LHS Hires Former Barton Coach for Girls Hoops Program

Liberal High School hires former Barton women’s coach Carter Kruger as head girls basketball coach. Kruger replaces Bill Baird who was removed as head coach after his fourth season.

Kruger coached the Barton women to a 19-11 season in which they finished 8-8 in the Jayhawk West and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Region 6 Tournament in Wichita before falling to Coffeyville. Kruger was 20-13 (6-8) and 13-17 (3-13) his other two seasons as head coach of the Lady Cougars. He assisted Darin Spence one season at Barton before getting the head coaching job and assist Alaura Sharp two years at Garden City Community College before going to Great Bend.

He is native of Marshall, Minnesota. His dad Kelly Kruger is head coach at Ashford University and was coach at Adams State.

Kruger inherits a program which has fallen on hard times. LHS has had five straight losing seasons. This year’s team was 4-17 and 2-6 in the WAC after going 7-14, 4-16, and 3-18 for an 18-65 record and a WAC record of 4-27 under Baird.