"Babe" Caccia decided to try to import some of the passing magic to Pocatello from nearby Provo, Utah.
He hired Kragthorpe as his head coach in November 1979,[1] and the Bengals improved to 6–5 in 1980 and came within nine points of eventual national champion Boise State in the season finale.
They were led by senior quarterback Mike Machurek, a junior college transfer from California; he was a sixth round pick in the 1982 NFL draft, serving as a reserve player with the Detroit Lions.
In June 1983, Kragthorpe stepped away from the sidelines to take over as athletics director at his alma mater, Utah State in Logan.
[4] Eighteen months later in December 1984, he returned to coaching,[5][6][7] when he was hired to replace Joe Avezzano at Oregon State University in Corvallis.
With 1:29 left in the fourth quarter, the Beavers successfully blocked a Washington punt and recovered the ball in the end zone for the winning touchdown; the final score of 21–20 was then the largest upset by point spread in college football history.
Kragthorpe is a member of the Old Main Society, Alumni Sustaining Membership program, Big Blue Club, and the Emeriti Association.