Time for ex-Gators basketball coach Kruger to get due credit
Lon Kruger’s team is in the Final Four and a lot of people are wondering how.
Please don’t stop if you’ve read this before.
If you could read in 1994, you might recall similar amazement over Kruger’s team. Florida had even fewer marquee recruits then than Oklahoma does now. Yet the Gators made the Final Four, and for a few shining moments Kruger was praised like another Coach K.
Then hewent back to being Lon Kruger, arguably America’s most underappreciated college basketball coach. Remember his time in Gainesville?
“Lon is the guy who made Florida basketball,” Bill Koss said. “I’ll always believe that.”
Koss played there 50 years ago and has been around the program since as a TV analyst, author and coaching confidant. Not enough people share his belief.
Blame that on Billy Donovan. He came in with a bang as Kruger was going out with a whimper. Billy Ball made it impossible to fully grasp what Kruger accomplished.
Such is life for Lon. He’s always been the drummer in the band, keeping the rhythm going while guys like John Calipari make like Mick Jagger. If anything, Kruger is the anti-Calipari.
He comes in, cleans up programs, preaches oldschool values and turns middling’ recruits into winners. The problem is there’s not much sex appeal when you’re humble, unassuming and bland enough to proudly admit you love ABBA songs.
“I’ve never heard him say anything derogatory about anyone, never once,” Koss said. “He always finds something constructive to say, even in the most difficult situations.”
That took some doing in Gainesville. Basketball was in shambles when Kruger was hired. The NCAA and U.S. government were investigating recruiting violations and drug deals. Norm Sloan had stormed away. Dwayne Schintzius led a mutiny against interim coach Don DeVoe.
Kruger turned that hot mess into an NIT team by Year 2. Two years later, a team featuring 300-pound center Dametri “Meat” Hill made it to the national semifinal game, losing to Grant Hill and Duke 70-65.
Kruger restored order on the court and dignity off it. Hewas voted Gainesville’s Volunteer of the Year. He’d send hand-written notes thanking cheerleaders for theirwork and congratulating minor-sport athletes on academic achievements.
If only he could have made people love basketball as much as that other major sport. Attendance never took off. Big-time recruits like Vince Carter kept going to brand-name schools. When Kruger left for Illinois, itwas like an amicable divorce.
The Florida fizzle enhanced his reputation as a good-but-not-great coach. Nice guys may not finish last, but in 29 seasons Kruger’s teams have won one conference title.