UNLV men’s basketball coach Kevin Kruger was fired Saturday with two years remaining on his contract, and a national search for his replacement has begun.

The 41-year-old, a former Rebels player and assistant coach, recorded a 76-55 record in four seasons, with no NCAA Tournament appearances. UNLV has not advanced to the NCAAs since 2013.

UNLV athletic director Erick Harper thanked Kruger for his “hard work, commitment and dedication” in a statement while acknowledging that his results weren’t up to standard.

“While there have been notable achievements during his tenure, there have also been challenges. We have significant aspirations for our men’s basketball program, both within the Mountain West and on a national level, with the goal of competing in the NCAA Tournament,” Harper said.

“Our expectation is to contend for and win championships. After evaluating the program as a whole, I believe a change is necessary to achieve these goals.”

Attempts to reach Kruger were unsuccessful.

The highlight of Kruger’s tenure came when the Rebels reached the National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals last season, notching the program’s first postseason win in 16 years.

UNLV finished 18-15 this season and sixth in the Mountain West at 11-9. Kruger’s firing comes after the Rebels were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament by Utah State on Thursday.

Kruger’s final season was hampered by multiple key injuries, including a shoulder issue that kept leading scorer Dedan Thomas Jr. out for the last seven games.

After the Utah State loss, Kruger briefly sounded like someone who knew his days were numbered.

“Obviously fell a little bit short,” he said. “It was just such a fun group to be around and go fight with. And so it’s just kind of — there’s a little bit of a what-if. But from a learning experience as a coach, I think there’s a lot of things I’ll be able to take with me for the rest of my career.”

Not about money

Kruger was scheduled to make $800,000 in each of the next two seasons. The program will now need to come up with the $2.35 million buyout included in the contract extension Kruger inked in June 2022.

Multiple basketball program boosters, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Harper called them to share the news of Kruger’s firing before it went public.

Although much of the responsibility to raise funds for a replacement will fall on them, the boosters didn’t express any negative sentiment regarding the development.

One said things will be easier now as donors were “looking for a return on their investment” with an NCAA Tournament appearance as their singular goal.

That same booster added that the general hope when Kruger was promoted from assistant coach in 2021 to replace the departed T.J. Otzelberger was that Kruger would coach at UNLV “for decades,” given his background with the program.

Kruger led the Rebels to the Sweet 16 in 2007 as the team’s point guard. His father, Lon Kruger, was the coach. He worked as an assistant coach under Lon Kruger at Oklahoma for three seasons before joining Otzelberger’s staff.

Recruiting, NIL

The Board of Regents recently questioned Harper about deficiencies in the athletic budget, but Regent Heather Brown clarified that the members have no doubt he’s on the right track.

“We know sports is a loss leader for most institutions. We know most sports don’t pay for themselves,” she said. “I think (Harper) is doing an incredible job. I know that this decision to let Kevin Kruger go was probably not an easy decision for him. Kevin loves this institution, and I know this decision did not come lightly, but it was not because of budgets.”

Brown was a student at UNLV when Kruger and his father made their Sweet 16 run. She said the next coach will need to have expertise in recruiting and the new world of name, image and likeness payments to athletes.

“His dad was such an incredible coach. Kevin is a good coach. I think the landscape of college sports is just changing,” she said. “UNLV is going to have to approach athletics very differently than we have traditionally. I think Coach Kruger did an incredible job. I go to games and see those kids stay in it. They have a good mental head space. I think it’s just resources.

“And it’s not a lack of trying. It’s not a lack of vision. It’s just we have a smaller conference, we don’t raise as much money. … This is just an example of a coach that didn’t do a bad job, he just didn’t get the results that we want. And I think that was ultimately the decision.”

Contact Callie Fin at [email protected]. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.