Once again, the UNLV head coaching job will be open this offseason as the program has decided to part ways with Kevin Kruger after four seasons. Kruger simply failed to live up to expectations or make lasting progress with the Runnin’ Rebels, falling short of the NCAA Tournament in each of those years.
Kruger played collegiately for three years at Arizona State before the young point guard transferred to UNLV, playing under his father Lon back in 2007. After a professional playing career, he got into coaching as an assistant at Northern Arizona before joining his father’s staff at Oklahoma in 2016. Following three years in Norman, Kruger returned to UNLV.
NEWS: UNLV head coach Kevin Kruger is out after four seasons, sources told ESPN. Went 76-55 during his time in Vegas, but never reached the NCAA tournament and finished in the top-four of the Mountain West just once. pic.twitter.com/JnnvEHxSUo
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) March 15, 2025
He was originally an assistant coach under new hire T. J. Otzelberger and was part of that staff for the next two seasons. When Otzelberger jumped to Iowa State in 2021, it was decided that Kruger would assume the head coaching post, taking over exactly a decade after his father left town.
Unfortunately, his tenure failed to live up to the early success of this program or even what Lon accomplished back in the late 2000’s. The Mountain West has become the strongest mid-major conference in college basketball, getting several teams to each of the last few NCAA Tournaments, but UNLV just couldn’t break through. None of these four seasons were bad by any means; they just didn’t do enough in this league.
Kruger’s Runnin’ Rebels finished between 4th and 7th in each of his seasons but didn’t sniff postseason success, settling for an NIT run last year. Despite growing financial struggles for the UNLV campus, the program has decided to cut ties with Kruger and grow the program in a new direction.
UNLV has had quite an upheaval of coaching changes in recent memory, never really finding success after that national championship in 1990 and Jerry Tarkanian’s departure just two years later. Lon Kruger was by far the best hire in these last three decades, but Kevin just didn’t have the same success and the patience ran out.
What stings here is that UNLV was on the precipice of success but just couldn’t get over the hump as a regular winner in this league. There’s no telling who the next hire could be or if the brass has someone in mind already, though it’ll be a more extensive hire than settling for an assistant already on staff. With the right hire, UNLV could compete for titles in this league in the future, but the wrong hire could set things back yet again.
Do you think moving on from Kruger was the right decision after four mediocre seasons? Can UNLV attract a young head coach on the rise and break a now 12-year NCAA Tournament drought?