I see Oklahoma’s playing Texas Tech tonight. In Oklahoma City. It’s a big game for the Sooners. Win, and their NIT dreams are temporarily crushed.
But I digress.
Maybe it’s because I was but a freshman in high school during Blake Griffin’s sophomore season, or maybe it’s because “Lon Kruger” just sounds like the name of a guy who’d coach at Oklahoma for three decades, but I was under the assumption over here that Lon Kruger had been the coach at Oklahoma for the majority of my existence, if not the entirety. You could have told me Lon Kruger’d been coaching Oklahoma since 1988 and I would have believed you. You could have told me Lon Kruger is seventy years old and I’d have believed you. You could have told me Lon Kruger was born on Oklahoma’s campus and I’d have believed you.
But those things would have been lies.
Turns out, Kruger’s only in his ninth season at OU. He is 67, so I wasn’t that far off on that, and he’s a Kansas State guy, so at least not too far from the plains portion of the I-35 corridor. But no, Lon Kruger hasn’t been at Oklahoma for forever. Jeff Capel was actually the coach during the Blake Griffin era. Yeah! Jeff Capel! Of all the people. Who knew? Not me, that’s for sure. Kruger was at UNLV at the time, which is not a place I’d have expected to find him. And another place I wouldn’t have expected to find him? The ol’ gridiron, but he was allegedly there too, years back. According to Wikipedia, which is citing an ESPN article, Kruger was invited to the Cowboys training camp as a quarterback once upon a time. Also did some minor league baseballing.
What a man.
Also, he’s got more hair than I’d have guessed. Was picturing something closer to a cross between Lyndon B. Johnson and Jim Larranaga.
