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Olson develops one of top programs under the sun.(The Orlando Sentinel)
MINNEAPOLIS _ They told him he was losing his mind. They told him he was committing coaching suicide. They told him it couldn't be done.
They told Arizona coach Lute Olson nearly 20 years ago what Florida coach Billy Donovan has heard a million times since: You absolutely cannot carve out a basketball legacy in the sunshine. It's like trying to build an ice sculpture on Daytona Beach or a sandcastle in Toledo. It just doesn't fit.
"They told me I was crazy, and maybe I was crazy," Olson said Sunday as he prepared his Wildcats for tonight's national championship game with Duke. "Even my assistant coaches thought I'd lost it when I told them we were going to Arizona."
At the time, Olson was coaching at Iowa in the heart of the basketball-bonkers Big Ten. Three years earlier, he'd taken the Hawkeyes to their first Final Four in a quarter-century and had been awarded with a lifetime contract. He was king of the cornfields, and it was just assumed he'd be there forever.
But when Arizona called in 1983, Olson took a dare and bet his career on a vision. He didn't believe that "basketball" schools had to be located in some cold, colorless Northeastern city or among the Midwestern picket fences of Indiana and Kentucky or tucked into the Carolina foothills along Tobacco Road. He believed he could actually attract better players to tropical Tucson than he could to icy Iowa City.
So he gave up the security of that lifetime contract and took the job in Arizona, a program that had been 4-24 the previous year and was located in a state with a law prohibiting universities from giving coaches contracts of longer than one year. Losers look at a challenging situation and ask "why?" Winners look at a challenging situation and ask "why not?"
That was 18 years ago when Olson began raising Arizona. Since then, he has the second-best conference winning percentage in Pac-10 history (trailing only John Wooden) and the Wildcats have been to 17 consecutive NCAA Tournaments (the second-longest streak in NCAA history). By any standard, Arizona is among the elite programs in ...
- Olson Family to Make $1 Million Gift to Arizona Cancer Center; Gift Will...
- News wire article from: AScribe Medicine News Service January 24, 2005 700+ words
...D., director of the Arizona Cancer Center. "As Bobbi Olson's physician, I am extremely...head coach and his 22nd at Arizona. Olson has a career record of...Information about the Bobbi Olson Endowment and the Arizona Cancer Center is available...
- FINAL RESPECT OLSON, ARIZONA SEEK MORE THAN TITLE
- Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe Ian Thomsen, Globe Staff March 31, 1988 700+ words
...the song, but not Arizona," Olson said. "But we probably...current criticism of Olson, and this attitude...when he arrived in Arizona from Iowa in 1983...Kerr has improved Arizona's program to the point of irony, for Olson is so successful...
- Raising Arizona: Olson's Wildcats ascend again
- Magazine article from: Sporting News DeCourcy, Mike December 23, 1996 700+ words
This time, Lute Olson chuckled when he...This time, the Arizona Wildcats were in...loss to Kansas. Arizona has won at least...since 1983-84 (Olson's first season...confidence level back," Olson says. "When we...with Michigan. What Arizona has achieved in the...
- TWICE ARIZONA'S OLSON ALMOST BECAME UK COACH.(SPORTS)
- Newspaper article from: The Cincinnati Post (Cincinnati, OH) Jones, Todd March 31, 1997 700+ words
...thing for us was to remain at Arizona,'' Olson said. When Sutton resigned in...to us. That's why I decided Arizona would be a good place to finish.'' Olson received a substantial raise from Arizona for pulling his name from consideration...
- OLSON RETURNS TO SIDELINE IN ARIZONA'S WIN VS. USC.(SPORTS)
- Newspaper article from: The Cincinnati Post (Cincinnati, OH) January 19, 2001 700+ words
...points as 17th-ranked Arizona welcomed back coach Lute Olson with a 71-58 victory...six free throws for Arizona. Olson was back on the sideline...of ovarian cancer. Arizona was 3-2 in his absence...in Pac-10 play. Olson received a long standing...
- ARIZONA'S OLSON AN INVITING TARGET.(Sports)(Column)
- Newspaper article from: Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO) Kravitz, Bob March 22, 1996 700+ words
...shaking his head. Olson then went on about how Arizona did nothing wrong and...But, then, this is Olson's M.O. When Arizona's big center, Joseph...the people who watch Arizona for a living, Olson was hoping that by keeping...
- Is Arizona's Olson just a fair-weather coach?(Originated from Orange County...
- Newspaper article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service Whicker, Mark January 19, 1996 700+ words
Lute Olson could have chosen...and flown his Arizona Wildcats to Philadelphia...of Ohios _ that Arizona truly fears...attest. No, Olson and athletic director...Then perhaps Olson will drop his...Word is that Arizona will open the...
- TACT SUFFERS WITH ARIZONA'S OLSON.(Sports)
- Newspaper article from: Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO) March 22, 1996 700+ words
...Mountain News Staff Writers Arizona coach Lute Olson is a man of many laurels...pad or camera in front of Olson and he constructs a verbal...Thursday to the criticism the Arizona progam faced in early January when Olson canceled a trip to Philadelphia...