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Oklahoma basketball: Lon Kruger’s coaching staff is complete again

By Chip Rouse

PITTSBURGH, PA - MARCH 15: Head coach Lon Kruger of the Oklahoma Sooners watches his team in the second half of the game against the Rhode Island Rams during the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at PPG PAINTS Arena on March 15, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA - MARCH 15: Head coach Lon Kruger of the Oklahoma Sooners watches his team in the second half of the game against the Rhode Island Rams during the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at PPG PAINTS Arena on March 15, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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The Oklahoma basketball coaching staff under head coach Lon Kruger is complete again following the hiring of assistant coach Alvin Williamson.

Williamson, who is better known by the nickname “Poo,” joins the Sooners’ staff after a one-year stopover at the University of Miami. Before that, he was at Texas Tech and Memphis as an assistant under Tubby Smith, the coach he played for at Tulsa.

The new OU assistant coach has also been an assistant at Wichita State, Texas A&M, SMU and TCU in a coaching career that has spanned more than two decades. OU officials like the fact that Williamson has spent 15 of the last 18 seasons coaching a recruiting for schools in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

Earlier this year, Kruger brought in Jim Molinari as an assistant. Molinari brings over 30 years of coaching experience to Norman, including 20 years as a head coach at the Division I level. His most recent coaching stop was as an assistant at Nebraska for the last five seasons.

Molinari has served as a head coach at Northern Illinois, Bradley, Minnesota and Western Illinois. His longest stint was 11 seasons at Bradley, where he led the Braves to three 20-win seasons and five NIT appearances.

The two new assistants will join returning OU assistant Carlin Hartman on the Sooner bench along with Kruger. Hartman is beginning his fourth season with the OU program.

Williamson and Molinari replace departing Oklahoma assistants Chris Crutchfield and Kevin Kruger, who left after last season to take other coaching positions. Crutchfield is now an assistant at Arkansas, and Lon’s son Kevin has returned to his alma mater, UNLV, as an assistant.

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