Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger is retiring after 45 years in coaching

Lon Kruger, who has been the head coach at Oklahoma since 2011, will announce his retirement from coaching. Kruger has been in a basketball coach since 1976 and has been a head coach for a total of 38 years (35 at the D-I level).

“It’s been an honor to serve the University of Oklahoma as its head men’s basketball coach over the last 10 years,” Kruger said in a statement. “The people here are certainly amazing and our family is so grateful for the kindness and support expressed by Sooner Nation throughout the past decade. The leadership of Joe Castiglione and President Harroz has established an incredible culture and standard that is better than any coach could have asked for. We have such a deep appreciation for the players, coaches and fans. There truly is ‘Only One Oklahoma’ and it’s a great honor to be a Sooner for life.”

Kruger leaves the game with a 674-432 overall record in college, finishing 195-128 in ten years (his longest stint) with the Sooners. He is one of just three head coaches to lead five different programs to the NCAA Tournament, having gone there with Oklahoma, UNLV, Illinois, Florida and alma mater Kansas State. He reached two Final Fours and five Sweet Sixteens in a twenty total appearances. Kruger also served as head coach at Texas-Pan American from 1982-86 and the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks from 2000-03.

According to Stadium’s Jeff Goodman, Kruger plans to move back to Las Vegas to be near his family – his son, Kevin, was just elevated to head coach at UNLV.

The news marks the end of a fantastic coaching career and also creates another major job opening in college basketball.

credit to Getty Images for the photo