It’s hard to believe now, but Steve Kragthorpe was one of Division I-A’s hottest coaching commodities just a couple years ago. Coming off an improbable resurrection of the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, Kragthorpe was pegged as a dead-solid lock for a high-profile BCS-conference job; Louisville eventually snagged him in the hopes that he could continue Bobby Petrino’s huge success with the Cardinals. After two bowl-less seasons, though, his stock has fallen harder than AIG's. Perhaps no major-conference coach is under more imminent threat of pink-slippage than Kragthorpe at this point.

Why he was hired: Took over a Tulsa program that had won just nine games in the four seasons prior to his 2003 arrival and turned them around almost literally overnight, taking them to an 8-5 record and a bowl game in his first year and winning a conference title two years later in Tulsa’s debut season in Conference USA. Was also developing a reputation as a savvy QB mentor, having worked successfully with Matt Hasselbeck, Branndon Stewart, and Drew Bledsoe in prior QB-coaching stints at Boston College, Texas A&M, and the Buffalo Bills, respectively.

“Uh-oh” moment: Card Nation's threat level went to yellow when the team handed 42 points to Middle Tennessee State in Kragthorpe's second game, orange a week later when Louisville lost 40-34 to a Kentucky team they’d pounded all four years under Petrino. But the threat level went to a rosy armageddon red a week later when the Cards gave up 465 yards and got upset at home by Syracuse, which would end up being the only conference road win (and one of only 10 wins total) in Greg Robinson’s disastrous tenure with the Orange. The Cardinals went on to finish 6-6 and get shut out of bowl season.

Embarrassing attempt to right the ship: After the frustration of 2007, Kragthorpe began carrying a baseball bat around the UL football complex, both as a nod to Louisville’s status as a bat-industry powerhouse and a reminder for each player to be “Better After Today.” Shockingly, the allure of acronyms did not resonate with the players, who went 5-7 the following season and, after another inexplicable loss to Syracuse, finished dead last in the Big East.

Can this marriage be saved?: Mike Rutherford of Card Chronicle graciously takes time out of celebrating UL's #1 seed in the NCAA tournament to report on less pleasant matters:

There's a local commercial airing frequently in which Rick Pitino throws a basketball that magically turns into a football caught by Steve Kragthorpe. I've yet to take in the ad once without someone nearby begging Pitino to look for another receiver. Since Steve Kragthorpe took over in January of 2007, 20 players have left the program for reasons other than graduation or career-ending medical conditions. Over that same time span, Kragthorpe has lost or sent packing 12 assistant coaches. Local legend and former offensive coordinator Jeff Brohm was the most recent and highest profile assistant to leave town.

Of course, this would all be forgiven and treated as a non-issue if the team were winning. It isn't.

Kragthorpe walked into a program which had won 68 games in the last seven seasons, been to nine straight bowl games, finished sixth in the nation in 2004 and 2006, and was returning 17 starters and an All-American quarterback from a team that had just gone 12-1 and won the Orange Bowl. Under his watch, the Cardinals have won 11 games and lost 13, failed to make a postseason appearance, compiled a record of 4-10 in the Big East, and gone a combined 0-6 against the once-dominated trio of Kentucky, Connecticut and Syracuse.

When Louisville fails to win five games in 2009 — which it will — it will be the first time the program's wins total has declined for three consecutive seasons since the 1973-1975 stretch. I wasn't there, but I hear Cardinal football wasn't exactly booming back then.

Athletic Director Tom Jurich has cemented his feet firmly in Kragthorpe's corner, but I don't see any way he justifies giving the man a fourth year if the Cards don't make a miraculous run to a bowl game in '09.

Approximate hotness of seat: The fireball from the "Fat Man" A-bomb detonation at Hiroshima. Theoretically that all-important bowl game is attainable in a regrouping Big East, but merely squeaking into the postseason at 6-6 is unlikely to satisfy a fan base that was celebrating a BCS bowl win not all that long ago. On the bright side, Cards, Bobby Petrino is always willing to listen.

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Doug Gillett is the proprietor of Hey Jenny Slater and a regular contributor to Dr. Saturday.