm to
quote:

Ron Cooper was hc of Louisville too. He failed there but is doing pretty well here IMO.


When we play Arkansas, the last 4 Louisville head coaches will be on the sidelines for either team.
Posted by Geaux2002
Member since Jun 2011
3561 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 9:57 pm to
quote:

Yeah he was OC from about '98 to '00 under RC Slocum.

Offense finished in the 50's or so in total offense each year.


His offense in 1998 (when they actually won the Big XII) was ranked 91st in total offense, so not sure where you are getting your numbers.

In 1999 and 2000, they were 58th (8-3) and 49th (7-4) in those years respectively.

They only won the Big XII in 1998 because of their defense and special teams. Their offense was the same as ours last season with a weaker running game.

In the end, one thing he did was show improvement each season, which was to be expected. That said, claiming he was in the 50's ever year is just straight false.
Posted by Brendoni
Oklahoma City, Ok
Member since Apr 2009
22280 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 10:03 pm to
i've seen a few of his tulsa teams in person. they were well coached, besides he's not going to be our hc. i think he and miles are on the same page unlike miles and crowton were. i don't think crowton is a bad oc, but he runs more of a spread and miles runs a pro style. i think that had a lot to do with our clock management issues. crowton would call in a play that miles didn't like, then by the time it got to jj the play clock was under 10 seconds. kragthrope runs a pro style offense, so i think that alone will help. that's jmo though.
Posted by GFunk
Denham Springs
Member since Feb 2011
14970 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 10:27 pm to
quote:

Their [A&M's] offense was mediocre while he was there and they won because of their defense.


Dat Motherlovin' Nguyen, biatches!


Posted by Joe Mantegna
knoxville
Member since Oct 2007
9620 posts
Posted on 7/31/11 at 10:29 pm to
quote:

His offense in 1998 (when they actually won the Big XII) was ranked 91st in total offense, so not sure where you are getting your numbers. In 1999 and 2000, they were 58th (8-3) and 49th (7-4) in those years respectively. They only won the Big XII in 1998 because of their defense and special teams. Their offense was the same as ours last season with a weaker running game. In the end, one thing he did was show improvement each season, which was to be expected. That said, claiming he was in the 50's ever year is just straight false.


Dude, we get it, you don't like Kragthorpe. Post something else thats original for God's sake.
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