Lute continuing to endear himself to Tucson fan base
What a 13-month period its been for Arizona head basketball coach Lute Olson.
In April 2007, Olson and the basketball program severed ties with longtime assistant coach Jim Rosborough, who coached under Lute for 27 years, including 18 at Arizona. In early November, Lute announced that he was taking an indefinite leave of absence for personal reasons, making new assistant Kevin O’Neill, who replaced Rosborough, as the interim head coach. Later in November, the silver-haired coaching legend made a partial return to the program, fueling speculation that he’d be back sooner, rather than later. In early December, news of Olson’s divorce from his second wife, Christine, was made public. In March, Olson showed up to senior day to honor outgoing seniors Bret Brelmaier, Daniel Dillon, Jawann McClellan and Kirk Walters. Two weeks later, before the Pac-10 tournament in Los Angeles, Olson announced he’d be back on the sidelines for the 2008-09 season. One week following that, the ‘Cats were ousted from the NCAA Tournament in the first round by West Virginia. In early April, Olson made it clear that O’Neill wouldn’t be back as an assistant, and had been reassigned to fund-raising duties for the athletic program. In early May amidst the back-and-forth divorce battles played out on Arizona radio station airwaves with his estranged wife, the University announced that Miles Simon, another assistant coach, and former player under Lute, wouldn’t be back with the program. Last week, Josh Pastner, a master recruiter and assistant coach announced he was leaving the program to take an assistant coaching position under John Calipari at the University of Memphis. The first fallout from that development has arisen; Emmanuel Negedu, a highly-recruited prospect from Brewster Academy, has backed out of his commitment to join Arizona in the fall, complete with some verbal jabs on the way out the door:
“Before I signed with Arizona they said it was fun, the players loved it and everything,” he said. “But when I took my official visit no one seemed happy. Everything changed. Lute Olson left, taking a break. No one (knew) where he went.”
So Lute, much like a candidate for political office, is making the media rounds, performing interview after interview on radio talking about his granddaughters, his summer basketball camps, his new coaching staff, and yes, even about spoiled Wildcats fans. On Jody Oehler’s show on KFFN-AM in Tucson, Olson offered quite a nugget (audio at the bottom of article).
Who do you blame more? Lute, for his “if you’re not with us, you’re against us” mentality? Or U of A fans, who do appear to be spoiled, and lacking confidence in a program that has had an unbelievable 24-year run?
Join the discussion at The Locker Room Forum. Arizona Sports 24/7.
Posted by Vince Marotta
Vince has been part of the Phoenix Sports scene in a few different capacities. First as a fan, Vince has been yelling at his tv during Suns and ASU games since the late 1970's. Vince also saw the media side of things as a radio talk show host from 1996 to 2002, and then again in 2007.
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