Lute Olson became the Arizona men’s basketball coach in the 1983 after leading the Iowa Hawkeyes to five straight NCAA tournament appearances and a Final Four in 1979-80. In Tucson, Olson would go on to win five National Coach of the Year awards, 587 games, make 23 NCAA tournament appearances, four Final Four appearances, and win Arizona its only national title in 1997.
Olson’s legacy at the University of Arizona is undeniable.
Lute Olson’s pro impact
Olson’s players went on to make an impact in the pros representing Arizona as well. From Pete Williams in 1985 to Andre Iguodala’s retirement from the NBA in 2023, the Wildcats‘ list of alumna during Olson’s time played 14,302 games in the NBA, scored 146,968 points, and earned well over $1 billion dollars. Olson had nine players win an NBA championship, combining for 19 rings. Steve Kerr, Andre Iguodala, Jud Buechler, Luke Walton, Bison Dele, Sean Elliott, Jason Terry, Richard Jefferson, and Channing Frye all won rings as players after their time at Arizona.
Arizona also became a household program in the west during Olson’s time at the helm.
“They were the program, I mean they set the bar. UCLA had the name, but Arizona had the program. They were the preeminent program on the west coast. They were the best program in the west,” said Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson on Olson’s impact.
If there was an elite prospect in the state of Arizona, they were ending up in Tucson. Lute Olson laid the blueprint for the coaches that followed him. Tommy Lloyd and Sean Miller both stood on the shoulders of Olson’s success. He helped set Arizona apart as the premier program in the state of Arizona with the third best winning percentage in the nation and a 41-7 record versus Arizona State.
What if he never did?
What if Lute Olson never chose to leave Iowa for Arizona? The Wildcats did not have much NCAA Tournament success prior to hiring Olson. In fact, Arizona had by far its worst season in program history under Ben Lindsey in 1982; the Wildcats had just four wins and one in conference. Lindsey got let go almost immediately after the season but not without controversy. He sued Arizona for wrongful termination and won just over $200,000. It is likely that if Olson was not available to follow him up, Arizona would have had to go with a band-aid hire, moving the needle in the opposite direction of a national title.
If Olson did not save Arizona from the pit it had fallen into, would Arizona have ever won a National Title? It’s likely the answer to that question is no. Olson himself only secured one national title for Arizona with a couple of near misses in his history. Even with all of the elite talent and high level coaching, winning a national championship at the college level is hard and requires a lot of lucky bounces to fall your way.
Arizona’s current head coach, Tommy Lloyd, would likely never have become the leader of the Wildcats program without the impact and influence that Olson created in Tucson. Lloyd was seemingly set to become the predecessor to Mark Few once the longtime Gonzaga head coach retired. But Lloyd chose to chase his own legacy in Tucson. Would he have ever given up that spot in his home state of Washington if Arizona did not have the acclaim that it does due to Lute Olson?
For an indication of what nightmare could have become of Arizona basketball if Lute Olson never signed on, look up north to Arizona State. A middling program that can secure high-level talent from time to time and might make the tournament’s second round. Never becoming a national staple, never securing one of the nation’s best coaches, never being able to break through and set itself apart as a program nationally.
Thankfully, Lute Olson did choose Arizona, and that is a reality that no Wildcat fan must live in. So for now, sit back, enjoy the highlights of the 1997 season, and thank the lucky stars that Olson lived and thrived in the Old Pueblo.
