Las Vegas ? Lon Kruger is taking on another rebuilding project, this time at Oklahoma.

Kruger tells the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he accepted an offer to become the Sooners’ head coach. Kruger says he turned down Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione several times before agreeing to a seven-year contract that will double his pay to about $2.2 million annually.

Kruger says in a story posted Friday night that he “would be lying if I didn’t say money was a consideration. But it was not only money. It was the challenge and the opportunity.”

He added of his time at UNLV: “It has been a very enjoyable seven years, and really it’s very difficult to move on.”

Oklahoma has not announced plans to introduce a coach to replace the fired Jeff Capel.