RIP Lute Olson
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Former Arizona head coach Lute Olson passed at the age of 85 from complications a stroke he suffered last year.
Lute coached at Long Beach State, Iowa, and Arizona with a career record of 776-285 in 34 seasons. Arizona won just 4 games in the season prior to hiring Olson. Olson missed the NCAA tournament in his first year at Arizona, and then not again for his final 23 seasons. In his 24 years at Arizona, Olson won 589 games, 11 Pac 10 titles, 4 Final Fours (5 total as he made the 1980 Final Four at Iowa), and the 1997 national championship as the only team to beat 3 #1 seeds en route to a championship.
Olson might be one of, if not the most underrated coach in college basketball history. We rarely hear his name brought up when discussing the greatest coaches in history and he definitely belongs in that conversation.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 I hated him with a passion. That’s probably the sign of a good coach. At least a successful one. Right behind K and Boeheim. More than Thad Matta and Calipari. RIP, Lute. The game was better with you and your evil dojo in it.
