Former UF Coach Lon Kruger Named to National Collegiate Basketball HOF

Lon Kruger led the Florida Gators to their first Final Four appearance in 1994.

Former Florida Gators men's basketball coach Lon Kruger has been named as one of the nine members of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2022, it was announced earlier on Wednesday.

Kruger, who coached Florida from 1990-96, led the team to a 104-80 record and brought the Gators to its first Final Four run in 1994.

"He twice earned Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year honors at Florida (1992, ’94) and oversaw two All-Americans in Stacey Poole (1993 AP honorable mention) and Dan Cross (1994, ’95 AP honorable mention).

"Cross, Poole, Craig Brown, Dwayne Davis, Andrew DeClercq, and Dametri Hill each earned All-SEC honors under Kruger’s guidance," UF said in its press release. 

Kruger will be enshrined, along with the rest of the class on Nov. 20, 2022, in Kansas City during the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Weekend.

Along with Florida, Kruger would coach at Kansas State, Illinois, UNLV, Oklahoma and UTRGV. He has led five different programs to the NCAA Tournament, including bringing Oklahoma to the Final Four in 2016, the second time in his coaching career to have brought a program to the Final Four.

Along with Kruger, former coaches John Beilein, Jim Calhoun, Jerry Krause and Roy Williams, along with former players Richard Hamilton (Connecticut), Larry Miller (North Carolina), Frank Selvy (Furman), and the late Jimmy Walker (Providence) will be enshrined into the National Collegiate Basketball HOF class of 2022.

Stay tuned to AllGators for continuous coverage of Florida Gators football, basketball and recruiting. Follow along on social media at @SI_AllGators on Twitter and Florida Gators on Sports Illustrated on Facebook.