Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

UNLV Basketball:

Menzies, reunited with Kruger for good cause, seizes chance to mingle with fans

Coaches vs. Cancer

Stephen Sylvanie / Special to the Sun

University of Oklahoma basketball coach Lon Kruger stands with UNLV coach Marvin Menzies during the Coaches vs. Cancer fundraising event Wednesday, May 4, 2016, at Born and Raised.

Menzies and Kruger

University of Oklahoma basketball coach Lon Kruger stands with UNLV coach Marvin Menzies during the Coaches vs. Cancer fundraising event Wednesday, May 4, 2016, at Born and Raised. Launch slideshow »

Marvin Menzies hasn’t had much time to go out in the Las Vegas community since taking over UNLV’s basketball program. Building a roster from nearly the ground up has, understandably, taken priority.

So when the opportunity came Wednesday to appear with Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger at a Coaches vs. Cancer benefit, Menzies got his first chance to focus on a different part of the job: working the room.

“I love being in an environment where you can meet fans who are passionate about the program that you’re in charge of. I just go in and do me,” Menzies said. “… It’s a great opportunity to grow our fan base.”

Menzies and Kruger, the former UNLV coach fresh off his Final Four appearance, were the special guests at Born and Raised Henderson for a tipoff event for Coaches vs. Cancer. The Coaches vs. Cancer Las Vegas Golf Classic, which comes to town May 22-24, is an event benefitting the American Cancer Society that Kruger started while at UNLV, and all month both Born and Raised locations are raising money for the foundation.

That’s what brought together former colleagues Kruger and Menzies, though they’ve remained close since Menzies’ lone season on Kruger’s staff at UNLV. In fact, Menzies said that as much as he learned from Kruger during the 2004-05 season, “he’s actually been more integral in my career after we left,” Menzies said. “… For him to constantly be there as a support and a mentor and a sounding board, a lot of guys aren’t like that in this profession.”

There was a small bit of news, as Menzies mentioned that he expected to announce the remaining members of his coaching staff “in the next 24 hours.” But for the most part the evening was just a chance for fans to come out and meet the new coach in a casual setting. And for Menzies, he finally got to get out in the community and begin to use some of what he learned from Kruger.

“The blueprint that he used here in Vegas and how he operated, from embracing Tark to navigating the landscape, which is a very slippery slope if you don’t have confidence and experience, which he had and has,” Menzies said.

For his part, Kruger has nothing but confidence in his former assistant. Menzies and his wife, Tammy, are great people, Kruger said, and that’s the most important starting point.

“Marvin will do a great job of engaging all of those people and getting players in here,” Kruger said. “It’s a program that’s shared by the community. The community’s got to take ownership of it and hopefully people will get behind Marvin and get it going.”

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.

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