Dave Kragthorpe passes at 93

Dave Kragthorpe, a former Utah State University football player, longtime coach and former athletics director whom generations of Aggies knew as “Coach K,” died Sunday, Aug. 23. He was 93.

Kragthorpe played two-way tackle for Utah State from 1951 to 1954, earning two-time All-Skyline Conference honors and a spot on the university’s all-century team. He also played two seasons as a catcher on the USU baseball team. He graduated in 1955 with bachelor’s degrees in physical education and recreation education, then served two years in the U.S. Navy before returning to Logan, where he earned a master’s degree in secondary education in 1963.

The New York Giants selected Kragthorpe in the 16th round of the 1955 NFL draft, and he played one season in the league before turning to coaching.

His coaching career spanned four decades and included stints as an assistant at the University of Montana and South Dakota State University, assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at Brigham Young University under former USU teammate LaVell Edwards, and head coaching jobs at Idaho State University and Oregon State University.

At Idaho State, Kragthorpe led the Begals to a 12-1 record, a Big Sky Conference championship and the 1981 NCAA Division I-AA national title, outscoring opponents 422-172 that season. He later spent six seasons as head coach at Oregon State and was named the Pac-10’s Coach of the Year in 1989.

In between those jobs, Kragthorpe stepped away from coaching in 1983 to serve as Utah State’s athletics director before returning to Oregon State two years later. He also worked with the Utah State Alumni Association beginning in 1994, helping rebuild the university’s network of alumni chapters.

Dave Kragthorpe speaks to the Utah State Football team duirng spring practice.

Pauline Thiros, Idaho State’s director of athletics, said she first knew Kragthorpe through her brother, George, who played for him on Idaho State’s 1981 championship team.

“I was on the sideline, you know, pouring water, carrying water around and just knew Dave and observed his relationships with all of those guys who still just really love and honor and respect him,” Thiros said.

Thiros said Kragthorpe held his players to a high standard on and off the field.

“He had very high expectations for not only the way that they would play football, but the way that they would treat people and carry themselves,” Thiros said, “and he made no bones about that.”

Matt Wells, a former Utah State head coach, now a senior offensive consultant at Mississippi State University, met Kragthorpe as a freshman player at Utah State in 1992. Kragthorpe later served as special assistant to the head coach during Wells’ six seasons leading the Aggies.

“Coach never missed a practice,” Wells said. “Spring ball, training camp during the season, even winter off-season workouts, and interacted with our players daily. He was really good, almost like a grandpa figure to all of them.”

Wells said Kragthorpe often stepped in to encourage players after tough coaching moments.

“He did a great job of maybe seeing a kid struggle and maybe get corrected by a coach and walking behind the line and putting his arm around them and giving them some encouragement,” Wells said.

Both Thiros and Wells said Kragthorpe’s presence extended well beyond Utah State’s football program. Wells said Kragthorpe attended volleyball, gymnastics and basketball events and never missed a radio show during his six years on staff, while also driving Wells to Kiwanis International club engagements around Cache Valley.

“His involvement was not just with Utah State and with me,” Wells said. “It was with Logan City and former players and former Aggies and their kids and their kids’ events.”

Kragthorpe is survived by his wife, Barbara, whom colleagues described as his constant companion at Utah State and Idaho State events for decades.

“She was right by his side,” Wells said. “Super faithful and loyal to the people in the community of Logan as well, but was coach’s best friend.”

Kragthorpe received Utah State’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2005 and was inducted into the university’s athletics Hall of Fame in 2009.

“He’s just a big teddy bear of a guy that, you know, loved all the people around him,” Thiros said. “Always, gratitude is where he led from.”