KU football loses aide to Louisville

By Ryan Wood     Mar 3, 2007

Kansas University football assistant coach Mike Mallory is leaving Lawrence after just one year to take an assistant-coaching job at Louisville.

The hiring needs to clear some minor hurdles before it’s official, a Louisville spokesperson said Friday night.

Mallory will coach the secondary for the Cardinals under new head coach Steve Kragthorpe.

Mallory could not be reached for comment Friday evening.

While at KU, Mallory coached the linebackers and recruited Fort Worth and Central Texas. While he wasn’t in charge of it with the Jayhawks, he does have a history of working with the secondary. He coached the unit at Illinois from 2001-03 before being promoted to defensive coordinator.

Louisville is undergoing a facelift in its football program after Bobby Petrino left to become head coach of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons in January. Louisville hired Kragthorpe from the University of Tulsa to replace Petrino within a week.

Kragthorpe retained five coaches from Louisville’s previous staff and hired three of his assistants away from Tulsa.

But one of his Tulsa proteges – Keith Patterson – chose to return to the Golden Hurricanes recently.

That left one vacancy on Kragthorpe’s staff, which Mallory quickly filled. Mallory never has worked with Kragthrope, but has coached alongside Louisville defensive coordinator Mike Cassity while the two were at Illinois.

The Cardinals had a solid year in 2006, finishing 12-1. They started 8-0 and were in the national-title picture before getting derailed by Rutgers, 28-25, in a thrilling Thursday night game in November.

Mallory’s departure means KU will have at least three new faces on its 2007 coaching staff.

Nick Quartaro and Earnest Collins also left after last season and were replaced by Ed Warinner and Je’Ney Jackson. Warinner, a former KU assistant, will be the Jayhawks’ offensive coordinator.

Jackson, an assistant strength coach at KU, will coach cornerbacks.

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