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, 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 The controversial rule has been repealed for the next season due to the "unintended consequences" of allowing players with undergraduate diplomas to immediately begin playing for another school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.

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. Kruger's new Oklahoma Sooners compensation package purportedly exceeds $2.2 million annually. 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). However, Kruger generally enjoys a positive reputation overall.

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

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. 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.

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.

Head coaching record

College

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Texas-Pan American Broncs (NCAA Division I independent)
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)
1986-87	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)
1990-91	Florida	11-17	7-11	6th
1991-92	Florida	19-14	9-7	2nd	NIT Semifinals
1992-93	Florida	16-12	9-7	3rd	NIT First Round
1993-94	Florida	29-8	12-4	T-1st	NCAA Final Four
1994-95	Florida	17-13	8-8	3rd	NCAA First Round
1995-96	Florida	12-16	6-10	5th
Florida:		104-80 (.565)	51-47 (.520)
Illinois Fighting Illini (Big Ten Conference)
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)
2004-05	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)
2011-12	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)

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	82	25	57	.305	7th in Central	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
Atlanta	2001-02	82	33	49	.402	6th in Central	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
Atlanta	2002-03	27	11	16	.407	(fired)	—	—	—	—	—
Career		191	69	122	.361	-	—	—	—	—

[ Source: Wikipedia ]