Lon Kruger believes Marvin Menzies will be successful at UNLV
Big-screen TVs showed the Cleveland Cavaliers demolishing the Atlanta Hawks, but few were watching Wednesday night.
Two college basketball coaches were the center of attention at Born and Raised Henderson, not LeBron James and his Cavs teammates.
Most of the roughly 175 people crowded into the sports bar and restaurant to see former UNLV coach Lon Kruger and his ex-assistant and current Rebels coach, Marvin Menzies. The two were together to do a meet-and-greet to promote Coaches vs. Cancer, a fundraiser from May 22 to 24 that benefits the American Cancer Society.
Kruger spearheaded the event nine years ago when he coached the Rebels and has returned to Las Vegas each year since leaving for Oklahoma in 2011.
On Kruger’s first UNLV staff in the 2004-05 season was an up-and-coming assistant named Menzies. Kruger said he hired only assistants he saw as potential head coaches, and he certainly saw that in Menzies.
“He was a very engaging personality, great on the floor with the players, great recruiting network, high-energy guy,” said Kruger, who last season led Oklahoma to the Final Four. “He’ll do a great job. It will take time. There’s no shortcut to it, but with time, he’ll get the players in here that he needs to and get it going.”
Menzies, hired at UNLV on April 22, spent one season on the bench under Kruger before leaving to assist Rick Pitino at Louisville.
But that one season with Kruger was invaluable.
“Coach is such a true professional and such a high-character guy, it was really easy to learn underneath his guidance because he did things the right way,” Menzies said. “He was so intelligent and understanding of the landscape in how he handled things. It was really like going to a clinic every day.”
His relationship with Kruger didn’t end when Menzies headed to Louisville. They grew even closer, and Kruger was a major supporter of Menzies landing the job at UNLV.
“We would talk basketball sometimes,” Menzies said. “Sometimes we would talk about situational things that happen for a new coach, how to handle a certain deal. There are challenging situations that arise that there’s no script for, but experience is a teacher.”
Menzies certainly has a difficult task, getting hired late in the recruiting process and needing to build most of UNLV’s roster. He filled out his coaching staff Thursday, but much work remains in recruiting.
UNLV has three players who have signed or committed, and there is room for at least six more.
“He’s got a big challenge, probably a greater challenge than maybe anyone in the country from that standpoint given the number of players he’s got on his roster right now,” Kruger said. “You don’t rebuild that over night. It takes a few years of recruiting classes to get it back where you really want it to be, but each year, you need to improve that starting point and move in a good direction.
“The key is to get all the fans behind Marvin and the staff and get that starting point and them going in the right direction. It happens more quickly if everyone’s on board.”
Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65
