The Kragthorpe era was a disaster. I agree with Guardman he was in over his head. But I will say this, he was blamed for everything, some he was directly responsible for, some he wasn't, and some criticism was just inaccurate. But the fall was so pronounced, he became the lightning rod for all.
Two of the inaccuracies are mentioned here by Cue Card. Not blaming Cue Card, he's just repeating what many have said, but I feel it to be inaccurate. The two things I'm referring to are:
1) "He cost Brian Brohm millions."
2) "we had virtually everyone returning from a 12-1 Orange Bowl team"
Brian didn't "lose" millions coming back for his senior season. He wasn't going to be a 1st round pick after his Junior year, and there were two big reasons for that. First, he had a shoulder injury that required surgical repair. We saw first hand in Bush what happens to a guy that goes into a draft with an injury and can't go through combine & workouts...he drops. Secondly, he lacked the necessary arm strength to EVER be a 1st round QB. It's reason #1 why he couldn't stick in the league. Contrary to what some seem to remember, he also didn't have a "bad" year his senior season. Our offense was fine in Krag's 1st year. Continued to put up big numbers and was nationally ranked. It was the defense that was abysmal, and exactly why we plummeted to 6-6. Which brings me to #2....
We returned a bunch from that Orange Bowl team....on offense, but we lost a bunch on defense. The guys we lost turned out to be better than we thought, and the guys that returned were perhaps not as good as we hoped. Over the last two seasons we lost what would become some "veteran" pros like Wil Gay, Omobi Okoye, Brandon Johnson, and Elvis Dumervil, who were better than many knew, and a few guys with shorter stints in the league like Nate Harris and Montavius Stanley, among others. We also lost some guys right away through bad luck (ie Peanut), while a few key others went rogue (Council, Spillman, Willie Williams). I can see why young talent like Latarrius Thomas & Anthony Allen abandoned ship, because dysfunction reigned (partly Krag's ineptitude, and partly things out of his control). Coach Cassidy (the DC who was retained from
Petrino's staff) was replacing some significant parts on defense, with guys that had limited experience. We often couldn't even get lined up right, and was often severely gashed. Some may place that at Krag's feet, to some degree, but some of that was simply a big drop off in both talent and experience at some key spots.
At the end of the day, his era was an unmitigated disaster, and he needed to go. But everything wasn't his fault, we fans just like to conveniently make it that way, because it's easier. Regardless what anyone else posts here, that's all I will say on this issue. It's over. Bad memories. Doesn't matter anymore. Moving forward.