A week’s worth of speculation, rumor and innuendo has apparently come to an end, with Les Miles finally settling on a replacement for his departed offensive coordinator.
According to Randy Rosetta of the Baton Rouge Advocate, and confirmed by Tom Dienhart of Rivals/Yahoo!, Miles has tabbed Steve Kragthorpe as LSU’s new coordinator. Kragthorpe, who interviewed for the position earlier this week, will replace Gary Crowton, who left for the same position at Maryland.
CFT has confirmed that the Kragthorpe hiring is all but finalized, and, according to a source with knowledge of the situation, an official announcement by the school should come no later than Friday. With the number of reports coming out regarding the hiring, however, a release could be issued as early as this afternoon.
Kragthorpe has been the head coach at Tulsa (2003-2006) and Louisville (2007-2009), compiling a 44-43 record at the two schools. After being dismissed by the Cardinals, he was hired to be Mike Sherman‘s wide receivers coach at Texas A&M. However, a family medical issue forced Kragthorpe to step down a few months later and before the start of summer camp in 2010.
Now, Kragthorpe will be charged with turning around a moribund Tigers passing attack that finished an embarrassing 107th (155.6) in passing yards per game. Even more staggering, just seven Div. 1-A schools had fewer than the 10 touchdowns tossed by Tiger quarterbacks in 2010.
So, yeah, Kragthorpe has a helluva job ahead of him. Fortunately, he’ll also have some talent at the skill positions -- Stevan Ridley‘s early departure for the NFL notwithstanding -- and some hope at the QB position; Zach Mettenberger, in the running for Georgia’s starting job last spring, has transferred to LSU from the JUCO ranks and, when it comes QB talent, signifies a significant upgrade over Jordan Jefferson.
A paler Cam Newton story, anyone?