With each move, coach turns another college program around

By Ron Kantowski

Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Five times during his 22-year college coaching career Lon Kruger has taken the reins of a struggling program — and five times he has turned those programs into winners within four years of coming on board.

Just call him The Great Rebuilder.

• Texas-Pan American: The team had won five games the year before Kruger took over. The Broncs were winners within four years.

• Kansas State: The Wildcats had gone without an NCAA tournament bid for four years and were just one game over .500 in the three seasons before Kruger took over. They made it to the Elite Eight in his second season. In four seasons, Kruger guided his alma mater to four NCAA tournament appearances. His 1987-88 K-State team won 25 games, still a school record.

• Florida: The Gators were coming off a seven-win season and worse, were under investigation by the NCAA when Kruger was hired to clean up the program. First, he got Florida off double-secret probation. Then, in his fourth year on the job, he directed it to a 29-win season and a berth in the Final Four.

• Illinois: It had been 12 years since the Illini had hoisted the Big Ten championship banner, but Kruger brought one to Champaign-Urbana in his second season. Three of his four seasons at Illinois resulted in NCAA tournament bids.

• UNLV: The Rebels hadn’t won an NCAA tournament game since Jerry Tarkanian left town but they won two last year, knocking off Georgia Tech of the vaunted Atlantic Coast Conference before upsetting second-seeded Wisconsin to make it to the Sweet 16. In just his third season, Kruger coached the Rebels to 30 wins as UNLV fans packed the Mack for the first time in a generation.