LOGAN — Dave Kragthorpe knows college coaching life's meatloaf and truck stops.
Not everyone can coach at Michigan, Florida State, Florida, Tennessee, Texas, UCLA and other high-profile programs. Someone has to beat a path to Wyandotte (Mich.) High, Idaho Falls High, South Dakota State, Montana, Pocatello, St. Josephs, Mo., and such.
Kragthorpe has found the courage and enthusiasm to cut his coaching teeth in those out-of-the-way stops. And he loved what he was doing.
"Coaching certainly has had its ups and downs, peaks and valleys for me," Kragthorpe said. "But it's been a wonderful life. That's especially after seeing the young men who you have worked with mature, grow and succeed, not only on the field, but in life, too.
"Then you know you've done something right. Actually, I don't know what I would've done if not for coaching."
People are people. That's really what the coaching life is about.
Ask Kragthorpe's former players, like the Gary Sheides (BYU), Mike Machureks (Idaho State) and Eric Wilhelms (Oregon State), and they know how much Kragthorpe has meant to their lives. They know his commitment.
Kragthorpe and his Idaho State players knew the same excitement, same experience and town pride the big-budget schools gain from winning a national championship. His Bengals did just that: ran their record to 12-1 and won the NCAA Division 1-AA National Championship in 1981 with a 34-23 victory over Eastern Kentucky.
"That was an amazing experience for me," Kragthorpe said. "When we first got there, they were experiencing an 18-game losing streak. I have nothing but respect for the Pocatello community. It was a wonderful experience."
Kragthorpe started thinking about a coaching career upon entering Utah State University in 1951. Back then, because of the Korean War, freshmen were eligible to play varsity sports. Kragthorpe did. He started for four years as an offensive tackle, and his last two years, he played both ways. He was all-Skyline Conference his last two years.
Actually, he interrupted his efforts to obtain a degree by electing to serve in the armed forces in the Korean War. He came back to USU after the war to get his degree, worked as a graduate assistant and later earned his master's degree. It was at Utah State that he met his lifetime buddy, LaVell Edwards, who also was an all-Skyline player as a linebacker for the Aggies. And it was at Utah State that he met his wife, Barbara Barnson, with whom he had two sons, Kurt and Steve.
From playing at USU, Kragthorpe started his coaching career at Idaho Falls High and later went on to Wyandotte High in Michigan. He got his first taste of coaching college football at Montana University from 1964 to 1966. He went from Montana to be the offensive line coach at South Dakota State (1967-68) and was named the head coach in 1969, when he posted a 3-6 mark.
But in 1970, Kragthorpe became the offensive line coach for BYU coach Tommy Hudspeth. Hudspeth was fired in 1972, and the Edwards era began. Kragthorpe became an offensive coordinator under the legendary Edwards and held that position until being named the associate head coach for 10 years.
"When you think about it, we didn't have a lot of money for our budget back then, either," Kragthorpe said. "But the larger budget came from the success we had. We actually started out running the ball more than passing. We had moderate success with it. But still, we weren't getting our student body or fans excited about it. That's what really counted.
"Then, we recruited a guy named Gary Sheide. His name gets somewhat overlooked when people talk about the great Cougar quarterbacks. But Sheide was as good as the rest. He and Machurek, my quarterback at Idaho State, were the two toughest quarterbacks that I ever coached. "
After coaching Idaho State, Kragthorpe returned to Logan to replace Ladell Andersen as the USU athletic director in 1983-84, when the former left to become the BYU basketball coach. Still, he yearned to coach. And he did.
In 1985, Kragthorpe accepted the head coaching position for Oregon State in Corvallis, Ore. He came back to upset BYU, 10-7, in 1986 in his and Edwards' only meeting. He was named PAC-10 Coach of the Year in 1989 after posting a 5-6 mark.
"(Oregon State's) success story now is amazing," Kragthorpe said of the Beavers' rise to a Fiesta Bowl date with Notre Dame on New Year's Day.
Up until his recent retirement, Kragthorpe had his hands in coaching, assisting Mike Sheppard at New Mexico; assisting at Missouri Western, St. Josephs, Mo.; and Augustana in South Dakota.
"There is nothing like coaching," Kragthorpe said. "Working with young men. Preparing for the next game. Being on the same page as your student athletes. Experiencing team togetherness. I wouldn't change a thing. I'll always miss it."
And that's even in America's meatloaf and truck stops.
E-MAIL: torch@uswest.net