LOUISVILLE ? The University of Louisville introduced Steve Kragthorpe as its new football coach Tuesday, less than 48 hours after Bobby Petrino left for the NFL.

Tulsa’s Kragthorpe and Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich agreed to a five-year, $1.1-million deal that runs through the 2012 season.

The contract was approved by the Louisville Athletic Association’s Board of Directors on Tuesday afternoon.

“This truly is a destination for us,” said Kragthorpe, 29-22 in four seasons at Tulsa, at a news conference. “There’s no question that we feel like this is a place that we’ve come to stay.”

The deal caps a whirlwind courtship. Jurich said he flew to Oklahoma on Monday night to interview Kragthorpe. On Tuesday morning, Kragthorpe and his family joined Jurich for the plane trip back to Louisville.

“We might have just completed the shortest search in the history of the NCAA,” Jurich said.

“I thought we needed to move quickly.”

It wasn’t fast enough to keep running back Michael Bush, though. Bush, who broke his right leg in September, said Tuesday he planned to enter the NFL draft.

Junior quarterback Brian Brohm has until Jan. 15 to decide whether to bypass his senior year and join Bush in the draft. Brohm is expected to meet with Kragthorpe in the next few days before making a decision.

Brohm’s decision could rest on whether any of the current staff stays with the program. Older brother Jeff was the team’s quarterbacks coach under Petrino.

The Cardinals finished 12-1 in 2006, won the Big East, defeated Wake Forest in the Orange Bowl and were sixth in the final AP poll. Petrino resigned Sunday to coach the Atlanta Falcons.

Kragthorpe and Jurich have a relationship dating to 1990, when Jurich was Northern Arizona athletic director and Kragthorpe was hired as the Lumberjacks’ quarterbacks coach.

Kragthorpe helped resurrect a dismal Tulsa program that had just two victories in the two seasons before he was hired in December of 2002.

He led the Golden Hurricane to three bowl appearances in four seasons. Tulsa finished 8-5 this year, losing to Utah in the Armed Forces Bowl.