March 15, 2004

Transcript Of Opening Remarks | Photo Gallery

LAS VEGAS - Longtime collegiate and NBA basketball coach Lon Kruger has been hired as the 10th full-time head coach in Runnin' Rebel history, UNLV Director of Athletics Mike Hamrick announced Monday. Kruger will take over the school's men's basketball program as soon as the team finishes postseason play.

"Lon meets all of the criteria that we set for our head coaching job," Hamrick said. "He is a successful collegiate head coach who has taken three different programs to the NCAA Tournament and also knows how to get to the Final Four. He is a man of integrity and is one of the most well respected coaches in the country."

A veteran of two decades as a head coach on the collegiate and professional levels, Kruger comes to Las Vegas after a four-year stint in the NBA. Following an 18-year career as one of the nation's most successful college coaches, Kruger spent three seasons (2000-03) as the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks and then part of this season as an assistant with the New York Knicks.

At the collegiate level, Kruger compiled an impressive 318-233 (.577) overall mark in 18 seasons as a head coach at Pan American (1982-86), Kansas State (1986-90), Florida (1990-96) and Illinois (1996-2000). He led all four programs to 20-win seasons and is one of only a handful of active Division I head coaches to have taken three different programs to the NCAA Tournament.

Kruger, 51, piloted his teams to the postseason on 11 different occasions, with nine appearances in the NCAA Tournament and two in the NIT. He compiled seven 20+ victory seasons, was a two-time SEC Coach of the Year (1992 and 1994) and led his 1993-94 Florida squad to the NCAA Final Four.

At Illinois, Kruger led the Illini to three NCAA Tournament second-round appearances in his four seasons and compiled an 81-48 (.628) mark.

In his first season, Kruger guided the Illini to a 22-10 overall record and fourth place in the Big Ten Conference after the team had recorded a ninth-place finish the year before.

In his second season with the Illini, Kruger took a group of players that were picked to finish seventh in the Big Ten and led them to the school's first Big Ten Championship since 1984. That team posted a second-straight 20-win season with a 23-10 record. Kruger's third team returned no starters and the Big Ten's youngest and most inexperienced team faced the second-toughest schedule in the nation (Sagarin ratings). While the end result was a 14-18 record, it included five wins against ranked opponents and came within one game of the NCAA Tournament by falling to No. 2 Michigan State in the conference championship.

Kruger's last Illinois squad finished 22-10 and again made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

During his six-year stint at Florida, Kruger transformed the Gators from a program that was not a factor in the SEC race to a team that posted a single-season school-record 29 wins and went to postseason play four times.

The year before Kruger took over the program (1989-90), Florida finished 7-21 overall and 3-15 in the SEC. In six seasons in Gainesville, Kruger twice led the Gators to the NIT and twice to the NCAA Tournament. His crowning achievement came in 1994 when he directed UF to a school-record 29-8 mark and a trip to the Final Four.

Early in his career Kruger established himself as one of the nation's best young coaches in America. He began his head coaching career in south Texas at Pan American, where he guided a major turnaround in the program. Before Kruger arrived, Pan Am had won only five games (1982). After a first-season seven-win year, Kruger's squad posted double-digit wins in three straight seasons, including a 20-8 record in his final campaign (1985-86).

Kruger then went to coach at his alma mater. In four years at Kansas State, Kruger led the Wildcats to a school-record four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and an 81-46 record. His 1988 Wildcat squad ranks as one of the school's all-time best teams. It compiled a 25-9 slate, tying the school record for wins in a season and coming within one game of reaching the Final Four.

Kruger's coaching career began as an assistant coach at Pittsburg State (1976-77) in Pittsburg, Kan., and Kansas State (1977-82). As a player at Kansas State, the native of Silver Lake, Kan., helped lead the Wildcats to back-to-back Big Eight Conference titles in 1972 and 1973 and earned Big Eight Player of the Year honors in 1973 and 1974. He finished his collegiate career as the school's 14th-best scorer (1,063 points) and averaged 17.6 points per game as a senior.

Kruger was selected by the Atlanta Hawks in the ninth round of the 1974 NBA Draft. He also starred on the baseball diamond for Kansas State and was drafted by the Houston Astros in 1970 and the St. Louis Cardinals in 1974.

Born on Aug. 19, 1952, Kruger graduated from Kansas State in 1975 with a degree in business and earned his master's degree in physical education from Pittsburg State in 1977.

He and his wife, Barbara, have two children: daughter Angie (who is in her third year of medical school at the University of Florida) and son Kevin (a redshirt freshman at Arizona State and a member of the Sun Devil basketball team).

Season tickets for the 2004-05 Runnin' Rebel basketball season are on sale now by calling (702) 739-FANS. Prices will remain the same as they were for the 2003-04 campaign (starting at $330 for plaza level and $125 for balcony level).

THE KRUGER FILE

COACHING HONORS
One of 12 finalists for 1994 Naismith National Coach of the Year Award
SEC Coach of the Year (AP & Coaches' choice), 1992 & 1994
NABC District Coach of the Year, 1988 & 1994
1997 State of Illinois Collegiate Coach of the Year
Inducted into the state of Kansas Hall of Fame, 1999
Selected to the NABC Silver Anniversary Team, 1999

INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Assistant Coach 1998 USA World Championship team (bronze medal)
Head Coach 1991 USA Junior World Championship Team (gold medal) and 1995 USA World University Games Team (gold medal) Appointed by NCAA to serve on the USA Basketball Games Committee
Served on USA Basketball Subcommittee that selected college developmental squad to scrimmage against USA Olympic Dream Team
Head Coach 1987 Big Eight Select Team in Beijing, China
Assistant Coach on 1983 U.S. Pan American Team (gold medal)
Played on 1973 U.S. Team (toured China)

ADMINISTRATIVE
Athletics Director at Pan American, 1982-85
National Association of Basketball Coaches Board of Directors, 1994-present

EDUCATION
Silver Lake (Kansas) High School, 1970
Kansas State University, B.S. in business, 1975
Pittsburg State University, M.S. in physical education, 1977

PLAYING EXPERIENCE
Silver Lake High School, lettered four years in basketball, baseball, football, 1966-70
Kansas State University, baseball (P-IF), 1971-74
Kansas State University, basketball, 1971-74

PLAYING HONORS
Big Eight Player of the Year, 1973 & 1974
AP all-time Big Eight Team (third team and Mr. Hustle)
Big Eight Sophomore of the Year, 1972
KSU Porky Morgan Most Inspirational Player, 1972, 1973 & 1974
KSU Captain, 1973, 1974
Member of Big Eight Championship Team, 1972 & 1973
Member of NCAA Tournament Regional Finalist, 1972 & 1973
Played in Aloha All-Star Classic, 1974
Played in East-West All-Star Classic, 1974

PROFESSIONAL SPORTS EXPERIENCE
Drafted by MLB's Houston Astros, 1970
Signed Free Agent Contract with MLB's St. Louis Cardinals, 1974
Drafted by NBA's Atlanta Hawks, 1974
NFL's Dallas Cowboy Rookie Camp Invitee, 1974
European Professional League (Tel Aviv, Israel), 1974-75
NBA's Detroit Pistons Training Camp, 1975

ACADEMIC HONORS
Academic All-American, 1974
All-Big Eight Academic Honor Roll, 1973, 1973, 1974
Kansas State Dean's Honor Roll, 1973, 1974, 1975

PERSONAL
Born August 19, 1952 at Topeka, Kan.
Wife: Barbara Miles of Topeka, Kan.
Children: Angie and Kevin