Steve Kragthorpe
Steve Kragthorpe went 44–43 as a head coach, 2003–2009, at Tulsa and Louisville. Share
- Record
- 44–43 career
- Seasons
- 7
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Best season
- 2005 9–4
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Tulsa | 8–5 | T–2nd | Humanitarian Bowl L | ||
| 2004 | Tulsa | 4–8 | T–6th | |||
| 2005 | Tulsa | 9–4 | 1st | Liberty Bowl W | ||
| 2006 | Tulsa | 8–5 | 3rd | Armed Forces Bowl L | ||
| 2007 | Louisville | 6–6 | T–5th | |||
| 2008 | Louisville | 5–7 | 8th | |||
| 2009 | Louisville | 4–8 | 7th |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 10 | 4–6 | 40% |
| Against top-10 teams | 2 | 0–2 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 12 | 5–7 | 42% |
| Conference games | 53 | 25–28 | 47% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 3 | 1–2 | 33% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 32 | 15–17 | 47% |
| At home | 43 | 29–14 | 67% |
| On the road | 40 | 13–27 | 33% |
| At neutral sites | 4 | 2–2 | 50% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 44 | 31–13 | 70% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 43 | 13–30 | 30% |
His own 87 games on file, 2003–2009, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phil Bennett 2003–2006 | 2–2 | SMU | 4 | |
| Ken Hatfield 2003–2005 | 3–0 | Rice | 3 | |
| Tommy West 2005–2008 | 3–0 | Memphis | 3 | |
| Mike Price 2004–2006 | 2–1 | UTEP | 3 | |
| Brian Kelly 2007–2009 | 1–2 | Cincinnati | 3 | |
| Dave Wannstedt 2007–2009 | 1–2 | Pittsburgh | 3 | |
| Greg Schiano 2007–2009 | 1–2 | Rutgers | 3 | |
| Jim Leavitt 2007–2009 | 1–2 | South Florida | 3 | |
| Kyle Whittingham 2006–2009 | 0–3 | Utah | 3 | |
| Randy Edsall 2007–2009 | 0–3 | UConn | 3 |
Steve Kragthorpe’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Riceseries | 4 | 3–1 |
| UTEPseries | 4 | 3–1 |
| SMUseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Memphisseries | 3 | 3–0 |
| Southern Missseries | 3 | 3–0 |
| South Floridaseries | 3 | 1–2 |
| Rutgersseries | 3 | 1–2 |
| Syracuseseries | 3 | 1–2 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990–91 | Northern Arizona | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 1992–93 | Northern Arizona | Offensive coordinator | |
| 1994–95 | North Texas | Offensive coordinator | |
| 1996 | Boston College | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 1997 | Texas A&M | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 1998–2000 | Texas A&M | Offensive coordinator | |
| 2001–02 | Buffalo Bills NFL | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 2003–06 | Tulsa | Head coach | |
| 2007–09 | Louisville | Head coach | |
| 2011–12 | LSU | Quarterbacks coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Steve AxmanNorthern Arizona
- Matt SimonNorth Texas
- Dan HenningBoston College
- R.C. SlocumTexas A&M
- Gregg WilliamsBuffalo Bills
- Les MilesLSU
Assistants who became head coaches
- Charlie StubbsNicholls
- Keith PattersonPittsburgh, Abilene Christian
- Matt WellsUtah State, Texas Tech
- Todd GrahamRice, Tulsa, Pittsburgh, Arizona State, Hawai’i
- Jeff BrohmWestern Kentucky, Purdue, Louisville
- Ron EnglishEastern Michigan
- Brent GuyUtah State
- Sherrone MooreMichigan
Worked under (6)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Axman | Northern Arizona | 1990–93 | 1990–91: quarterbacks coach; 1992–93: offensive coordinator | |
| Matt Simon | North Texas | 1994–95 | Offensive coordinator | |
| Dan Henning | Boston College | 1996 | Quarterbacks coach | |
| R.C. Slocum | Texas A&M | 1997–2000 | 1997: quarterbacks coach; 1998–2000: offensive coordinator | |
| Gregg Williams | Buffalo Bills NFL | 2001–02 | Quarterbacks coach | |
| Les Miles | LSU | 2011–12 | Quarterbacks coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (8)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlie Stubbs | Tulsa, 2003–06: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; Louisville, 2007: offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | Nicholls | |
| Keith Patterson | Tulsa, 2003–05: linebackers coach; 2006: co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | Pittsburgh, Abilene Christian | |
| Matt Wells | Tulsa, 2003–06: tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator; Louisville, 2009: quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator | Utah State, Texas Tech | |
| Todd Graham | Tulsa, 2003–05: assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | Rice, Tulsa, Pittsburgh, Arizona State, Hawai’i | |
| Jeff Brohm | Louisville, 2008: offensive coordinator | Western Kentucky, Purdue, Louisville | |
| Ron English | Louisville, 2008: defensive coordinator | Eastern Michigan | |
| Brent Guy | Louisville, 2009: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | Utah State | |
| Sherrone Moore | Louisville, 2009: graduate assistant | Michigan |
Other assistants under him (7)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| D. J. Eliot | Tulsa, 2006: linebackers coach | |
| Derek Jones | Tulsa, 2006: cornerbacks coach | |
| Chip Long | Louisville, 2007: graduate assistant | |
| Mike Cassity | Louisville, 2007: defensive coordinator | |
| Mike Mallory | Louisville, 2007: defensive backs coach | |
| Bill Miller | Louisville, 2008: linebackers coach | |
| Jay Johnson | Louisville, 2008: offensive quality control coach; 2009: tight ends coach |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Louisville | head coachbonuses up to $525,000 | $1,216,000 USA Today via Leeds | |
| 2008 | Louisville | head coach | $1,420,000 USA Today via Leeds | |
| 2007 | Louisville | head coachbonuses up to $566,667 | $1,420,000 USA Today via Leeds |
The same USA Today database for 2006–16, from Michael Leeds’ replication data on Harvard Dataverse (CC0): the season’s contract pay.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Kragthorpe’s teams went for it on 20% of fourth downs and on 37% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 49% of plays and took 26.0 seconds a play, 2004–2009.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 4 g | Tulsa | 4 of 36 11% | 27% | 40% | 23.1 | −0.10 | |
| 2005 13 g | Tulsa | 8 of 90 9% | 11% | 48% | 27.2 | −0.03 | |
| 2006 12 g | Tulsa | 20 of 74 27% | 47% | 45% | 29.1 | +0.07 | |
| 2007 12 g | Louisville | 17 of 78 22% | 32% | 56% | 24.5 | +0.08 | |
| 2008 12 g | Louisville | 23 of 97 24% | 50% | 49% | 26.3 | −0.10 | |
| 2009 12 g | Louisville | 21 of 96 22% | 45% | 51% | 23.6 | −0.09 | |
| All 65 g | 93 of 471 20% | 37% | 49% | 26.0 | −0.02 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.