Lon Kruger to Receive Distinguished Coaching Honor
By Chip Rouse
Lon Kruger’s career as a college basketball head coach spans six different schools over a span of three decades. And he has been highly successful every place he has been.
On April 2, the Oklahoma head coach will receive the National Association of Basketball Coaches Metropolitan Award for longtime service to men’s college basketball.
Kruger is the 13th head coach in OU men’s basketball history, but he is the fifth winningest coach in Sooner history. His 122 wins at OU trail Billy Tubbs (333), Kelvin Sampson (279), Bruce Drake (200) and Hugh McDermott (185).
Despite going 11-20 in 2016-17, the OU head coach achieved his 600th career win this season, the 33rd head coach in college basketball history to reach that milestone. With 601 career victories as a head coach, Kruger ranks 10th in career wins among active NCAA coaches.
“It’s been a fun ride,” Kruger said in an article posted on the OU athletic website after Oklahoma defeated his alma mater, Kansas State, by 30 points late this past season to give the Sooner head coach his 600th win.
“All the relationships and all the people you’ve met and worked with. And the players, of course, are at the heart of it all. That’s why any of these wins come about.” –OU head coach Lon Kruger after getting his 600th career win
“All the relationships and all the people you’ve met and worked with. And the players, of course, are at the heart of it all. That’s why any of these wins come about.”
Kruger is one of just two coaches to take five different schools, including the Sooners four times, to the NCAA Tournament. He is the only coach to win an NCAA Tournament game with five different schools.
Kruger’s 1993-94 Florida team went to the Final Four, as did his Oklahoma team last season.
The OU coach concluded his 31st season as a college head coach this season. Over that time, he has been at Pan-American (four seasons), Kansas State (four seasons), Florida (six seasons, UNLV (seven seasons) and will be in his seventh season at OU in 2017-18.
Kruger played his college basketball at Kansas State, where he was two-time Big Eight Player of the Year, and he coached there from 1986-90. He has a winning record as a head coach at every school he coached except Pan-American, and is widely recognized for his ability to turn around programs on the decline.
The NABC Metropolitan Award was first presented in 1941, to legendary coach Nat Holman of City College of New York. Another legendary college coach, Phog Allen of Kansas, created the NABC in 1927.
Kruger’s son, Kevin, who is an assistant on the OU coaching staff, will present the award to his father at the AT&T NABC Guardians of the Game Awards Show on April 2.