Former Oklahoma assistant coach Kevin Kruger, son of Lon Kruger, named head coach at UNLV

Former Oklahoma assistant coach Kevin Kruger, son of current head coach Lon Kruger, named head coach at UNLV.

Oklahoma basketball knocked off Missouri on Saturday to punch their ticket to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and set a date with the No. 1 team in the country Gonzaga. While preparing for the mighty Bulldogs might cause a coach some stress, some good news could certainly help their overall mood.

That will undoubtedly be the case for Sooners head coach Lon Kruger, who received the news from his son Kevin that he will be the new head coach at UNLV after being promoted up from assistant. Lon was the coach of the Runnin’ Rebels himself from 2004-2011.

Kevin was an assistant under his father at Oklahoma from 2016-2019 before heading west to be a part of the staff with UNLV, and now will get his chance to lead his own program for the first time. As one could probably guess, Lon Kruger was very excited about the news.

The official Twitter account for the Oklahoma men’s team made sure to offer their congratulations to their former assistant as well:

Kevin Kruger takes over a UNLV program he was a player at under his father in 2006-2007 and is now being handed over by T.J. Otzelberger, who left Las Vegas after two seasons to become the new head coach at Iowa State.