In 2005, Tulsa won the Conference USA championship and then went on to beat Fresno State in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.

[2] Louisville hired Kragthorpe in what many consider to be a "whirlwind courtship," becoming the head coach in less than 48 hours after Petrino submitted his resignation.

[5] Although Louisville started the 2007 season as #10 in the AP Poll and returned the majority of the 2007 Orange Bowl champion team, including Heisman Trophy candidate Brian Brohm at quarterback, the Cards finished the season a disappointing 6–6, including a loss to Syracuse in which the Cardinals were 37 point favorites.

Nine consecutive winning seasons and bowl games came to an end under the direction of Kragthrope, even though he led a team that had enough talent to see five of its players taken in the NFL Draft.

[6] In a press conference that same day Kragthorpe ruled out any speculations that he was entertaining an offer from SMU, saying he was "100 percent committed" to Louisville.

[9] A year removed from being a preseason top 10 program, the Cardinals entered the 2008 season picked 7th in the 8 team Big East Conference by members of the media.

[citation needed] Following his Louisville stint, Kragthorpe accepted the wide receivers coaching position at Texas A&M in February 2010,[13] but later resigned in July 2010 due to a family member's illness.

Following the season, Kragthorpe assumed the role of special assistant to the head coach and chief of staff for the LSU football program.

Kevin Faulk, LSU Director of Player Development, physically retaliated against the Texas A&M staff member.

[21] After the game, it was reported that Kragthorpe exaggerated the claim and that he was in fact simply shoved after getting into a verbal altercation with Cole Fisher.

His brother, Kurt, is a sports columnist for The Salt Lake Tribune; their father, Dave Kragthorpe, was also a college football coach, most notably at Oregon State.