I never thought I'd see the day when Lute Olson was anything but revered by the people of Tucson and the students of the University of Arizona.
After this season's long leave of absence, however, we have real questions about his return to coaching.
Lute Olson has always been the Brett Favre of the program, and we always figured we'd let him coach as long as he wanted to while secretly dreading the day he should finally hang it up.
You can't argue with nearly 600 wins, a national title, and 11 Pac-10 titles.
However, Kevin O'Neill had success, despite all the turmoil at the beginning of the season. The team started to buy in to the system and were serious contenders until injuries and lack of depth exposed the team after the game at UCLA.
As much as I love and respect Lute Olson (my dad used to take me to Lute's barber when I was a kid), it's time for him to hang it up.
He has nothing left to prove except for joining the 800-win club, and that would only prove what everyone already knows; that he is one of the greatest coaches in college basketball history.
With Olson back in the saddle, it puts Kevin O'Neill in an awkward position.
On one hand, he has been designated the successor of this great program.
On the other hand, he'll be coaching a core of players who have excelled at times in his coaching system, which emphasizes running plays in the half-court and tough man-to-man defense.
Olson will undoubtedly bring back his offensive philosophy, which will likely cause some resentment from O'Neill, who has been through the fire this season while Lute took care of his personal life.
He has every right to look for another job so he can have more of an impact on the team instead of waiting for the legend to finally hang it up.
The part about Lute's return that worries me most is on the recruiting front.
For the last few years, a number of players have been swayed away from U of A due to rumors about Olson's health and impending retirement. He stated today that he plans on coaching out his contract which runs through 2011.
That effectively gives him lame duck status, and any recruit looking at Arizona beyond 2009 can tell that the program will be in flux during most of their time in Tucson.
Ideally, I'd like to see O'Neill shed the interim tag and have Olson step aside and play sort of an elder statesman role, in the same way as UCLA's John Wooden.
This decision rests entirely with Lute, of course, since the last thing the university wants to do is push out the man who built this program up from square one.
There's nothing worse than seeing a legend tarnish his legacy by hanging on too long and hurting everything he built up over the years.
Lute, for the sake of the program and your legacy: It's time to move on.
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7 months ago
"On the other hand, he'll be coaching a core of players who have excelled in his coaching system" excelled? How about making an adjustment yeah know if man to man is not working then mayeb you go to a defense less "good for the soul" or if your having trouble scoring run a little more or let the two athletes run isolation?
7 months ago
Let's remember that the incoming class of freshmen are highly regarded and that they were recruited by Lute Olson. Further, Kevin O'Neill came back to Arizona to help Lute restore the program by accepting an assistant coach position. Despite this year's unexpected leave of absence of Lute Olson and Kevin O'Neill's appointment as interim coach and so-called successor of Lute Olson, O'Neill has steadfastly maintained that he was simply taking care of Lute's basketball program in the coach's absence. There is absolutely no way to know whether O'Neill will or will not return next year. Kevin O'Neill himself has stated that he will not even consider what he will do next year until the season is over. I personally believe that Kevin O'Neill has done a great job this year as interim coach and I hope that he will come back next year as Lute's assistant to help the program. Two years is not a long time to wait as an assistant under Lute - then Kevin O'Neill can take over the program.
7 months ago
Are you writing this just to get a reaction? Let me point out a few flaws in your premise. Lute Olson is not hurting O'neill...rather O'neill hurt this team. If you know anything about basketball you know that a limited bench and foul trouble plagued this team all year. What could you do to limit this...hmmmmm. Maybe play a friggin zone defense once in awhile.
Let's compare records.
Lute Olson: 780-280 (plays many different defenses)
Kevin O'neill: 583-484 (man to man only)
What does this bode for the future? The top recruits will not want to play for Kevin because he puts them in positions to give up fouls and lose minutes. Think of how we might have done this year if Jordan Hill had been able to work inside without fear of riding the pine with 2 fouls before the 1st half or 3 in the early part of the second.
Lute certainly will not stay around forever but KO is not the guy to replace him. I'd rather see someone younger with a better approach to the game and the young players. I LOVE Bennett up in WSU but not certain we could lure him to Tucson. He is the prototype however...O'neill is not.
7 months ago
Ok for the record I watched almost every game this year and this is what I really believe not just a piece to get strong reactions. Take a look at tape from Washington state when we held Derrick Low to 4 pts, or against USC on the road when we beat the Trojans on a night when Bayless only had 10 pts because of a defense that kept USC under 70, or the game against Stanford where terrible officiating obscured a great defensive effort against the Lopez twins. I'm not trying to say that O'Neill will be a better coach from Olson when he retires. My argument is that Lute's return makes it that much easier for recruits to bypass us and that the program needs the stability of having a long term head coach that will run the same system all four years and that O'Neill has put the program on the right track by emphasizing and getting the team to play tough man to man defense. Anyone who's watched the program over the last few years knows we didn't have nearly the effort we have this year on the defensive end.
6 months ago
Lute is the program. You can't tell a legend that its time to hang it up. Let him do it on his terms
6 months ago
Lute is the program I agree and you cant fire him, he created Arizona basketball and just wait until Kevin Oneil takes the job, Arizona wont even be on the radar in college basketball and we can all watch ONeil fail once again just as he as before. Having him replace Olsen was the worst decision ever for Arizona basketball.
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