Ashford University Women's Basketball

Kruger's Saints finished with a 25-8 record, setting the new single-season program wins record on their way to their second consecutive A.I.I. Division II Women's Basketball Championship and a berth in the 2015 NAIA Division II Women's Basketball Championship. Entering as a seven-seed, Ashford would pick up their first national tournament win with a 66-50 victory over the sixth-ranked team in the nation, Indiana Wesleyan University. Kruger was named the A.I.I. Coach of the Year and helped guide sophomore Sarah Vozel to an NAIA Honorable Mention All-American selection in 2014-15, only the second in program history. In his first year at the helm in Clinton, Kruger wasted no time taking the Ashford women's basketball program farther than it has ever been. Playing in front of their home crowd, Kruger and the Saints notched wins over Rochester College (Mich.) and Indiana University Northwest to grab the 2014 Association of Independent Institutions (A.I.I.) Division II Women's Basketball Championship, punching the program's first ever ticket to the NAIA Division II Women's Basketball Championship. Under Kruger's command, the Saints became known for their lockdown defense all season long, ranking second in Division II in rebounding defense (32.4 rpg) and ninth in scoring defense (59.6 ppg). Additionally, three Saints were named NAIA Scholar Athletes in his first year as coach. Kruger boasts over 20 years of coaching experience within the NAIA and NCAA Division II ranks and has a proven track record of success at both levels.  The newest member of the AU coaching staff possesses a career record of 420-337 and has six postseason tournament appearances to his credit. Kruger, a Little Rock, Iowa-native, comes to Ashford from Adams State University in Alamosa, Colo., where he produced a 96-101 record as head womens basketball coach from 2006-2013. The Grizzlies, an NCAA Division II program, appeared in a pair of NCAA Tournaments, including a Sweet 16 berth during the 2010-11 season in which ASU recorded its second consecutive 20-win season. The Adams State womens basketball program won just four games during the season prior to Krugers arrival, a mark he improved upon for five consecutive seasons culminating in a 23-10 record during the 2010-11 season. Prior to his tenure at Adams State, Kruger was the head womens basketball coach at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minn. from 1991-2005.  During his time at the helm of the Mustangs, Kruger notched a 234-164 record which included two NCAA Tournament berths and a pair of NAIA Regional Tournament appearances. Additionally, Kruger won back-to-back Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Championships in 2000-01 and 2001-02, a season where SMSU reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Kruger commenced his coaching career at Northwestern College, an NAIA institution in Orange City, Iowa, where he tallied a 90-72 record from 1981-1987.  During that time the Red Raiders made three NAIA District 15 Tournament appearances and were twice Io-Kota Conference runners-up. Kruger also has extensive experience as a professor and most recently served as an assistant professor of human and physical education at Adams State.  He also held similar faculty posts at Southwest Minnesota State and while at Northwestern. Kruger is a 1981 graduate of Northwestern College with a degree in physical education and later earned a Masters degree in education from the University of South Dakota in 1986.