Remembering Lute Olson: 1934-2020

Photo: Hall of Fame University of Arizona men’s basketball coach Lute Olson. Photo credit:

Cover photo: Arizona Wildcats’ head coach Lute Olson in 2001. Photo credit: Mike Blake, Reuters.

One of the great college basketball coaches of all-time was born on this date in 1934. 

A native of Mayville, N.D., Lute Olson at the helm of the University of Arizona’s men’s basketball team from 1983-2007 won seven Pac-10 Coach of the Year awards (1986, 1988-89, 1993-94, 1998, 2003) and guided the Wildcats to the 1997 National Championship. On March 31, 1997, Olson’s Wildcats defeated Rick Pitino’s University of Kentucky at Indianapolis’ RCA Dome by a score of 84-79. The 4th-seeded Wildcats posted a 24-9 record and were led by freshman guard Mike Bibby and junior guard Miles Simon. Jason Terry was a sophomore, and future Vancouver Grizzly Michael Dickerson was a junior. Throughout Olson’s career, he also coached greats such as Steve Kerr and Damon Stoudamire. 

Olson coached his squads to five Final Four appearances - in 1980, 1988, 1994, 1997, and 2001. The ‘01 team, a talented group that included Gilbert Arenas, Richard Jefferson, Loren Woods, and Michael Wright, went 28-8 and made the National Championship where they fell 82-72 to top-seeded Duke. Olson led his teams to eleven Pac-10 regular season titles - 1986, 1988-91, 1993-94, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005 - and four Pac-10 tournament championships (1988-90, 2002). In 1974, Olson led Long Beach State to a PCAA title, and in 1979 as head coach at the University of Iowa (where he coached from ‘74-‘83) led the Hawkeyes to the Big Ten regular season title. Olson was Big Ten Coach of the Year in 1979 and the NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches) Coach of the Year in 1980. In 2001, he was awarded the Clair Bee Coach of the Year trophy. 

Olson from 1953-56 played at Division III Augsburg University (Minneapolis, Minn.) and from 1956-57 was the head coach at Mahnomen High School, also in Minnesota, and from 1957-61 at Two Harbors High School (Minnesota). He was an assistant at Anaheim, Calif.’s Western High School from 1962-63, and the head coach at Loara High School from 1963-64 and Marina High School from 1964-69. He was the head coach at Long Beach Community College from 1969-73 and from 1973-74 at Long Beach State. 

In his 34-year NCAA coaching career, Olson compiled a record of 781-279. His 781 victories - between Long Beach State, Iowa, and Arizona - are 17th all-time. Under Olson, the Wildcats had twenty consecutive 20-win seasons. They were also in the Associated Press’ top 25 poll 81.2% of the time (341 out of 431 times). Olson won 327 Pac-10 games. 

He coached the United States to the 1986 FIBA World Championships gold medal. 

In 2002, Olson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006 and in 2018 was honored by the University of Arizona with a statue. In 2013, he received the Naismith Award for Outstanding Contribution to men’s college basketball. Annually, the NCAA’s top Division-I player is awarded the Lute Olson Award. 

Olson’s impact on NCAA basketball was special in that he turned the University of Arizona, a school not truly thought of as a basketball powerhouse, into a perennial contender. He coached thirty-one eventual NBA players, with twelve being first-round selections. Think Arizona Wildcats athletics, and Lute Olson is the name that jumps the forefront. 

On August 27, 2020, Olson passed away at the age of 85. 

Said Jefferson upon Olson’s passing: 

“It's rare that a man is a Hall of Famer and still underappreciated. I'll always feel like you never got the credit you deserved as a leader, family man, grandfather, coach and as a mentor.” Kerr also said, “It’s hard to put into words how much Lute Olson meant to me. He was an amazing coach and a wonderful man.” 

On his birthday, we remember the legendary Lute Olson.