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Oklahoma basketball: Lon Kruger inducted into Collegiate Basketball HOF

By Chip Rouse

Feb 1, 2020; Norman, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Lon Kruger, center, talks to his team during a time out against the Oklahoma State Cowboys during the first half at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 1, 2020; Norman, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Lon Kruger, center, talks to his team during a time out against the Oklahoma State Cowboys during the first half at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports /
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Former Oklahoma basketball coach Lon Kruger was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame on Sunday.

Kruger, who coached the Sooners for 10 seasons (from 2011-12 to 2020-21) as well as five other college teams in a 35-year career as a college head coach, is one of eight new Hall of Fame members who were formally inducted in a ceremony at the College Basketball Experience in Kansas. Missouri.

The former OU head coach is one of only three coaches to lead five different schools, including Oklahoma, to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Besides OU, he took Kansas State, Florida, Illinois and UNLV to the NCAA Tournament.

In 35 years as a head coach, Kruger’s teams compiled an overall record of 674-432, a .606 winning percentage, His 674 wins place him in an exclusive fraternity of coaches with 500 or more wins and in the top 40 of all coaches in college basketball history.

Kruger’s record at Oklahoma was 195-128, and his 2015-16 Sooner team made it to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament. In 10 seasons, he took seven OU teams to the NCAA Tournament. His 2019-20 Oklahoma team also would have appeared in the NCAA Tournament, but the tournament was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kruger began his collegiate basketball career as a player and two-time Big Eight Player of the Year at Kansas State in the early 1970s. He later was named head coach at his alma mater (1986-1990).

Oklahoma was his last stop in a long and highly successful coaching career. He retired after the 2020-21 season.

In 2000, Kruger took a brief respite from college coaching, trying his luck at the NBA level. He served as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks from 2000 to 2003.

Joining Kruger in the 2022 class of the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame are former coaches Roy Williams (Kansas and North Carolina), Jim Calhoun (Connecticut), John Beilein (West Virginia, Michigan and others) and basketball executive Jerry Krause (Chicago Bulls) and former players Richard Hamilton (Connecticut), Larry Miller (North Carolina), Frank Selvy (
Furman) and the late Jimmy Walker (Providence).

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