Kruger named to National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame
UTRGV REPORTS
Former Pan American men’s basketball head coach and Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Lon Kruger was named as part of the 2022 National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Class on Wednesday.
The 2022 class includes Kruger, Richard Hamilton (UConn), Larry Miller (North Carolina), Frank Selvy (Furman), Jimmy Walker (Providence) and coaches John Beilein and Jerry Krause. Roy Williams and Jim Calhoun will be formally honored with the class of 2022 and were previously recognized as part of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame’s founding class in 2006.
Kruger coached legacy institution Pan American from 1982-86, recording a 20-8 (.714) record in his final season. The .714 winning percentage is the highest for the program since 1979-80 (also .714) and kicked off a span of five straight seasons without a losing record (four winning seasons, one .500).
Kruger’s success at PAU propelled him to become the first coach to lead five different programs (Kansas State, Florida, Illinois, UNLV and Oklahoma) to the NCAA tournament and is the only coach to win an NCAA tournament game with five programs. His teams have participated in 20 NCAA tournaments and two Final Fours (2016 with Oklahoma and 1994 with Florida).
Kruger finished his coaching career with a record of 674-432 (.609). Kruger’s 674 Division I wins are the 27th most all-time and were the 10th most among active coaches at the time of his retirement.
He was an assistant coach for Team USA at the 1998 FIBA World Championship, bringing home a bronze medal. He was also the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks (2000-03) and an assistant with the New York Knicks (2003-04). Kruger is a four-time coach of the year (SEC 1992, SEC 1994, MWC 2008, Big 12 2014) and was awarded the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award in 2019.
Kruger was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame and into the Hall of Honor alongside his wife, Barbara, in 2018.
