Longtime college football coach Steve Kragthorpe died on Sunday after a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease – per Louisville and LSU officials, who confirmed the news to the Louisville Courier-Journal.
He was 59.
Before he got into coaching, the Missoula, Mont. native played quarterback for Eastern New Mexico and West Texas.
After playing in college, Kragthorpe worked his way up college coaching staffs before landing an NFL gig as the Bills quarterbacks coach in 2001.
After two seasons in the NFL, Kragthorpe returned to the college ranks as the head coach of Tulsa.
Kragthorpe took over a program program that hadn’t recorded a winning season since 1991, according to CBS Sports, and led them to three bowl games in four years.
His efforts led him to be named Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in his first year
Kragthorpe brought knowledge to the Golden Hurricane program from over a decade of experience as an assistant with Northern Arizona – when his coaching career kicked off in 1990 – North Texas, Boston College and Texas A&M.
During Kragthorpe’s stint with the Bills under head coach Gregg Williams, he helped Drew Bledsoe post one of his strongest seasons with 24 touchdowns, 61.5 percent completion rate and 4,359 yards in 2002.
After his success at Tulsa, Kragthrope joined Louisville as their head coach from 2007-09.
He stepped away from the sport in 2010 before becoming LSU’s offensive coordinator in 2011.
However, he was forced to step down following his Parkinson’s diagnosis.
Kragthrope’s passion for the game led him to remain with the Tigers in an off-field capacity for multiple years, according to CBS Sports.
Across seven seasons at Tulsa and Louisville, Kragthorpe finished with a 44-43 head coaching career record.
Earlier this year, he was inducted into the Tulsa Athletics Hall of Fame.