UNLV looks for stability with hiring of Kevin Kruger as coach

UNLV athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois said Monday she wanted to find a basketball coach who believed in culture. Who shared the university’s values. Who would end the cycle of turnover that has plagued the program by being “a long-term coach.”

“We found that coach,” she said, moments before formally introducing Kevin Kruger during a virtual news conference. “He’s been preparing for this job his entire life. And he absolutely will win the right way.”

Kruger made his first public appearance Monday as the Rebels’ coach — one day after signing a five-year, $3.85 million contract. The deal includes escalators and incentives based on certain achievements, such as conference championships, postseason victories and national coaching awards.

The 37-year-old unveiled some of his plans for the program during 20 minutes of questions and answers. He said he wants to ingratiate the community into the program again and that he would consider opening practices again the way his father, Lon, did when he coached UNLV from 2004 to 2011.

Kruger also said he plans on meeting with players individually this week to “see where they’re at” in order to evaluate what’s best for them and the program.

“This is going to be a program that’s about them,” said Kruger, who played at Arizona State and UNLV before embarking on a seven-year professional career. “We want to make sure that they are happy. That they are comfortable. That everything they want to do, not in basketball but in life, that we’re doing everything we can along the way.”

His other plans include, well, winning games. And that starts, Kruger said, by recruiting players who “want to be here, want to be Rebels, want to get to the NCAA Tournament, compete for conference championships.

“There might not be anything tangible that we can commit to. Our first goal in the short term is just to get guys who want to compete, want to fight and want to get out there and play with an edge.”

The program has lacked that edge during a string of lackluster seasons, most recently a 12-15 campaign in 2020-21 that ended with a loss to Utah State in the second round of the Mountain West tournament. Kruger indicated that he wants to rejuvenate the program by dictating the tempo of play on offense and defense.

He also wants the Rebels to play an unselfish brand of basketball predicated on hustle and ball movement.

The roster as presently constructed doesn’t exactly have the requisite personnel to dictate tempo, having ranked 299th in possessions per game last season among 347 teams in Division I.

Meaning high-level recruiting will be a priority.

“We’re going to work our tails off to get people into the Thomas & Mack and play a style of basketball that the city will be proud of and that UNLV fans across the country will be proud of,” Kruger said. “Nothing comes above the team. Finding the right blend and right mix is far more important than signing one guy or two guys that grab the most attention.”

Perhaps most important, Kruger affirmed Reed-Francois’ sentiment that he is indeed at UNLV for the long haul and doesn’t view this program as a steppingstone.

“I don’t see five years in the future being anywhere else or 10 years in the future being anywhere else,” he said. “This is where we want to be. This is home.”

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.