Former Louisville football coach dies at the age of 59

The Louisville football program had some of the highest moments in program history in the 2007 season. In what remains as the wildest college football season ever, it seemed like top programs were being toppled every single week. The Cardinals were one of the many teams that were hyped in the preseason.

Louisville was led by Steve Kragthorpe and was a preseason #10 team in the polls. Unfortunately, they finished just 6-6 that season. Kragthorpe would go on to finish each of the next two seasons with a losing record before getting fired following the 2009 season.

Despite the losing, Kragthorpe was regarded as a very nice man and a coach that his players liked. He went on to coach with a few other programs after that, including LSU. Kragthorpe has sadly passed away at the age of 59. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2011 and died from the disease on Monday.

Ex-Louisville football coach passes away

While Kragthorpe was with Louisville, he did allow current Cardinals coach Jeff Brohm to be an offensive coordinator. That helped him start his journey to ultimately come back to the Louisville Cardinals and lead the program as the head coach.

Brohm owes his start as an offensive coordinator to Kragthorpe. Although he was only an offensive coordinator for Louisville for one year, the experience he gained while doing that was incredibly valuable. Now, he's back and is ready to lead the Cardinals to an conference title.

It's unclear what the Cardinals will do to honor Kragthorpe this season if anything. My guess is that they will at least have a moment of silence for him during the season-opener. They may also wear a helmet sticker with his name on it.

Our thoughts are with Kragthorpe's family in this incredibly difficult time for them.