Lute Olson steps down as Arizona hoop coach

Though the circumstances are surrounding the move are still somewhat cloudy, Lute Olson will step down from his position as head coach of the University of Arizona basketball team effective immediately.  At the same time, there’s been no talk of the venerable head coach resigning his position.  Assistant coach Mike Dunlap will take over the team on what is being described as an ‘interim basis’.  No official announcement has yet to be made by Olson or the University, but sources close to the situation suggest that it is “imminent”.

Making the report stranger—and no doubt delaying the aforementioned official announcement-- is the revelation that Olson hasn’t broached the topic with the school’s administrative hierarchy.  Dunlap and another assistant, Reggie Geary, have informed several recruits and their families about Olson’s decision to step down.  For the time being, at least, athletic director Jim Livengood isn’t talking about the situation in any detail.

Over in the UofA administrative office, however, there’s a bit of confusion surrounding the situation.  They weren’t aware that anything was going on until the sports media started to contact them.  School spokesman Tom Duddleston went to the relevant “higher ups” and was told that they weren’t aware of anything to that effect.  They were emphatic in their denial that Olson was stepping down, responding simply “no way”.  So for the moment, Duddleston concluded, the University position is as follows:

"We're not making any announcement to that effect. At this moment there is nothing going on."

Olson missed the entire 2007-2008 hoop season after taking a yearlong “leave of absence” that he and the U of A insisted wasn’t health related.  His behavior during that sabbatical was strange—Olson’s decision was originally announced 10 minutes before the start of the Arizona basketball team’s first preseason game (the absence at the time was labeled “indefinite”) and that highly regarded assistant Kevin O'Neill would be in charge.  In early December, the school announced that Olson was going to miss the entire season.

The following day, it was reported that Olson had filed for divorce from his second wife.  A couple of weeks later, the school announced that Olson would return for the 2008-2009 season and that O'Neill was his designated successor to take over the program upon his retirement.  After the season, O’Neill announced to the media that he was planning to return to the U of A as an assistant for this season and assumed that his anointment was still valid.

Instead, Olson sent O’Neill packing with the announcement that he “would never coach at Arizona again”.  Olson then tried to spin it as a lack of commitment by O’Neill, who suggested didn’t want to be an assistant “for another three to five years” until Lute retired.  He also revealed that he had been under treatment for anxiety and stress during his leave of absence.  Kevin O'Neill is now an assistant coach with the NBA Memphis Grizzlies and is no doubt glad to be well clear of the trainwreck in Tucson.

Finally, this bizarre coda in the ‘symphony of destruction’ surrounding the Arizona hoops program.  Olson had been with the team and appeared to be in good spirits up as of Monday, when he conducted practice.  In early October he announced his plans to marry a 47 year old divorced mother of two, which is the latest in his string of bizarre behavior.  His assistants have explained his decision to step down and/or resign with these cryptic comments:

Mike Dunlap: “He’s not feeling well.  It happens to everybody”

Jim Livengood: “He’s just sick” Time will tell if Arizona is protecting their legendary coach’s privacy, or whether they’re trying to put him out to pasture due to a concern about his diminished facilities.