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University of Louisville second year head coach Steve Kragthorpe added three fresh faces to his staff over the winter break.
Former University of Michigan defensive coordinator Ron English, former Duke University head coach Ted Roof, former University of California-Berkley defensvie line coach Ken Delgado and former Arizona State University strength coach Joe Kenn were added to the U of L football family.
English, who was named the 2006 Rivals defensive coordinator of the year, will be taking over the defensive coordinator duties. He spent five seasons at Michigan, with his last two as the defensive coordinator.
The former Cal safety has focused his coaching on the secondary, spending his first three years at Michigan as a cornerbacks coach as well as stints at Arizona State University and San Diego State University.
In 2004 English became the first coach to have two defensive backs earn consensus.
All-American honors when Wolverines
Ernest Shazor and Marlin Jackon took home the honor. English’s 2007 defense ranked eighth in pass defense, 22nd in scoring defense and 24th in total defense in Division I.
Daniel Bromwich, The Michigan Daily sports editor who covered English this past year had mixed feelings about the coach.
“He’s a great motivator, his players always play hard for him, and if those players are good enough, he will be able to help them succeed, but he’s not the most innovative scheme-creator or game-planner,” said Bromwich.
Louisville head coach Steve Kragthorpe had nothing but praise for his new defensive coordinator.
“I’m extremely excited that Ron English will be joining our football staff in the position of defensive coordinator,” said Kragthorpe in a press release.
“Ron brings an intense passion for the game of football and his enthusiasm is contagious.”
Roof, who was the head coach at Duke for five years, will coach the linebackers at U of L, taking over for Reggie Johnson, who will no longer be with the team. Roof, a former standout linebacker at Georgia Tech, saw constant improvement as coach of the Blue Devils. As defensive coordinator at Duke the Blue Devils moved from ninth to fifth in the ACC and from 113th to 58th nationally in total defense between 2001 and 2002.
“Ted is a tremendous football coach who brings a great level of experience to our staff,” said Kragthorpe in a press release. “He was a great linebacker as a player and has excelled as a linebacker coach, a defensive coordinator and head coach.”
Kenn joins the Louisville staff following seven seasons at ASU including five as the head coach of the Sports Performance program. He won the College Strength and Conditioning Professional of the Year in 2002 and has been a finalist for the award four times during his career.
He has coached NFL stars including Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs, Ravens running back Mike Andersen and Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith.
