Colby Daniels tweeet (Kruger Retiring!)

[Stikboy]

I wondered if/when someone would mention Pastner. He's young and had some shine early on. Heck, I think some people in the media even suggested him as an option before we hired Lon, but don't think he was ever contacted.

I think that shine has worn off over the last 10 years or so. His last few years at Memphis and his record at GT haven't exactly been stellar. (Other than this year's conference tourney.) The media seems to still have a thing for him though. Wasn't he accused and cleared of something a few years back?

Something like some old couple accused he and his wife of sexual assault. I think it ended up being some ridiculous extortion attempt, but not sure.

 

[AdaSooner]

Haha... A long time ago a lot of us were over on the OU-Insider board (known as the James Hale board).... When a band of rebels led by AdaSooner and a few others seceded and created their own board.

Then, one by one, many of the regulars (like me) from over there came to this forum.

Since then some have fallen off, stopped posting, been banned, or unfortunately are deceased. This was a LONG TIME AGO.

For the record, this board was officially launched in late October, 2008. The owner/developer back then was OUHoops. You are correct in that I recruited you and several others to serve as admins here, as well as “recruiters” who could bring in members from other boards. Most of us came from the old Insider board. That what Skyvue and Pnkranger are remembering.

 

[Swans]

Something like some old couple accused he and his wife of sexual assault. I think it ended up being some ridiculous extortion attempt, but not sure.

Was he Falwell jr’s pool boy?

 

[TINY]

I'm a little surprised you have so much time to post now that you're the head coach at UNLV. Congrats on that, by the way.

What exactly did he say that isn’t accurate? Purdude gets overrated every year in the tournament and loses 1st or 2nd round. I see you already changed your sig with something about a guy who is less qualified to be our head coach than Cade Cunningham’s brother is to be osu’s 3rd assistant. Joe c will nail this hire and it won’t be an assistant at a tiny ass non p5 program.

 

[WichitaSooner]

I'm a little surprised you have so much time to post now that you're the head coach at UNLV. Congrats on that, by the way.

Well I figured if Quannas can post on here despite prepping for Syracuse, it’s the least I can do

 

[WichitaSooner]

I'm old enough to agree. I hated those KU teams.

Plus everything about his demeanor as a coach at WSU and Maryland. We would be going from the classiest guy in the business to someone ... well, much different. And less successful.

 

[AdaSooner]

The only reason it took so long with Lon was that Lon said no twice before Joe convinced him to come. But 7 to 10 days is pretty quick.

You are correct, MsProud! Joe C wanted Lon as our coach and he refused to give up. Lon said no twice, as I recall, and finally said yes on the third try.

It shouldn’t be any wonder that Lon plans to retire back to Vegas. He didn’t want to leave in the first place.

 

[CoachTalk]

And for the record Colby Daniels is a douche for breaking this.

 

[thegreyghost]

I’ll throw out an interesting name Dennis Gates at Cleveland State, lot of AAU connections supposed to be a great recruiter

 

[BoulderSooner]

And for the record Colby Daniels is a douche for breaking this.

yep should of had the integrity like Murdock did with bob

 

[MsProudSooner]

From the Tulsa World:

Tulsa World
Lon Kruger leaves OU in the same manner as he arrived — as a man of grace and dignity
Guerin Emig Mar 25, 2021 Updated 1 hr ago

Before saying his first word the day he was introduced as Oklahoma basketball coach, Lon Kruger made his way down the row of players he had just inherited. He shook hands with them all.

It seemed a small gesture amid the balloons, streamers and music at what amounted to a pep rally inside the McCasland Field House where Kruger once played for Kansas State. It was not small.

It was the most important, most telling moment of that 2011 day, for it signaled the graceful, dignified manner the Sooners would be coached for the next decade.

The 68-year-old Kruger retired Thursday more a man than a coach, really. He has too much substance to be pigeonholed by his job.

Buddy Hield, the player most synonymous with Kruger’s run, said this about his OU coach right before taking his National Player of the Year awards to the NBA: “What he’s done for us the past four years has changed our life.”

It wasn’t by Tony Robbins seminars. It was honest. It was principle dug from Kruger’s Kansas farming community roots.

“We grew up with the idea that when you think about others and you do things for others, you’re doing it for the right reason,” Kruger told me once. “We talk to our players all the time about that. It always has to be about others. And when it is, you get good results. Whether it be on the basketball court with your teammates or in the classroom with your professors.”

Kruger wasted no time imparting those values.

Romero Osby, one of the Sooners Kruger inherited 10 years ago, once said: “The first thing he did wasn’t even basketball. It was to change our perspective as far as academics and how we carry ourselves. Those things really mean a lot to him. He’s really sincere about it.”

It’s corny if you don’t know Kruger better. No. One hundred percent sincerity.

Just like the zillion times he was asked about reaching some career milestone and what it all meant to him... Well here...

Look at Kruger’s response to coaching the Sooners to the Sweet Sixteen in 2015, a feat that made him the first coach to take four programs that deep into the NCAA Tournament: “I didn’t have any trouble sleeping last night. No, it’s nice. It means you’ve had a lot of good players. You don’t make the Sweet Sixteen without good players. It won’t change my life that much.”

Nothing changed Kruger any over 10 years in Norman. He kept drawing up plays that assistants and players couldn’t fathom. Kept finding advantageous matchups nobody else saw. Kept finding ways for teams to flourish around the development of gym rats like Hield, Osby, Isaiah Cousins and Austin Reaves.

He did it again this year with an unheralded squad that grew until reaching the top 10. What a fitting way to go out.

“This group worked their tail off, probably made as much progress as any group in my 40 years from November to March,” Kruger told me Thursday. “Overall these guys did unbelievable stuff.”

I reached Kruger as his retirement started to circulate. He hadn’t talked to his players yet, so we kept it professionally brief. Maybe five minutes.

Even then I got another draft of the man’s qualities.

He mentioned the tug of his four grandchildren, kids he described to me as “fulltime fun” a couple years ago.

He mentioned his son, Kevin, having just taken over at UNLV. Naturally he wants a piece of that action, up close and personally.

Kruger mentioned the sudden February passing of Texas Rio Grande Valley coach Lew Hill, a longtime friend and assistant. It prompted some consideration of time and priorities. He figured it would be a fleeting thought. It wasn’t.

So he made a wise, virtuous decision. Because of course he did.

“As much as I love what I’m doing, shoot. This is a joy, to coach every day at a place like Oklahoma... My goodness,” Kruger said. “But still, at some point it’s got to end. Yeah, just felt like the right time.”

In a little while he’d be off to explain the decision to his players, impart a lesson or two one last time and begin a retirement well earned.

You’ll no doubt remember some of the Sooners’ biggest moments against Oklahoma State, Kansas, Texas or in the NCAAs with Kruger as their guiding light.

I’ll remember him sitting cross-legged on the bench at Allen Fieldhouse, watching the building fill and the players warm up as if leading book club.

Or him standing on the Honda Center court in Anaheim and seeing his players snip the nets of the West Region championship en route to the 2016 Final Four, uttering no words but saying everything with the kind of smile you see affixed to dads as their kids tear into Christmas presents.

“We’ve always been about relationships and people and others and all of that,” Kruger said once.

All of the wins, 674 overall including 195 at OU, and awards and recognition along the way? Filler, mostly. Reflective of a coach doing his job. That’s all.

“It’s so important in their lives to realize the significance of each decision each day,” Kruger said of something far more important once, since it was about his players.

The significance of this coach’s retirement lies in the man, how much he’ll be missed and whether we’ll see his like again anytime soon.

 

[Stikboy]

From the Tulsa World:

What a great man.

 

[vbdad]

Re: Colby Daniels tweeet

Q is the second assistant. I struggle to see how he is the right man to hire. Other than spending two years here as a player two decades ago, nothing else makes him remotely qualified. Never been a head coach or even a lead assistant, isn’t from OK, hasn’t been in the state in years. And I say this even though he is one of my favorite OU players ever.

And I’m not directing those comments at you, it’s just that his name has been thrown out by others who seem to want him.

That is what I thought but wanted to confirm since Q had been mentioned. He has no chance for the head coaching job. If the right guy is hired he would make an excellent assistant here.

 

[NickZepp]

This board started just before the 08-09 season started. I think this was around the time that there was a merger of sites that ended one of the older boards that had basketball/sports and nobody liked the format that was coming so this one and I believe LandThieves started at around the same time.

 

[sheepdogs1]

What a great man.

Sounds like a person who cares about others more than he cares about himself. Would be nice if leaders had this very same quality rather than to care about their own selfish aspirations.

 

[sheepdogs1]

This board started just before the 08-09 season started. I think this was around the time that there was a merger of sites that ended one of the older boards that had basketball/sports and nobody liked the format that was coming so this one and I believe LandThieves started at around the same time.

I think the format favored those who paid for subscriptions and the rest of the board, non-paying members, were treated like expired milk.

 

[BCSooners]

Eric Konkol

 

[NickZepp]

I think the format favored those who paid for subscriptions and the rest of the board, non-paying members, were treated like expired milk.

Try visiting those old boards now and it's pretty much the same way now. I don't get how it makes money in the days of finding everything out on twitter faster than they can report anything anyway.

 

[hoopsaustin]

Some terrible ideas in here.. a 2nd assistant at Houston? Lol

 

[WTSooner]

I’ll throw out an interesting name Dennis Gates at Cleveland State, lot of AAU connections supposed to be a great recruiter

I was trying to think of his name earlier. I thought highly of him when watching their first round game.

Seems like a guy that will stay up north though.