This isn't Lon Kruger's first rodeo in the Big 12. Longtime Kansas State fans probably remember Kruger's four seasons with the Wildcats over the second half of the 1980's. Even longer-time fans might even remember him as an assistant coach during the late 1970's. Kruger's head coaching stint with K-State was successful, making the NCAA tournament all four seasons, including one Elite Eight. However, after four years he moved onto Florida and then Illinois before testing the NBA waters and finally coming back to college to coach UNLV. In addition to his Elite Eight with K-State Kruger sports a Final Four on his resume.
But that's what he's done. The real question is what he'll do with an Oklahoma Sooner program in drastic need of a spark. Through solid recruiting, Jeff Capel established the Sooners as a regular challenger in the Big 12. Unfortunately for Capel, high profile problems came with high profile recruits and a combination of poor team chemistry and NCAA violations led to a talent drain in Norman.
The good news for Kruger is there is an established path for success: recruit, recruit, recruit. The question is whether he will be active enough on the recruiting trail to tap into the large pool of Texas talent right next door. Make no mistake, there will be a couple of years of rebuilding no matter how successful Kruger is recruiting. Only time will tell with everything after that.
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