Coaches 66 Kruger . .68 Grensing . 73 Henson . 74 Hill. 75 Coaches Shepherd . 76 Support Staff . 78 67 Coaches 68 Coaching Staff Kruger, who was a finalist for the 2007-08 USBWA Henry Iba Award, which is presented to the national coach of the year, surprised many with his team’s 2007-08 performance. Not only did UNLV lose four starters off its 2007 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 team, but also the top player off the bench, who was the 2006-07 MWC Defensive Player of the Year (Joel Anthony – currently with the NBA’s Miami Heat). The 2007-08 squad was also without 62 percent of the scoring, rebounding and minutes played from the previous year’s team. Kruger also worked his magic with just a 10-man roster and won with a lineup that averaged 6-feet, 4.5-inches tall and whose tallest starter was only 6-foot-7-inches. Kruger, who earned his milestone 400th career win on Feb. 9, 2007, with a 68-51 victory over Colorado State at the Thomas & Mack Center, has led UNLV to back-to-back seasons with at least 27 wins for the first time since 1989-90 and 1990-91. In addition, UNLV has won 34 conference games over the last three seasons (10 in 2005-06, 12 in 2006-07 and 12 in 2007-08), which is the program’s highest three-year total since 1991-94. Longtime collegiate and NBA basketball coach Lon Kruger completed Kruger’s third season at UNLV catapulted the program back onto the his fourth year as the Runnin’ Rebels’ head coach in 2007-08, compiling an national stage. UNLV’s 2007 Sweet 16 appearance marked the program’s overall 91-42 mark (.684), after finishing a season that kept the program in first since 1991, and the 2006-07 squad became only the fifth team in UNLV the national spotlight. men’s basketball history to reach 30 wins in a season. The team was ranked Hired at UNLV on March 15, 2004, as the 10th full-time head coach in both major polls for the first time since 1993 and won the Mountain West in UNLV men’s basketball history, Kruger’s first two Runnin’ Rebel teams Conference Tournament championship for the first time since 2000. showed positive signs of progress under his leadership - progress that paid Finishing the season with UNLV’s best record since reaching the Final Coaches off over the next two seasons in Las Vegas. Four in 1991, the team was ranked 14th in the country in the final ESPN/ Kruger has led the Runnin’ Rebels to records of 30-7 and 27-8, over USA Today Coaches’ Poll. All of this from a team that was picked to finish the last two seasons as UNLV made back-to-back NCAA Tournament fifth in the MWC by the media before the season began. appearances, including advancing to the Sweet 16 in 2007. The back-to- The 2007 NCAA Tournament marked UNLV’s first since 2000, but back Big Dance showings for UNLV marked the first time that the Runnin’ the program had gone 15 years without a win in the Big Dance. That all Rebels made repeat trips in consecutive years to the NCAA Tournament changed when the Runnin’ Rebels, the seven-seed in the Midwest Region, since 1990 and 1991. marched past 10th-seeded Georgia Tech and second-seeded Wisconsin Getting to the NCAA Tournament is one thing, but winning is another, in Chicago. and the Runnin’ Rebels have done just that, logging three wins over the last Kruger became just the second coach in school history to win an NCAA two years – two in 2007 with the Sweet 16 appearance and one in 2008, Tournament game and with his 10th career trip to the Big Dance as a head falling to eventual national champion Kansas in the second round this past coach, he became just the fifth man in college basketball history to take four March. different schools to the NCAA Tournament. He is just the fourth coach in Just prior to leading the squad to back-to-back Mountain West NCAA Tournament history to take three different programs to the Sweet 16 Conference Tournament championships this past season, Kruger was since the field was expanded to 64 teams and is one of just three coaches named the MWC Coach of the Year along with the United States Basketball to win at least one game in the tournament with four different schools. Writers Association’s District VIII Coach of the Year. The consecutive MWC Kruger has led 11 teams to the NCAA Tournament, has a 14-11 record Tournament titles for UNLV marked the first since 1990 and 1991 and in those games, and is 8-3 all-time was the first time in MWC history that in first-round games, including wins a school repeated as the conference’s in each of the last five. With UNLV’s tournament champion. second consecutive NCAA Tournament Over the past two seasons, Kruger appearance in 2008, Kruger became has led the team to a 57-15 mark (.792) justj the second head man in college and the program’s 57 victories over that basketball history to lead at least four span ranks ninth in the country among different schools to multiple NCAA teams that have played in each of the appearances. last two NCAA Tournaments. The total UNLV finished tied for sixth in the also ranks as the second-most wins over country in total wins in 2006-07 and the last two years among teams in the became the first team in the history West, trailing only UCLA. of the Mountain West Conference to Protecting UNLV’s home court at reach 30 victories in a season. The the Thomas & Mack Center is something team also defeated four ranked teams, Kruger stresses and his team has the program’s most in a season in 16 responded. Over the last two years, years. UNLV has recorded a 38-3 mark at 2006-07 also marked a return of home, which includes streaks of 19- and dominance by UNLV at home as it 15-straight games (the 15 straight is recorded a 19-1 record at the TMC, still active and is the 11th-longest in the including wins in each of its last 17 country). The Runnin’ Rebels have also games at home. won 24 straight games against MWC During MWC action in both 2007 opponents at the TMC, a streak they will and 2008, UNLV finished second in the carry into next season. standings with identical 12-4 league 69 Coaching Staff marks, and have recorded two straight seasons with perfect home marks (8-0) in conference play for the first time since the 1991-92 and 1992-93 seasons. Additionally, the 12 conference wins for UNLV were the most in a season by the Runnin’ Rebels in 14 years. THE KRUGER FILE Kruger, who is entering his fifth season in Las Vegas, took over a Born: August 19, 1952 program at UNLV in 2004 that had gone through a period of significant instability, with nine different head coaches in the previous 13 seasons. Over Hometown: Silver Lake, Kan. that span, the program made just two NCAA Tournament appearances, both High School: Silver Lake (Kan.), 1970 first-round exits. Education: Kansas St., B.S., 1975 During his first two years in charge of the Runnin’ Rebel program, Pittsburg St., M.S., 1977 Kruger constructed a foundation for success and his teams demonstrated characteristics that Kruger-led squads have always shown: unselfishness, Coaching Exp.: UNLV - Head Coach, 2004-present teamwork, toughness and a positive attitude geared toward continual New York Knicks - Asst. Coach, 2003-04 improvement throughout the season. Those teams recorded overall marks Atlanta Hawks - Head Coach, 2000-03 of 17-14 and 17-13, respectively. His 2004-05 team was invited to the National Invitation Tournament Illinois - Head Coach, 1996-00 and advanced to the second round, while the 2005-06 squad won 10 MWC Florida - Head Coach, 1990-96 games, which equaled the UNLV record for most wins in MWC action to Kansas St. - Head Coach, 1986-90 that point. Pan American - Head Coach, 1982-86 In July of 2007, he was honored by Las Vegas radio station ESPN 920 as its 2007 Sportsman of the Year. Kansas St. - Asst. Coach, 1979-82 Kruger has cemented his place in history as college basketball’s Kansas St. - Grad. Asst. Coach, 1977-78 greatest change agent after he took UNLV back to the NCAA Tournament Pittsburg St. - Grad. Asst. Coach, 1976-77 and its run to the Sweet 16. Five times Kruger has taken over a college basketball program and five times – within at least four years each time – Playing Exp.: Kansas State, 1971-74 his programs have reigned victorious. It is arguably the most-proven track record of raising programs by one coach. Coaches A veteran of two-plus decades as a head coach on the collegiate and professional levels, Kruger came to Las Vegas after a four-year stint in the took a group of players that was picked to finish seventh in the Big Ten and NBA. Following 18 years as one of the nation’s most successful college led the Illini to the school’s first Big Ten Championship since 1984. That team coaches,coaches, Kruger spent three seasons (2000-03)(2000-03) as thet head coach of the posted a second-straight 20-win season with a 23-10 record. AtlantaAtlanta Hawks and then part ofof the 2003-04 season asas an assistant with the Kruger’s third Illini team returned no starters and the Big Ten’s youngest NewNew YorkYork Knicks.Knicks.