Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 1, 1994 TAG: 9404020071
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
Yes, some at Kansas State thought it an April Fool's joke when Kruger told them he was walking out on the final four years of a five-year contract at his alma mater, a program he had guided to four straight NCAA Tournament berths.
Kruger moved to Florida, which wasn't just a football school in a football conference. It was Nevada-Las Vegas without the glitter. The Gators' success in hoops was pretty much summed up in three names - Neal Walk, Dwayne Schintzius and Vernon Maxwell.
Walk was - and still is - the only first-team All-American in Florida hoops history. He's best known, however, for being the second choice in the 1969 draft - the consolation prize for coin-toss loser Phoenix after Milwaukee won Lew Alcindor from UCLA.
Schintzius and Maxwell were as controversial as they were good. The Gators went on NCAA probation in the late '80s. Even straight-laced strategist Don DeVoe, an interim coach in 1989-90, could coax only a 7-21 season in such a mess.
In four years, Kruger has done more than clear the decks of this Titanic. The Gators were supposed to finish fourth in the Southeastern Conference's Eastern Division this season. Instead, they're playing Duke tonight in their first Final Four.
Florida (29-7), with a school record for wins, not only shared the SEC East title with Kentucky. It's ranked (14th) nationally at season's end for the first time in school history.
Individually, the Gators aren't that impressive. There are no ranked recruits on the roster. Kruger's first signee, shooting guard Craig Brown, was signed on the advice of a student manager whose mother worked with Brown's sister in Pennsylvania.
Two seasons ago, the Gators were 19-14 and reached the NIT semifinals, losing to Virginia. These Gators weren't even supposed to be that good. Last year's scoring leader, forward Stacey Poole, was gone. His supposed replacement inside, Oak Hill Academy product and Kansas transfer Ben Davis, quit school before this semester. One Florida newspaper reported Davis flunked a drug test.
That's been the only controversy in Kruger's program. He sells a family atmosphere and he plays the Mr. Rogers role well, but he's tough. His coaching ability, in sideline strategy and preparation, ranks high among his peers.
A great recruiter he hasn't been, but now he has something to sell besides the warmth in his program and the warmth in Gainesville, Fla.
"When we came in, we didn't put a tangible time line on development," said Kruger, 41. "If we could get the people we wanted to be here, people who would put the team first, the development would take care of itself."
The Gators have won with a dedication to defense. The days in the program when Schintzius and Livingston Chatman swung at each other over the last doughnut on a team flight are history.
Kruger got 6-foot-7, 350-pound sophomore center Dametri Hill to round into form at 286. "I told him if he gets down to 260, he can shoot 3-pointers next season," the Gators' coach said.
Kruger took a big man Duke didn't want and made 6-foot-10 Andrew DeClercq into a tough rebounder. In Brown and Dan Cross, the Gators' have more than average backcourt talent, too.
The only way these Gators are going to see the NBA is to buy tickets.
"That's fair," Kruger said. "But I do think we have better players than we've been given credit for. What has made the difference with this team has been leadership and the way it has worked between games."
In Duke, the Gators are facing a team with something they don't have - tradition. That doesn't win games.
"Just by looking at us, you might not think we were this good," Hill said.
You'd be thinking wrong. Florida has a Coach K, too.
by CNB