I may not have agreed with much what he did while he was the head coach here, but Kudos to Steve Kragthorpe, who took the high road and praised just about anyone and everyone associated with the University of Louisville during his farewell press conference Monday afternoon.
I wasn't able to catch the whole thing, but here are a few highlights of what I did see.
--"I don't leave here bitter, I leave her better" was the statement quote.
--Kragthorpe referenced his faith early and often, which shouldn't come as much of a surprise.
--He said he has already been offered three coaching positions, one being an offensive coordinator gig at a BCS conference school.
--The Kragthorpe family plans to move back to Tulsa on Sunday. His son is the starting quarterback for Trinity and will play St. X for the 6A state title in Bowling Green this weekend.
--Mrs. Kragthorpe is ill and that played a large role in the decision to move back closer to family and trusted doctors.
--Kragthorpe says the '07 and '09 Kentucky losses will haunt him to the grave.
--His best memories at U of L are the South Florida win in '08 and then the practices and interactions with individual players. Says he wishes there had been more great on-the-field memories, but that unfortunately that wasn't the case.
--Lachlan McClean asked him if he thought he deserved the $2.2 million buyout Louisville is giving him, to which he replied, "I deserve every penny." He cited the fact that he left so much behind at Tulsa as the rationale behind the statement.
--The oddest moment came when he talked about being booed in his first game here (fans jokingly booed because he wouldn't let Hunter Cantwell throw up 73-10 on Murray State) and stated that during that same game his wife was heckled and an insult was directed at her that involved "female body parts." It was very strange.
--He believes that Louisville is very close to winning and that with the players they have coming back and the recruiting class they have coming in the Cards could win eight or nine games in 2010.
Overall, it was a pretty classy goodbye. Very strange, albeit pleasant, to see him standing in front of the U of L press conference screen not wearing Cardinal garb.
Time to move on.