Steve Kragthorpe Returns To College Football As LSU's OC

An LSU offense stymied by the continued presence of Gary Crowton at its helm (and reinvigorated by process of elimination following his departure to Maryland) faces an immediate future of questionable viability with the hiring of Steve Kragthorpe as its next offensive coordinator. It's a hire as puzzling as the idea that someone would lure Crowton away from LSU on purpose, but who knows: The guy was a bad head coach at the Big Six level, but perhaps given a narrower focus, with only one side of the ball to worry about, internet wags won't be moved to dub his listless schemes "Krag1N1."

This won't be Kragthorpe's first opportunity to stage a lifeless follow-up to a reviled predecessor. Following a stint as the head coach at Tulsa, he took the Louisville reins from Bobby Petrino in 2007, and proceeded to run a talent-rich team straight into the dregs of the Big East. Fired at the end of the 2009 season, he was contracted to coach receivers at Texas A&M, but ended up taking the year off to care for his wife following her heart surgery.

Any fear of the unknown quantity in Baton Rouge is, in this case, justified: Kragthorpe hasn't served in sole capacity as a coordinator for over a decade now, so an underwhelmed reaction is more than understandable. As a matter of honor, we do not endorse the utilization of Wikipedia as source matter, but we feel these two passages will aptly prepare the faithful for what's coming. Tigers, here's your man:

In 2007, Kragthorpe carried around a baseball bat in an attempt to motivate his players to become "Better After Today" and placed mousetraps around the locker room in another effort at motivation. Despite these motivational tactics, the team finished 6-6 and did not earn a bowl invite.
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Kragthorpe also lost to Syracuse in back to back seasons, giving coach Greg Robinson two of his three Big East wins as a head coach.

We'll leave it to you to decide which bodes worse. And remember, Les Miles is involved, so an LSU national championship in 2011 would be equally as unsurprising as outright failure.