KU’s Bill Self offers fond farewell to retiring Oklahoma basketball coach Lon Kruger

By Matt Tait     Mar 25, 2021
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Mike Yoder
Kansas coach Bill Self and Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger meet on the court after the Sooners began celebrating after a last-second basket by Sooner guard Buddy Hield. The teams returned to the court because .2 seconds were still on the clock. The Jayhawks lost to the Sooners 75-73 Saturday in Norman.

After 45 years in coaching, the last 10 coming as the head basketball coach at Oklahoma, Sooners coach Lon Kruger is retiring at the age of 68.

Oklahoma announced the news on Thursday afternoon and the school’s athletic department has planned a press conference for 9:45 a.m. Friday.

The Silver Lake, Kan., native who spent time at Kansas State (1986-90), Florida (1990-96), Illinois (1996-2000) and UNLV (2004-11) prior to landing at Oklahoma, racked up 674 career victories and 20 NCAA Tournament appearances during his time as a head coach.

Kruger, who also spent three seasons as the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks, is one of just three coaches to lead five different programs to the NCAA Tournament.

He reached five Sweet 16s and two Final Fours (with Florida in 1994 and OU in 2016) and walks away with the respect and admiration of everyone he worked with and coached against.

“I’m very happy for Lon to leave on his own terms,” Kansas coach Bill Self said Thursday in a statement released by KU. “I wish him nothing but the best in retirement. Being around (his son) Kevin, his family and the grandkids in (Las) Vegas, sounds like, to me, a pretty good way to spend retirement.”

Kevin Kruger was recently named the new head coach at UNLV, where he played for his dad during the 2006-07 season.

Self, whose Jayhawk teams were 16-5 against Kruger’s Sooners from 2011-21, always praised Kruger’s program before and after the Jayhawks and Sooners squared off.

“I had the opportunity to follow Lon at Illinois,” Self said Thursday. “And (I) saw firsthand what a class program he ran. I have enjoyed competing against him at his different stops, but primarily at the University of Oklahoma, where his teams were always classy and difficult to prepare for. I know personally the respect he commands in our industry and I’m sure his former players, assistant coaches and everyone affiliated (with) his programs over time would attest to the way he went about his business.”

Kruger’s departure leaves Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione searching for both a men’s and women’s basketball coach, as longtime OU women’s coach Sherri Coale also announced her retirement earlier this month.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.