Lon Kruger

Lon Kruger
Sport(s) Basketball
Current position
Title Head coach
Team Oklahoma
Conference Big 12
Record 111–57 (.661)
Annual salary $2,750,000
Biographical details
Born (1952-08-19) August 19, 1952
Silver Lake, Kansas
Playing career
1971–1974 Kansas State
Position(s) Point guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1976–1977 Pittsburg State (assistant)
1977–1978 Kansas State (assistant)
1979–1982 Kansas State (assistant)
1982–1986 Texas–Pan American
1986–1990 Kansas State
1990–1996 Florida
1996–2000 Illinois
2000-2003 Atlanta Hawks
2003–2004 New York Knicks (assistant)
2004–2011 UNLV
2011–present Oklahoma
Head coaching record
Overall 590–361 (college)
69–122 (NBA)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
2× MWC Tournament championship (2007, 2008)
Big 10 regular season championship (1998)
2× NCAA Regional championship - Final Four
(1994, 2016)
Awards
2× SEC Coach of the Year (1992, 1994)
MWC Coach of the Year (2008)
Big 12 Coach of the Year (2014)
2× Big Eight Player of the Year (1973, 1974)

Lonnie Duane Kruger (born August 19, 1952) is an American college and professional basketball coach who is currently the men's basketball head coach of the University of Oklahoma. Kruger played college basketball for Kansas State University. He has served as the head coach of the University of Texas–Pan American, Kansas State, the University of Florida, the University of Illinois, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, as well as the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Biography

Lon Kruger was born and raised in Silver Lake, Kansas. As a point guard, Kruger led the Kansas State Wildcats to back-to-back Big Eight championships in 1972 and 1973 under coach Jack Hartman. Kruger was named the Big Eight Player of the Year in 1973 and 1974, after being named the Big Eight Sophomore of the Year in 1972. He was also a shortstop on the Kansas State baseball team.

Head coaching history

Kansas State

As basketball coach of the Wildcats, he led K-State to the NCAA Tournament in each of his four seasons as head coach and the Elite Eight in 1988—a team featuring future NBA players Mitch Richmond and Steve Henson—before losing to arch-rival Kansas Jayhawks, the eventual national champion.

From Kansas State, Kruger moved south to the University of Florida, taking over a Gators program that had limited success not only nationally, but in the Southeastern Conference.

Florida

In his six seasons with Florida, he compiled a 104-80 mark. In the process, he led the University of Florida to its first-ever Final Four appearance in 1994.

He was named coach of the year in both 1992 and 1994.

Illinois

From there, he accepted the vacant position at Illinois. While there, he became the only Big Ten coach to successfully sign three consecutive Illinois Mr. Basketball winners, after inking Sergio McClain, Frankie Williams, and Brian Cook between 1997 and 1999. Kruger is one of five coaches to take four different teams to the men's NCAA basketball tournament.

UNLV

Kruger accepted the job at UNLV in 2004.

His son, Kevin, took advantage of a new NCAA rule, called Proposal 2005-54,[1] before the 2006–2007 season to transfer from Arizona State and immediately play for his father at UNLV without sitting out one year. The controversial rule has been repealed for the next season due to the "unintended consequences" of allowing players with undergraduate diplomas to immediately begin playing for another school without sitting out for any time.[2]

In 2007, Kruger led the Runnin' Rebels to the Sweet Sixteen of the 2007 NCAA Tournament, which was the team's first trip there since Jerry Tarkanian led them there in 1991.

On February 9, 2008, the UNLV Runnin' Rebels beat Colorado State 68–51 at home, for his 400th career win.

Oklahoma

On April 1, 2011, sources confirmed that Kruger had accepted the head coaching position with the Oklahoma Sooners, replacing the fired Jeff Capel.[3][4][5] Kruger's new Oklahoma Sooners compensation package purportedly exceeds $2.2 million annually.[5] Despite his success, he has not been immune to criticism, having won just one regular season conference championship in his lengthy college coaching career (Illinois tied for the Big 10 title in 1997-98).[6][7] However, Kruger generally enjoys a positive reputation overall.[8]

On November 30, 2012, Kruger earned his 500th career head coaching victory as his Sooners beat Northwestern State 69-65 in Norman.[9]

On March 17, 2013, Kruger became the only head coach in Division I history to lead five programs to the NCAA tournament when his Sooner team was named a 10 seed in the event's South region.[10] The feat was later matched by Tubby Smith in 2016 when he took Texas Tech to the tournament.

On March 20, 2015, Kruger became the only head coach in Division I history to win an NCAA tournament game with five different programs. He is one of four active coaches who have had three different teams in the Elite Eight.[11]

He reached his second career Final Four with Oklahoma in 2016.

Professional coaching

Prior to accepting the head coaching position at UNLV in 2004, Kruger was the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA. It was as head coach of the Hawks that Kruger guaranteed season-ticket holders in 2003 that the Hawks would make the playoffs or get a $125 refund. The Hawks failed to make the playoffs and Kruger was fired midway through the 2002-2003 season.

Kruger was an assistant coach under Rudy Tomjanovich for the US national team in the 1998 FIBA World Championship, winning the bronze medal.[12]


Head coaching record

College

Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Texas–Pan American Broncs (NCAA Division I independent) (1982–1986)
1982–83 Pan–American 7–21
1983–84 Pan–American 13–14
1984–85 Pan–American 12–16
1985–86 Pan–American 20–8
Pan–American: 52–59 (.468)
Kansas State Wildcats (Big Eight Conference) (1986–1990)
1986–87 Kansas State 20–11 8–6 4th NCAA Second Round
1987–88 Kansas State 25–9 11–3 2nd NCAA Elite Eight
1988–89 Kansas State 19–11 8–6 3rd NCAA First Round
1989–90 Kansas State 17–15 7–7 4th NCAA First Round
Kansas State: 81–46 (.638) 34–22 (.607)
Florida Gators (Southeastern Conference) (1990–1996)
1990–91 Florida 11–17 7–11 6th
1991–92 Florida 19–14 9–7 2nd (East) NIT Semifinals
1992–93 Florida 16–12 9–7 3rd (East) NIT First Round
1993–94 Florida 29–8 12–4 T–1st (East) NCAA Final Four
1994–95 Florida 17–13 8–8 3rd (East) NCAA First Round
1995–96 Florida 12–16 6–10 5th (East)
Florida: 104–80 (.565) 51–47 (.520)
Illinois Fighting Illini (Big Ten Conference) (1996–2000)
1996–97 Illinois 22–10 11–7 4th NCAA Second Round
1997–98 Illinois 23–10 13–3 T–1st NCAA Second Round
1998–99 Illinois 14–18 3–13 11th
1999–00 Illinois 22–10 11–5 5th NCAA Second Round
Illinois: 81–48 (.628) 38–28 (.576)
UNLV Runnin' Rebels (Mountain West Conference) (2004–2011)
2004–05 UNLV 17–14 7–7 4th NIT Second Round
2005–06 UNLV 17–13 10–6 4th
2006–07 UNLV 30–7 12–4 2nd NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2007–08 UNLV 27–8 12–4 2nd NCAA Second Round
2008–09 UNLV 21–11 9–7 5th NIT First Round
2009–10 UNLV 25–9 11–5 T–3rd NCAA First Round
2010–11 UNLV 24–9 11–5 3rd NCAA Round of 64
UNLV: 161–71 (.694) 72–38 (.655)
Oklahoma Sooners (Big 12 Conference) (2011–present)
2011–12 Oklahoma 15–16 5–13 8th
2012–13 Oklahoma 20–12 11–7 4th NCAA Round of 64
2013–14 Oklahoma 23–10 12–6 2nd NCAA Round of 64
2014–15 Oklahoma 24–11 12–6 T–2nd NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2015–16 Oklahoma 29–8 12–6 3rd NCAA Final Four
Oklahoma: 111–57 (.661) 52–38 (.578)
Total: 590–361 (.620)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

NBA

Legend
Regular season G Games coached W Games won L Games lost W–L % Win-loss %
Post season PG Playoff games PW Playoff wins PL Playoff losses PW–L % Playoff win-loss %
Team Year G W L W–L% Finish PG PW PL PW–L% Result
Atlanta 2000–01 822557.3057th in Central———— Missed Playoffs
Atlanta 2001–02 823349.4026th in Central———— Missed Playoffs
Atlanta 2002–03 271116.407(fired)———— —
Career 19169122.361–————

References

Bibliography

External links

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