Season.
School.
W.
L.
Postseason.
The best coach in Arizona basketball history has passed away. Lute Olson, the guy who guided the University of Arizona to a not likely 1997 NCAA Tournament championship, died Thursday at the age of 85, according to the university. Olson, who suffered a small stroke in 2019, had remained in decreasing health in recent months..
A 2002 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame conscript, Olson retired from coaching in October 2008 with a profession record of 781-281. His 589 wins with U of A made him the winningest coach in school history, an honor he also kept in the mid-1980s with Iowa basketball when he amazed many by leaving his thriving Hawkeyes for a downtrodden Wildcats program. However that choice wound up turning Olson into a college basketball legend.
The silver-haired savant took Arizona to 4 Final Fours (1988, 1994, 1997, 2001) and 7 Elite Eights. He directed the Wildcats to 23 successive NCAA Tournaments, an NCAA coach-and-school record only just recently broken by arguably the greatest coach in college basketball history, Dukes Mike Krzyzewski..
Olson turned the Wildcats into a powerhouse, changing his program into one of the 10 biggest and most effective ones in the sport for most of his period. One of the enduring images that goes along with the 1997 title is CBS catching one of Olsons gamers, Bennett Davison, messing up his hair upon distressing No. 1 Kentucky to provide the team its first and only nationwide champion.
That 97 title was all the more memorable and unexpected due to Arizonas reputation in the NCAA Tournament prior to that year. Olson regularly had groups seeded No. 1, 2 or 3 but typically discovered themselves the victim of a first- or second-round upset. In a year when Arizona was perceived as merely pretty good, but nothing unique, Miles Simon, Mike Bibby and Jason Terry helped Olson and the Wildcats attain college basketball immortality. Arizona knocked off blue bloods Kansas (most likely the very best group in the sport that season), North Carolina and reigning champ Kentucky en route to winning all of it. It also needed overtime to beat Providence in the Elite Eight.
Arizona beat Kentucky 84-79 in overtime, doing so without making a field goal in the benefit session, the only time thats ever occurred in Final Four history. That Arizona win, 23 years back, is the most current championship game for a team in the Pac-12..
Olson won 46 video games in 28 NCAA Tournament provings. He is among just 14 maless coaches to take two various schools to the Final Four. Olson coached Arizona for the last 24 seasons of his profession. He won 11 Pac-10 conference championships, and in his final 20 seasons, according to the University of Arizona, Olson had the third-best winning portion of any coach in maless college basketball..
Olson won 327 video games in what was then referred to as the Pac-10; his success total still stands as the most in conference history. The only coach in league tradition with a better win percentage than Olson was a man by the name of John Wooden.
Robert Luther Olson was born on a farm on Sept. 22, 1934, in Mayville, North Dakota. Olson lost his dad to a stroke when he was 5 years old, a condition that would in part force the end of his coaching profession more than 65 years later.
Olson coached basketball at the high school level for 11 years in his 20s and 30s prior to moving on to junior college and eventually into the D-I rank. According to the University of Arizona, Olson was on the bench for 1,063 wins in his career as a head coach, dating back to his very first gig with Minnesotas Mahnomen High School in 1956 and including his time training junior college before working the sideline for his first year of D-I task with Long Beach State in 1973..
Arizona courted Olson in 1983 after the then-49-year-old had actually made Iowa a nationally relevant program by taking the Hawkeyes to 5 straight NCAA Tournaments, consisting of the 1980 Final Four, at a time when the tournament was composed of far less schools than the 64-/ 68-team format that made it the March Madness monolith its called today. Olson inherited an Arizona team coming off a 4-24 season. Two years later it would win 21 video games, and 5 years later Olson had the Wildcats in the Final Four for the very first time in school history, led by players Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr, Tom Tolbert, Anthony Cook and Jud Buechler– all of whom would go on to play in the NBA..
Olson coached eight agreement All-Americans and produced 34 NBA choices in 24 seasons at Arizona. There is still one gamer in the NBA who was recruited and coached by Olson: Andre Iguodala of the Miami Heat..
In 2009-10, college basketball debuted the Lute Olson Award. It is each year provided to the best gamer who has actually been at his school for at least two complete seasons. The 2 most current receivers were Murray States Ja Morant and Oregons Payton Pritchard..
Olson left his post in 2007 due to health issues prior to ultimately stepping down for good in the fall of 2008. His period ended with some schisms and bumpy habits, as Olson unwittingly suffered a stroke that his physician would later on publicly state resulted in anxiety and irregular habits. After planning on resuming his duties for the 2008-09 season, Olson retired less than a month prior to the season was set to begin..
The less-than-graceful end of Olsons time with Arizona did not impact his standing in the community or with Arizona fans whatsoever. Getting the Arizona task in 1983 eventually indicated Olson would settle in Tucson, Arizona, for life; he lived there all 12 years following his retirement.
Fifteen years earlier, in 2003, the school called the court at the McKale Center for Lute and his late partner, Bobbi, who died of ovarian cancer in 2001. Olson met Roberta “Bobbi” Russell in high school and by the time Olson was flourishing at Arizona, the two were among the most prominent and cherished married couples in college basketball..
Olson is endured by his 3rd partner, Kelly, five kids (Vicki, Jody, Christi, Greg and Steve) and 14 grandchildren. His coaching legacy continues thanks to his granddaughter, Julie Hairgrove, who is an assistant with the WNBAs Phoenix Mercury, and his grand son, Matt Brase, an assistant with the Houston Rockets.
Lute Olson year-by-year.
1973-74.
Long Beach State.
24.
2.
1974-75.
Iowa.
10.
16.
1975-76.
Iowa.
19.
10.
1976-77.
Iowa.
20.
7.
1977-78.
Iowa.
12.
15.
1978-79.
Iowa.
20.
8.
NCAA Tournament – First round.
1979-80.
Iowa.
23.
10.
NCAA Tournament – Final Four.
1980-81.
Iowa.
21.
7.
NCAA Tournament – First round.
1981-82.
Iowa.
21.
8.
NCAA Tournament – Second round.
1982-83.
Iowa.
22.
9.
NCAA Tournament – Sweet 16.
1983-84.
Arizona.
11.
17.
1984-85.
Arizona.
21.
10.
NCAA Tournament – First round.
1985-86.
Arizona.
23.
9.
NCAA Tournament – First round.
1986-87.
Arizona.
18.
12.
NCAA Tournament – First round.
1987-88.
Arizona.
35.
3.
NCAA Tournament – Final Four.
1988-89.
Arizona.
29.
4.
NCAA Tournament – Sweet 16.
1989-90.
Arizona.
25.
7.
NCAA Tournament – Second round.
1990-91.
Arizona.
28.
7.
NCAA Tournament – Sweet 16.
1991-92.
Arizona.
24.
7.
NCAA Tournament – First round.
1992-93.
Arizona.
24.
4.
NCAA Tournament – First round.
1993-94.
Arizona.
29.
6.
NCAA Tournament – Final Four.
1994-95.
Arizona.
24.
7.
NCAA Tournament – First round.
1995-96.
Arizona.
27.
6.
NCAA Tournament – Sweet 16.
1996-97.
Arizona.
25.
9.
NCAA Tournament – Champion.
1997-98.
Arizona.
30.
5.
NCAA Tournament – Elite Eight.
1998-99.
Arizona.
22.
6.
NCAA Tournament – First round.
1999-00.
Arizona.
27.
7.
NCAA Tournament – Second round.
2000-01.
Arizona.
25.
6.
NCAA Tournament – Championship game.
2001-02.
Arizona.
24.
10.
NCAA Tournament – Sweet 16.
2002-03.
Arizona.
28.
4.
NCAA Tournament – Elite Eight.
2003-04.
Arizona.
20.
10.
NCAA Tournament – First round.
2004-05.
Arizona.
30.
7.
NCAA Tournament – Elite Eight.
2005-06.
Arizona.
20.
13.
NCAA Tournament – Second round.
2006-07.
Arizona.
20.
11.
NCAA Tournament – First round.
OVERALL.
781.
279.
Lute Olson, the man who directed the University of Arizona to an unlikely 1997 NCAA Tournament champion, passed away Thursday at the age of 85, according to the university. In a year when Arizona was viewed as merely fairly good, however nothing unique, Miles Simon, Mike Bibby and Jason Terry helped Olson and the Wildcats attain college basketball immortality. Arizona courted Olson in 1983 after the then-49-year-old had actually made Iowa a nationally relevant program by taking the Hawkeyes to 5 straight NCAA Tournaments, including the 1980 Final Four, at a time when the tournament was composed of far less schools than the 64-/ 68-team format that made it the March Madness monolith its known as today. The less-than-graceful end of Olsons time with Arizona did not impact his standing in the community or with Arizona fans whatsoever. Getting the Arizona task in 1983 ultimately implied Olson would settle in Tucson, Arizona, for life; he lived there all 12 years following his retirement.
