OU’s Kruger retires, ending 35-year D-I run
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger announced his retirement Thursday, ending a 35-year Division I college head coaching career that included taking five schools to the NCAA Tournament — with two of them reaching the Final Four — and more than 650 career wins.
The 68-year-old Kruger led Florida to the national semifinals in 1994 and Oklahoma to the same spot in 2016. He is the only coach to lead five programs to NCAA Tournament wins — Oklahoma, Kansas State, Florida, Illinois and UNLV.
At 674-432, his win totals were 10th among active Division I coaches and 27th overall at the time of his retirement.
He led the Sooners to a 195-128 record in 10 years and reached seven of the past eight NCAA tournaments. In his final season at Oklahoma, the Sooners went 16-11 and ended with a loss to top-seeded Gonzaga in the second round on Monday.
Along the way, he built a reputation for fixing struggling programs.
“His track record of successfully rebuilding programs everywhere he coached is made even more impressive when considering how he did it,“Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione said. “He won with integrity, humility, class and grace. He did it with superior leadership skills and a genuine kindness that included his constant encouragement of everyone around him.”
Among his many accomplishments, Kruger was voted the AP Big 12 Coach of the Year in 2014. He was the 2019 recipient of the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award and honored in 2017 with the National Association of Basketball Coaches Metropolitan Award for long and outstanding service to men’s college basketball. He also coached at Texas-Pan American.
He led his alma mater, Kansas State, to the Elite Eight in 1988. Kansas State’s Twitter account congratulated him and called him a “A Wildcat for life.”
Kruger also spent four years coaching in the NBA — three as head coach of the Hawks and one as a Knicks assistant.
His son, Kevin, was promoted from assistant to head coach at UNLV over the weekend.
Grand Canyon player killed
Grand Canyon basketball player Oscar Frayer died from a car accident, three days after the Antelopes played in the NCAA Tournament for the first time. He was 23.
Frayer and his sister, 28-year-old Andrea Moore, were killed with an unidentified person in a car crash in Lodi, Calif., on Tuesday, the school announced Thursday.
Frayer, a senior, was a four-year starter at Grand Canyon and completed his academic requirements to graduate in April. The 6-6 forward averaged 6.6 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists while helping the Lopes win the Western Conference Athletic Tournament for the first time.
The Oakland, Calif., native had returned to Northern California after finishing with eight points, five assists and three blocked shots in GCU’s loss to Iowa at the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis.
Kelsey to take job at Charleston
Pat Kelsey is leaving Winthrop to become College of Charleston’s men’s basketball coach.
Charleston athletic director Matt Roberts announced Kelsey’s hiring Thursday. Kelsey, 45, spent nine seasons with the Eagles, leading them to three NCAA Tournament berths, including this past season.
Winthrop, seeded 12th, fell to No. 5 seed Villanova in the tournament’s opening round last week.
Kelsey’s Eagles opened 16-0 for the best start ever in the Big South Conference before finishing 23-2.
Kelsey takes over for Earl Grant, who left the Cougars for the Boston College coaching job earlier this month.
Florida’s Mann declares for draft
Florida point guard Tre Mann, the program’s best one-on-one playmaker since Jason Williams more than two decades ago, is leaving school early and turning pro.
Mann is expected to hire an agent and does not intend to return to college. The 6-5 sophomore from Gainesville led the Gators with 16 points a game and 83 assists this season and was the team’s secondleader rebounder, averaging 5.6 a game.
Mann is currently the No. 15 prospect in ESPN’s draft rankings.
Odds and ends
South Carolina State hired Memphis assistant Tony Madlock to be its men’s basketball head coach. Madlock has spent 25 years as an assistant coach, including the past three seasons at Memphis. … Jacksonville University hired Florida assistant Jordan Mincy as its head coach, landing an up-andcomer to lead a basketball program that hasn’t been relevant since making the NCAA championship game in 1970. … Eastern Washington promoted David Riley to head coach following the school’s NCAA Tournament appearance. Riley will replace Shantay Legans, who left this week to take over as the head coach at Portland. … Florida guards Noah Locke and Ques Glover entered the transfer portal Thursday.