UNLV basketball fans Elma Fortier, left, and Barbara Carr pose for a photograph with Rebels coach Lon Kruger on Saturday after the team's return to the Thomas & Mack Center. Photo by Samantha Clemens.

ST. LOUIS

Kevin Kruger says his dad has a bad back. A sore leg. That he isn't as fiery as a decade ago. That the years pass and the idea of packing more boxes and learning a new address isn't as attractive as it once was. That his mother deplores cold weather, even though you have to figure the old man's salary could comfortably afford 50 or so showrooms' worth of HVAC equipment.

All of that is Kevin's way of saying his father, UNLV coach Lon Kruger, might be sincere in his stance that he won't be lured away by the siren song of some other major college basketball program.

It seems like such an old-fashioned notion in a world in which Nick Saban is sadly the rule rather than the exception when it comes to coaches denying job rumors (translation: bald-face lying).

"He's happy in Las Vegas," Kevin said of his father. "I think the challenge for him is building on this season and I think the success we had will get him the kind of respect and support there that he deserves.

"This won't be the last Sweet 16 for UNLV in the Lon Kruger era."

It's a nice thought today and exactly what a player/coach's son says immediately after the season's final game.

But it could mean nothing tomorrow.

The NCAA Tournament has become as much about where coaches are moving off the court as the games played on it, though this year ranks as one of the craziest times in history for those in suits shuffling to (bling-bling) greener pastures.

Tubby Smith grew tired of the weight of insane expectations within one of the game's most historic programs, so he walked away from four more years on his Kentucky contract to coach at a hockey school (Minnesota = bad basketball job). Steve Alford either grew tired of waiting to be fired at Iowa or had a sudden taste for Mexican food, so he agreed to coach among the insane expectations that for some reason exist at an eighth-place Mountain West Conference school (New Mexico).

And you think Kruger to Michigan or anywhere else sounds implausible?

One thing about coaches: Their egos are larger than the arenas in which their teams play. They live a life of chasing the next challenge, whether it's how to replace five seniors off a 30-win and Sweet 16 team like UNLV or agreeing to yet another rebuilding mission in a better league.

So what drives Kruger at age 54?

It might be the stature of the Michigan opening, though he had that at Illinois. It might be the fact competing for a Final Four berth out of the Mountain West is nearly impossible, the best example being UNLV's ridiculous No. 7 NCAA seed despite its stellar résumé. It's probably not another college job at all.

Kruger has failed at one stop in his head coaching career and it happened at a miserable rate in the NBA with Atlanta. Nothing eats at a coach like that. It still bothers him tremendously. He likely would embrace another chance at that level (provided, for his sake, it wasn't for a crappy franchise like the Hawks) and yet his terrific work at UNLV might be the reason he never gets one.

Right or wrong, the Rebels' season reaffirmed a national perception that Kruger fits as a college coach. It's the level he knows best. The place he shines most. The more he rebuilds struggling programs with unselfish players, the less likely a pro team might view him as the best option.

"Obviously," Kruger said late Friday after his team's 76-72 loss to Oregon, "things like being happy with the people you work with and liking where you live take on a greater significance at this point in our (lives). Absolutely, I intend on being here. We have no thoughts or plans of doing anything else."

UNLV can only do what it should now -- what it better have been planning for some time -- which is to offer Kruger a contract extension and raise, trust that he and his wife really do love living in Las Vegas and send him scientific studies that prove how Ann Arbor winters can ruin a man's golf game.

Kruger should have his own list of demands ready should Michigan or another program call. Leverage is a wonderful strength, not to be ignored in these times, and rare is the coach who doesn't negotiate the sweetest deal possible.

What drives Kruger at age 54? If we are to believe him, no bigger challenge than continuing what he has started here.

It's a nice thought for today.

It will actually mean something if he's saying it a month from now.

Ed Graney's column is published Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. He can be reached at 383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com