Dave Kragthorpe Dave Kragthorpe ( born May 1 , 1933 ) is a former American football player and coach . He served as the head football coach at South Dakota State University in 1969 , at Idaho State University from 1980 to 1982 , and at Oregon State University from 1985 to 1990 , compiling a career college football record of 41 – 69 – 2 . Early life . Kragthorpe attended Utah State University where he excelled as a two - way tackle for the Aggies from 1951 to 1954 . In addition , he was also on the baseball team . Despite all his athletic obligations , Kragthorpe graduated with double bachelors ' degrees in physical education and recreation education in 1955 . A short time later , he returned to Utah State and earned his master ' s degree in secondary education . Coaching career . Kragthorpe spent one season as the head coach at South Dakota State University in 1969 . In that season , he posted a 3 – 7 record . From there , Dave served as offensive line coach and offensive coordinator at Brigham Young University , under LaVell Edwards . The Cougars were one of the first programs committed to throwing the football in the 1970s , a time when " three yards and a cloud of dust " was still the dominant sentiment in college football . After going 0 – 11 in 1979 , Idaho State athletic director , I . J . Babe Caccia , decided to try to import some of the passing magic from nearby Provo , Utah . He hired Kragthorpe as his head coach , and the Bengals immediately improved to 6 – 5 his first season , 1980 , coming within a final game loss to eventual national champion Boise State from winning a share of the Big Sky Conference championship and going to the NCAA Division I - AA playoffs . Kragthorpe recorded a 21 – 14 record in three seasons , from 1980 to 1982 . The best results were definitely in his second season , a 12 – 1 season in 1981 , when the Bengals won the Big Sky Conference title and the NCAA Division I - AA Football Championship behind quarterback Mike Machurek , who went on to become a reserve player with the Detroit Lions . During the 1981 season , Idaho State outscored its opponents 422 – 172 . In the 1983 , Kragthorpe stepped away from the sidelines to take over as athletics director at Utah State University . After two years in this capacity , he returned to coaching in 1985 . In 1985 , Kragthorpe was named the head coach at Oregon State . He implemented a pass - oriented offense , penned the " Air Express " in Corvallis . This offense did not correlate to much success in the Pacific - 10 Conference , as Kragthorpe failed to have a winning record in any of his six seasons with Oregon State , compiling an overall record of 17 – 48 – 2 . In recognition of how difficult the Oregon State job was perceived to be in those days , Kragthorpe won the Pac - 10 Coach of the Year honors in 1989 , despite having a losing record that year with the Beavers . 1985 Oregon State vs . Washington . Despite Kragthorpe ' s record at Oregon State , he will be forever linked to one if the greatest wins in Oregon State history . In his first season under the helm at OSU , Kragthorpe took his team in to Husky Stadium in Seattle , Washington to take on the Washington Huskies . The Beavers entered the game as 38 - point underdogs . After sixty minutes of play , and a blocked punt with 1 : 29 left to go in the game that was recovered for a Beaver touchdown , Oregon State pulled off one of the biggest upsets in college football history , 21 – 20 . Coaching tree . Kragthorpe ' s " coaching tree " includes both Jim and Brent Koetter , multiple state championship winning coaches at Pocatello and Highland High School in Pocatello ; Marvin Lewis , who played and coached under Kragthorpe at ISU , now head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals ; and Mike Shepherd , receivers and quarterbacks coach under Kragthorpe at Idaho State ; who has had a long career as a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator in the National Football League . Later life . In 1994 , Kragthorpe was hired by the USU Alumni Association to resurrect the university ' s alumni chapters program . Despite officially retiring in 2001 , Kragthorpe can still be found at his desk in the Alumni Office , overseeing the USU alumni chapters in Idaho and northern Nevada . Kragthorpe is a huge supporter of USU and Aggie athletics . He is a member of the Old Main Society , Alumni Sustaining Membership program , Big Blue Club , and the Emeriti Association . In 2005 , he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award . His love of sports continues to live on in his children also . His son , Kurt , is a sports writer for the Salt Lake Tribune . Another son , Steve Kragthorpe , was the head football coach at the University of Louisville from 2007 to 2009 , but was fired in November 2009 . He is currently the quarterbacks coach at LSU . Kragthorpe and his wife , Barbara , split their time between Logan , Utah and Louisville , Kentucky .