What About Steve Kragthorpe?

[NCMeanGreen]

I know his record as a HC barely hovers around .500...but he has coached at Tulsa and I believe he does have Texas ties. What about him...any thoughts??

He also coached at UNT as well...

Edited October 19, 2010 by NCMeanGreen

[VideoEagle]

I know his record as a HC barely hovers around .500...but he has coached at Tulsa and I believe he does have Texas ties. What about him...any thoughts??

I think he'd be great.

[GrayEagle]

He's not my cup of tea. He's been here before and I seriously doubt that he's interested in coming back.

He had very good success at Tulsa but fell flat at Louisville after inheriting a top-rated team.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

I'm a fan of Kragthorpe. Although, some here harbor some resentment toward him because of things he said about UNT after he left. I could care less. Darrell Dickey said some things as well - and, they were all true.

I'm not for painting over crap with sunshine. If Kragthorpe won't blow sunshine up my a*s, I'm fine with that. As long as he wins. We're in a lot better position facility-wise now than when he was briefly here in 1994.

He's proven his stuff isn't BCS worthy. But, I can speak firsthand that he took a very crappy Tulsa program on the verge of dropping down to I-AA and turned them into a winner in year one. He can do it with a mid-major:

Tulsa during my law school years, 2000-2002, coached by Keith Burns:

2000: 5-7

2001: 1-10 (sole victory over I-AA Indiana State)

2002: 1-11 (sole victory over 2-10 UTEP)

Burns' 2000 Tulsa squad began the season 3-2, then reeled off a Dodge-esque 4-26 record to finish off his three seasons. Kragthorpe was the Buffalo Bills QB coach, but had family in Tulsa, so the AD called him and he agreed to give it a shot:

2003: 8-5, Humanitarian Bowl

2004: 4-8

2005: 9-4, Conference USA Champions, Liberty Bowl winners

2006: 8-5, Armed Forces Bowl

Kragthorpe is living it Tulsa, so the move isn't that far. I stand unopposed to 8- and 9-win seasons and bowl games. I think he could do it here. The Tulsa program was in as bad a shape as ours is now when he took over. Plus, they had no new stadium waiting for Kragthorpe. They simply began renovations on their oversized high school stadium that my mom cheered at when she was in high school back in the 1960s. Pathetic.

In my opinion, Kragthorpe along with other proven Mid-Major builders John L. Smith, Dennis Franchione, Steve Logan, and Jeff Bower should already have had their phone rung by Rick Villareal...like in the fourth quarter of last week's game already.

[Green Nightmare]

He's not my cup of tea. He's been here before and I seriously doubt that he's interested in coming back.

He had very good success at Tulsa but fell flat at Louisville after inheriting a top-rated team.

Its been covered

Kragthorpe Disparaging Remarks

[NT80]

NO!

[TheTastyGreek]

He'd be in the top 5 on my wish list. The sick wife situation forced him to leave a job with A&M before the season, though, so he may not be in a position to take on the responsibility yet.

[Harry]

I'm a fan of Kragthorpe. Although, some here harbor some resentment toward him because of things he said about UNT after he left. I could care less. Darrell Dickey said some things as well - and, they were all true.

I'm not for painting over crap with sunshine. If Kragthorpe won't blow sunshine up my a*s, I'm fine with that. As long as he wins. We're in a lot better position facility-wise now than when he was briefly here in 1994.

He's proven his stuff isn't BCS worthy. But, I can speak firsthand that he took a very crappy Tulsa program on the verge of dropping down to I-AA and turned them into a winner in year one. He can do it with a mid-major:

Tulsa during my law school years, 2000-2002, coached by Keith Burns:

2000: 5-7

2001: 1-10 (sole victory over I-AA Indiana State)

2002: 1-11 (sole victory over 2-10 UTEP)

Burns' 2000 Tulsa squad began the season 3-2, then reeled off a Dodge-esque 4-26 record to finish off his three seasons. Kragthorpe was the Buffalo Bills QB coach, but had family in Tulsa, so the AD called him and he agreed to give it a shot:

2003: 8-5, Humanitarian Bowl

2004: 4-8

2005: 9-4, Conference USA Champions, Liberty Bowl winners

2006: 8-5, Armed Forces Bowl

Kragthorpe is living it Tulsa, so the move isn't that far. I stand unopposed to 8- and 9-win seasons and bowl games. I think he could do it here. The Tulsa program was in as bad a shape as ours is now when he took over. Plus, they had no new stadium waiting for Kragthorpe. They simply began renovations on their oversized high school stadium that my mom cheered at when she was in high school back in the 1960s. Pathetic.

In my opinion, Kragthorpe along with other proven Mid-Major builders John L. Smith, Dennis Franchione, Steve Logan, and Jeff Bower should already have had their phone rung by Rick Villareal...like in the fourth quarter of last week's game already.

I followed the Tulsa situation pretty closely too and you're right they came within a hair of shutting the whole thing down. In fact as bad as our situation may seem theirs was worse although they did benefit from CUSA affiliation. The one thing I will say about Kraigthorpe is he had a big time recruiter in his holster with Todd Graham. I do think he is a very viable candidate because of his ability to rebuild Tulsa from rock bottom.

[Got5onIt]

YES!!!

#1A - Franchione

#1B - Kragthorpe

Either would be a great hire at HC, IMO.

[wardly]

Its been covered

Kragthorpe Disparaging Remarks

what exactly did he say that wasn't true?

[PlummMeanGreen]

Its been covered

Kragthorpe Disparaging Remarks

Upon further review my feelings about Coach K may have changed a bit since it has been quite a few years since Coach K actually said those things. He was on the TAMU staff at the time as I recall. Not sure that it would be a deal-breaker for him and all he has to say to most of us is "I'm sorry I said that because God knows I didn't really mean it."

I think his comments back then was him merely being loyal to Matt Simon who I'm sure he thought got a bad deal here. Most coaches who leave UNT seem to all fit that criteria if you think about it. Addendum: If UNT hired Coach K then Spencer Leftwich would probably make yet another return to Denton since they coached together before.

Honest to goodness, I don't care who we hire just so he meets most or all of the criteria listed below:

My ideal HFC at North Texas

(1) Type A or out-going personality (he will need to recruit ASAP, voluntarily want to do speeches at alumnus gatherings or PR type things, ect...

(2) He needs to have HFC experience at a FBS school with some success and want to take our program to the next level a la Boise State (Hey, Wright Waters is already telling U of South Alabama they could be the next Boise State--wonder why he never told us the same thing)?

(3) Needs to have the reputation as a coach who can outcoach or out X's & O's our opponents head football coaches. We need a coach who can win a few on his own coaching abilities which of course comes with experience.

(4) In a perfect Mean Green world, would need to not be another retread hire that we seem to specialize in doing at UNT. FWIW, Dodge had been Offensive Coord. under Dennis Parker. Maybe its time for some fresh new face with a different perspective?

(5) Needs to have some Texas and Oklahoma recruiting background plus...JUCO recruiting experience and contacts with those schools if possible; If we had inserted 3 or 4 key JUCOS on past MG teams who would have made their grades or stayed healthy, that could have made some terrific differences in our W/L records in past years.

(6) If he stayed in Denton 10 years, would have needed at least 7 of those years be above .500 seasons so......win more games than he loses and gets UNT into bowls as Top 25 ranked football teams and then has a Big 10 or Big 12 school who wants to hire him after he's been in Denton for 7-10 years; but he also has a top assistant coach in the wings ready to take over in Denton, too, and yes.............a la Boise State who kept hiring their top assistant with all their HFC turnovers--their present Coach Petersen meets that criteria.

GMG!

Edited October 20, 2010 by PlummMeanGreen

[wardly]

Upon further review my feelings about Coach K may have changed a bit since it has been quite a few years since Coach K actually said those things. He was on the TAMU staff at the time as I recall. Not sure that it would be a deal-breaker for him and all he has to say to most of us is "I'm sorry I said that because God knows I didn't really mean it."

I think his comments back then was him merely being loyal to Matt Simon who I'm sure he thought got a bad deal here. Most coaches who leave UNT seem to all fit that criteria if you think about it. Addendum: If UNT hired Coach K then Spencer Leftwich would probably make yet another return to Denton since they coached together before.

Honest to goodness, I don't care who we hire just so he meets most or all of the criteria listed below:

My ideal HFC at North Texas

(1) Type A or out-going personality (he will need to recruit ASAP, voluntarily want to do speeches at alumnus gatherings or PR type things, ect...

(2) He needs to have HFC experience at a FBS school with some success and want to take our program to the next level a la Boise State (Hey, Wright Waters is already telling U of South Alabama they could be the next Boise State--wonder why he never told us the same thing)?

(3) Needs to have the reputation as a coach who can outcoach or out X's & O's our opponents head football coaches. We need a coach who can win a few on his own coaching abilities which of course comes with experience.

(4) In a perfect Mean Green world, would need to not be another retread hire that we seem to specialize in doing at UNT. FWIW, Dodge had been Offensive Coord. under Dennis Parker. Maybe its time for some fresh new face with a different perspective?

(5) Needs to have some Texas and Oklahoma recruiting background plus...JUCO recruiting experience and contacts with those schools if possible; If we had inserted 3 or 4 key JUCOS on past MG teams who would have made their grades or stayed healthy, that could have made some terrific differences in our W/L records in past years.

(6) If he stayed in Denton 10 years, would have needed at least 7 of those years be above .500 seasons so......win more games than he loses and gets UNT into bowls as Top 25 ranked football teams and then has a Big 10 or Big 12 school who wants to hire him after he's been in Denton for 7-10 years; but he also has a top assistant coach in the wings ready to take over in Denton, too, and yes.............a la Boise State who kept hiring their top assistant with all their HFC turnovers--their present Coach Petersen meets that criteria.

GMG!

i still don't know what he said. can you help me out?

[PlummMeanGreen]

i still don't know what he said. can you help me out?

Which part? I'd be glad to put it in simpler terms, but I agree, it was all a bit complex.

[greenjoe]

What did he say ?

[NCMeanGreen]

Soooo...what did he say???

[SilverEagle]

I seem to recall that when North Texas was looking to replace Simon, Kragthorpe was an assistant coach at A$M. I think someone asked him about the possibility of being the HC at North Texas and his reponse was generally reported as less than diplomatic.

[Travis]

I seem to recall that when North Texas was looking to replace Simon, Kragthorpe was an assistant coach at A$M. I think someone asked him about the possibility of being the HC at North Texas and his reponse was generally reported as less than diplomatic.

Yeah, but i would have said the same thing at that time too.

Luckily, new facilities changes things.

[Greendylan]

So the knock against Kragthorpe is that about 15 years ago, while employed at another university, he may possibly have said, if we are recalling correctly, some "less than diplomatic" statements about his interest in coaching at UNT.

For the love of God, can we either produce a direct quote or stop holding this against him.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Agreed, Dylan.

And, again...for those of us who went to North Texas...can we really disagree with Kragthorpe, Simon, or Dickey about the problems they faced in coaching here? Did we want them to lie to save our feelings?

Look, me and my then girlfriend went up to OU for the 1991 game there. What an eye-opener that was! A big stadium, full of people. The band, the schooner. I walked away from that game with a much clearer picture of the difference between a I-A and a I-AA program. Vast.

[PlummMeanGreen]

So the knock against Kragthorpe is that about 15 years ago, while employed at another university, he may possibly have said, if we are recalling correctly, some "less than diplomatic" statements about his interest in coaching at UNT.

For the love of God, can we either produce a direct quote or stop holding this against him.

I do recall a DFW TV station sports segment where he actually said the disparaging thing about UNT, but as I stated in another "most complex" post on this thread, "upon further review", I'd changed my mind a bit about Coack K because of exactly what you just posted as in........15 years ago he said this. What did any of us say 15 years ago that we'd take back. I remember when one poster on this board was going to go up and whip Hank Dickenson's arse about 15 yrs ago and now I do believe their best buds'.

Don't know if Coach K is the answer but I do not want Rick V even thinking about hiring anyone from Dodge's present staff because if that happened, it would negate the hopeful impact of our new football stadium next Fall--no matter how big or small the damn thing will be.

A Mean Green Prayer: O God please use divine intervention if you must but please don't let my alma mater screw this thing up again. Amen.

Edited October 20, 2010 by PlummMeanGreen