K-State Basketball: Best head coaches of all-time for Kansas State

BEST K-STATE BASKETBALL COACHES: NUMBER 4 – LON KRUGER

Coached at K-State from 1986-1990 (Record: 81-46)

While Lon Kruger was only at Kansas State for four seasons, he did something that very few head coaches are able to do: Lead the team to the NCAA Tournament every year. That’s right, after missing the tournament for six straight seasons, Kruger was able to get the Cats back into the dance in each of his four seasons.

Before being hired by K-State, Kruger had played for the university from 1971-1974. After graduating, he spent time as an assistant at Pitt State and had two different stints at Kansas State. Kruger then took a head coaching gig at Texas-Pan American and came back to Manhattan for a third time, only this time to become the head coach of the K-State basketball program.

[Kruger] did something that very few head coaches are able to do: Lead the team to the NCAA Tournament every year.

In year one under Kruger, the Wildcats went 20-11 and Kruger then stepped it up in year two, leading his team to a 25-9 record. That season saw the Wildcats ranked as high as number 14 nationwide and they ended the year ranked 20th in the country.

Kansas State had an exciting season in that 1987-1988 campaign, making it all the way to the Elite Eight. Sadly, the end of their season came at the hands of in-state rivals Kansas, but it was one of the best seasons K-State hoops had experienced in several years.

While the Wildcats would make the tournament in Kruger’s final two seasons, they were one and done in both of those appearances. Kruger would move on to coach at Florida and also spent time at Illinois and UNLV. He is currently in his seventh season as the head coach at Oklahoma.

The Cats have to play the Sooners twice a year and seeing the amount of success Lon Kruger has had at OU makes it even more difficult that things didn’t go past four years. Kruger still is one of the best head coaches that Kansas State has ever had though.