LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Steve Kragthorpe, the University of Louisville head football coach from 2007-09, passed away Sunday night of complications from Parkinson's Disease, according to a social media post from the school Monday night. He was 59.

Kragthorpe followed the highly successful tenure of Bobby Petrino and led the Cardinals to a record of 6-6 in his first season, despite returning a number of starters, including quarterback Brian Brohm. The Cardinals went 5-7 in his second season and 4-8 in his third before he was dismissed by athletics director Tom Jurich, who was a close friend.

Jurich had brought Kragthorpe to Louisville from Tulsa, where he had built a record of 29-22 in four seasons, resurrecting a struggling program. He was voted into the Tulsa Athletics Hall of Fame earlier this year.

But he struggled to gain momentum in Louisville after the tenure of Petrino, which had produced a record of 41-9 over four seasons and an Orange Bowl victory the season before Kragthorpe's arrival.

Kragthorpe got high marks from his players for teaching life lessons, established a book club for his inner circle of captains and often called players by their nicknames in news conferences. He was active in church in Louisville and was a presence at community events and team faith initiatives.

"He was a good man," Chris Morgan, the Louisville football team chaplain and head of U of L's Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter, said via social media. "He loved the Lord, his family, people he coached with and the players he coached. It was a joy and honor to call him friend."

Kragthorpe was born in Missoula, Montana, but played high school football at Highland High in Pocatello, Idaho, where he was a teammate of ESPN commentator Merril Hoge. His father, Dave, was a college coach for more than three decades, and was head coach at Oregon State from 1980 to '85.

Steve Kragthorpe was recruited to play in college at Eastern New Mexico University, where he played quarterback for two seasons before transferring to West Texas State (now West Texas A&M). As a senior there, he started 11 games and completed 179 of 344 passes for 1,980 yards and nine touchdowns.

He spent a decade bouncing around as a college assistant before becoming quarterbacks coach of the Buffalo Bills in 2001-02, where he coached Drew Bledsoe. He became head coach at Tulsa in 2003.

At Tulsa, he took a program that had won just two games in its prior two seasons and led it to an 8-5 record and a bowl game in his first campaign.

After leaving Louisville, Kragthorpe briefly took the job as quarterbacks coach at Texas A&M, quitting months later because of a family member's illness. He was hired as offensive coordinator at LSU in 2011 but stepped away from that position in August of that year after his diagnosis with Parkinson's Disease. He remained as quarterbacks coach that season, then took the role of special assistant to the head coach and chief of staff.

He remained at LSU in recent years under the title of administrative assistant.

Kragthorpe is survived by three sons, one of whom, Brad, now serves as the quarterbacks coach for the Cincinnati Bengals. His brother, Kurt, was a longtime columnist for The Salt Lake Tribune.

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