honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Friday, October 3, 2003

Coach trying to restore Tulsa's past

 •  Better late than never for UH receiver
 •  SportsWest to provide TV coverage
 •  FERD LEWIS:
UH might be taking its last trip to Tulsa

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

STEVE KRAGTHORPE

TULSA, OKLA. — On a table in the Tulsa football lounge, the school's initials — "T.U." — are spelled out on a cookie the size of a manhole cover.

Indeed, everything appears to be especially sweet at TU these days. Regular unleaded gas is $1.26 a gallon, a Krispy Kreme has opened downtown and a Golden Hurricane football team whose last winning season was in 1991 no longer is the most requested homecoming opponent.

Tulsa's 2-2 start has fueled optimism heading into its Western Athletic Conference opener against Hawai'i tomorrow night at Skelly Stadium. Credit goes to Steve Kragthorpe, who resigned as the Buffalo Bills' quarterbacks coach to become the Hurricane's third head coach in five years.

What's more, Kragthorpe signed for less than what his predecessor, Keith Burns, earned last year.

"I took less money to get more money for my assistants," said Kragthorpe, who then hired Charlie Stubbs to implement a wide-open offense and Todd Graham to install a unique 3-3-5 defensive scheme.

With the Bills, Kragthorpe helped Drew Bledsoe regain his status as an All-Pro quarterback. In turn, Bledsoe was prepared to pick up the cost for Kragthorpe and his family to attend the Pro Bowl in Hawai'i last February.

"I would have been in the Islands for Drew for the Pro Bowl if I hadn't taken this job," Kragthorpe said.

But Kragthorpe, whose father coached at Brigham Young and Oregon State, said he does not have any regrets.

"I missed the game of college football," he said. "I didn't really like the business of (pro) football."

Kragthorpe's first goal was to summon Tulsa's rich football past. "That's one of the things I felt was important for our players to understand ... the legacy that's been left for them and the torch we've been asked to carry," he said.

The school printed posters, which declared, "Passing into a New Era," and included photos of past standouts Ray Rhodes and Howard Twilley. Steve Largent, a pro football Hall of Fame receiver and former Oklahoma senator, and former Dallas Cowboy receiver Drew Pearson have delivered pep talks. Twilley is designated as tomorrow's "game-day chaplain."

Kragthorpe also has pledged to recruit heavily within a 250-mile radius of the campus. "That brings in Kansas City, that brings in Dallas, that brings in East Texas, that brings in the full Western slope of Arkansas, all the way to Little Rock," he said. "For a tank of gas, we can probably recruit between 70 and 80 percent of our recruiting class."

Focusing on neighboring areas should lure more nonscholarship players. Of the 91 players on the roster, about a dozen are walk-ons.

Most important, Kragthorpe said: "When (the players) walk down the ramp and they're ready to play on Saturday afternoon, they can look up in the stands and see their family. When I was going to college at West Texas State, my dad was the head coach at Oregon State. My mom came to 10 of 11 of my senior games, but it cost her $7,000 to do it. You're talking about a round-trip ticket, two days of hotel meals. Not very many people have that kind of money."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8051.