How lucky we are to have Lon Kruger

[Admin]

Just because I know that some people really dont know much about Lon, and many others have either forgotten or choose to ignore it, here is his bio from Hawks.com. I would like everyone to read this because too many people are down on our coach and too many people do not know enough about him. We are very lucky to have Lon and he will show everyone how lucky we are this year when he has a breakout year and wins NBA coach of the year.

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Lon Kruger

College - Kansas State '75

The 2000-01 season marked the debut of Lon Kruger as the eighth full-time head coach of the Atlanta Hawks. He finished his first campaign with a 25-57 mark. Kruger replaced Lenny Wilkens, who resigned from the position on April 24, 2000. While this is Kruger's first NBA coaching position, he had previous ties to the franchise after being selected by the Hawks in the ninth round of the 1974 NBA Draft. Kruger, 49, came to Atlanta from the University of Illinois, where he coached the Fighting Illini to a 22-10 overall record in 1999-2000, an 11-5 Big Ten Conference mark, and the third NCAA Tournament appearance during his tenure. Illinois wrapped up their season with a 93-76 loss to Florida in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

In four years at Illinois, he finished with an 81-48 record (.628), and a 38-28 (.576) conference mark (including a Big Ten co-title in 1997-98). He was named the 14th basketball coach at the university on March 21, 1996. Kruger compiled a 318-233 (.577) record in 18 years as a collegiate head coach, with stops at Pan American, Kansas State and Florida before taking over the program at Illinois.

Successful at every stop, Kruger's considered a winner who does it with integrity, and instills tremendous confidence in his players. He is respected by his peers in the coaching profession and by those in the community where he has lived. Before joining the Illini program, he spent six seasons at Florida, transforming the Gators from a team that was not a factor in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) race to a team that posted a school record 29 wins and went to postseason play four times. Rebuilding a program that finished 7-21 the year before he took over (1989-90), Kruger led the Gators to postseason competition in four of his six seasons. With two NIT berths and two NCAA appearances, his finest hour came in 1994 when he directed the Gators to a school-record 29-8 mark and a NCAA Final Four appearance. Kruger earned SEC Coach of the Year honors on two occasions - 1992 and 1994.

Viewed as one of the nation's best young coaches early in his career, he gained his first coaching job in 1982-83 when he rebuilt a Pan American program that had won only five games the season before. After a first-season, seven-win year, the Broncs posted double-digit wins the next three years, highlighted by a 20-8 mark in his final season, 1985-86.

Capitalizing on his success his alma mater, Kansas State, truly believed he was the only individual who could lead the program after the departure of his former coach, Jack Hartman. In four years at KSU (1986-90), Kruger led the Wildcats to a school-record, four-consecutive NCAA tournament berths and an 81-46 record.

His 1988 team, led by All-American and current Lakers guard Mitch Richmond, ranks as one of the school's all-time best squads. That unit finished with a 25-9 slate, tying the school record for wins in a season, and coming one game short of reaching the Final Four.

A talented athlete at KSU, Kruger helped the Wildcats to back-to-back Big Eight Conference titles in 1972 and 1973. The league's sophomore of the year in 1972, he earned Big Eight Player of the Year accolades in 1973 and 1974. He concluded his career with 1,063 points, the 14th best total in K-State history, and as a senior he scored 17.6 points per game.

In addition to his standout basketball days at KSU, Kruger also played baseball for the Wildcats, playing three positions (second base, third base and pitcher) during his career. His best season was in 1971 when he posted a 4-3 record and an earned-run average of 3.33, and prior to that season (1970), he was drafted by the Houston Astros. An all-around athlete, Kruger also received some interest from the NFL when the Dallas Cowboys extended him an invitation to attend their 1972 rookie camp as a quarterback.

He played and lettered in three sports (basketball, baseball and football) at Silver Lake (Kansas) High School. As a senior, he averaged 23 points per game in leading his team to the state basketball tournament, passed for 2,079 yards and scored 23 touchdowns in nine football games, and led the baseball team to the state tournament as a pitcher-infielder.

Off the court, Kruger has been a frequent public spokesman for various nonprofit organizations throughout his career. During his Illinois years, he was actively involved with the Coaches vs. Cancer program, sponsored by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and in 1999, he paired with Illini head women's coach Theresa Grentz to raise over $76,000 for the Three-Point Attack program, which finished second in the nation.

In April 1995, he was named the Gainesville (FL) Volunteer of the Year, and he and his wife were honored with consecutive Community Service Awards from the Gainesville Community Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse for their efforts. A 1975 graduate of Kansas State with a degree in business, Kruger received a masters in physical education from Pittsburg State (Kansas) in 1977.

Born August 19, 1952 in Silver Lake, Kansas, Kruger and his wife Barbara have two children, a daughter, Angie, and a son, Kevin.

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[Guest]

Lon obviousally was a good coach in college,but he isn't

a real good NBA head coach.He doesn't have a style and

that is a problem.Sometimes he tries to be like coach

Nelly and play small ball,sometimes he tries to stick us

out there with a decent defensive team but we can't

score....and sometimes he has a complete undersized

team out there.I think that is what gets the players

so confused.

[JTFan31]

Well this will definitely the year we find out if Lon belongs in the NBA or not. If he can't win with this team, then he definitely does not belong in this league. He was a damn good college coach though. I actually expect this team not only to get to the playoffs but at least to the 2nd round. This is your year Lon, so make it happen.

[Hawksfreak]

Last year in this magazine it said that Lon would win coach of the year. Unfortunatly all the injuries killed that,but I think he will win it this year. Watch out Rick Charsliel or whatever his name is. Look ppl this guy played football,basketball,and baseball just like me and trust me It's hard to keep up with this stuff! He went to camp with the Dallas Cowboys,the Hawks drafted him,and I think (Like Crawford) he played baseball in Houston in the Minor leagues.

[cyman3]

at times im excited and other times i feel like he has no clue whats going on.

college coaching success does not translate to NBA coaching success... same as saying "college ball success = NBA ball success"

i hope he understands the system this year and gets us rolling...

[Guest]

I think the reason Coach Kruger looks like he doesn't have a style is because in his first year as coach he didn't have that much talent to work with and his second year he had to deal with countless injuries. With the talent that we have now and barring any major injuries Kruger should be able to settle on a style of play that compliments this young team. If he doesn't....well I guess he'll get the axe.

[Guest]

These have been the worst two seasons in Hawks history!!! While other candidates for the position, Byron Scott and Isiah Thomas, have their teams squarely in the playoffs and title hunt.

Maybe he can use his college acumen to get Mitch Richmond here to work with Dion and DJ.

[Guest]

I'm not going to argue with the Byron Scott statement, but I'm counting our blessings that we ahve Lon over Isiah (who I was very high on two years ago). From top to bottom, he's got the most talented, athletic team in the east (thanks to Walsh) and yet they BARELY scrapped into the playoffs last year. They should be battling for seeds and rounds with homecourt, not just getting in...

[Traceman]

As far as Scott goes, he's done a TERRIFIC job but he sure looked a hell of a lot better this past year with a healthy team than he did his first year with all the injuries. I have a feeling that a guy by the name of Kidd also helped Scott look a lot better from his first season to last season. Give Lon Kidd for JT and let Theo, Kukoc, Crawford, Glover, etc. remain healthy all season and I suspect that Lon will look awfully good too!

[BlackHawkDown]

Africa again I agree with you. I cant believe we passed on Zeke and Byron Scott for that idiot Kruger. I remember when I first got to U.Florida everyone in the atheletic department was still talking about what an idiot he was. He is the reason Vince Carter went to NC. In fact when Frank Williams is the best product of your coaching something is wrong. In short thank you Africa for your point Lon is an idiot.

[Guest]

Jury's still out on Kruger; the argument's been made so I won't go into it here. But I will say this, I am currently ecstatic that we didn't sign Zeke. At the time, I was all for him and was disappointed when he went to Indiana. But after watching him coach there and what he did with that team, all I can say is WHEW!

You want bad substitution patterns? He's got arguably the most talented team in the league (top to bottom), so vets who have "been there before," and was in the eastern conference...yet, had the Bucks not imploded, they wouldn't have made the playoffs and struggled as is.

The old addage is that great players rarely make great coaches because so much of the game came naturally to them, that they weren't taught as many fundamentals because they already had them. Then people site Bird as the exception. Hardly. Bird deserves credit for taking the team far, but the primary reason is that he surrounded himself with quality assistants (carlisle) and didn't try to take it all on himself. He took a much more football approach to things, didnt' micromanage, and let his assistants dictate much of the gameplan. A smart and effective way of coaching, esp. for a rookie coach for sure, but it hardly places him as a "great coach." It appears that Byron Scott has done the same thing in NJ - they knew that he needed Jordan, so they upped his pay and convinced him to stay.

Bringing this thing back around: Lon's better than Isiah. I can't say I've really gotten a feel for how things are run in Atlanta. Does Lon draw up most of the plays? Focus on offense or defense more? Obviously EMuss acted as motivator quite a bit...

can anyone who's at the games more (go whenever I can drive down) fill us in on Lon's approach to coaching?