Former Louisville and Tulsa coach Steve Kragthorpe has died at age 59 following a years-long battle with Parkinson’s disease, Louisville and LSU officials confirmed to the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Kragthorpe’s lengthy coaching career began at Northern Arizona in 1990 and spanned more than 20 years with stops as an assistant at North Texas, Boston College, Texas A&M and with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. He landed his first coaching job with Tulsa in 2003 and took a downtrodden Golden Hurricane program that hadn’t posted a winning season since 1991 to three bowl games in four years. He was inducted into the Tulsa Hall of Fame earlier this year.
Following his stint with Tulsa, Kragthrope spent three seasons as the coach Louisville from 2007-09, finishing his coaching career with a 44-43 record. After a year away from football in 2010, Kragthorpe was hired as LSU’s offensive coordinator in 2011 but ultimately stepped down from his post following his Parkinson’s diagnosis; however, he remained with the Tigers for multiple years in an off-field capacity.
