The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame induction celebration was this past weekend, and former Illini basketball coach Lon Kruger was a part of this year’s class.
Lon Kruger was only at Illinois for four seasons, following Lou Henson’s long and storied career, but he took the Illini basketball team to the NCAA tournament three out of those four seasons, and led them to a regular season Big Ten Championship for one of them. He’s the only coach to take five different teams to the NCAA Tournament. This article from The Oklahoman has a nice recap of his time at Illinois.
Kruger retired in 2021 after 10 years at Oklahoma.
Top photo from Fighting Illini Basketball Facebook page.