Kruger wasn’t only job hopeful to call

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Feb. 27, 2004 | 10:46 a.m.

UNLV athletic director Mike Hamrick confirmed Thursday that he met this week with former Atlanta Hawks coach Lon Kruger to discuss the school's head coaching opening, but said Kruger wasn't the only person to have come through town to talk about the Rebels job.

"There's a lot of people pushing a lot of people," Hamrick said. "We're taking this day by day, hour by hour in dealing with potential candidates. There has been a significant amount of interest (in the job), and we'll just see where it goes from there."

As for Kruger, Hamrick wouldn't divulge where they met or even if they would meet again.

"I did meet with him," Hamrick said. "It's really too early to speculate on anything at this point. I won't go into any details of the meeting."

Kruger coached the University of Florida to the Final Four in 1994 and also had successfull coaching stints at Illinois and Kansas State.

Hamrick said he has had "other meetings" with potential candidates to replace Charlie Spoonhour, who resigned on Feb. 17 because of health concerns. He refused to disclose the names of those other candidates, but said that the job had not yet been offered to anyone.

Kruger's name has also been linked as a possible replacement at the University of Utah for Rick Majerus. Coaching colleagues believe he'd also like to give NBA coaching another try if the right situation turned up after going 69-122 in three seasons with the Hawks. And he also figures to be a candidate for potential openings at schools such as Arizona State, where his son Kevin is a part-time starter; USC, where Henry Bibby is rumored to be walking a thin line, and the University of Minnesota should former Gonzaga coach Don Monson lose that job.

Despite that, Hamrick maintained that he is in no rush to make a decision.

"I've said from day one of the search that we're not going to get into a hurry but if we find the coach that we want, we'll pull the string and do what's necessary to get that coach," Hamrick said. "There's really no timetable."

Hamrick, who said he has a private jet at his disposal to fly to meet with perspective candidates, said he won't be making this week's trip with the Rebels basketball team to Air Force and New Mexico so that he can use his time to continue to evaluate potential candidates.