Lute Olson (1934-2020)
Teams coached: Long Beach State 49ers, Iowa Hawkeyes, Arizona Wildcats
Long Beach State record: 24-2 (.923)
Iowa record: 167-91 (.647)
Arizona record: 589-187 (.759) **
Overall record^: 780-280 (.736) **
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 1 (1997)
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 27 (1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007) **
- NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 13 (1980, 1983, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005)
- NCAA Tournament Final Four: 5 (1980, 1988, 1994, 1997, 2001)
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 0
- Pac-12 Regular Season Champion: 11 (1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005)
- Big Ten Regular Season Champion: 1 (1979)
- PCAA Regular Season Champion: 1 (1974)
- Pac-12 Tournament Champion: 4 (1988, 1989, 1990, 2002)
Awards:
- NABC Coach of the Year: 1 (1980)
- Sporting News Coach of the Year: 1 (1980)
- Clair Bee Coach of the Year: 1 (2001)
- Pac-12 Coach of the Year: 7 (1986, 1988, 1989, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2003)
- Big Ten Coach of the Year: 1 (1979)
- PCAA Coach of the Year: 1 (1974)
- John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award (2001)
- NABC Golden Anniversary Award (2017)
- Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 2002)
- National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 2006, 2019)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
1983-2007 | Arizona |
1974-1983 | Iowa |
1973-1974 | Long Beach State |
1969-1973 | Long Beach CC |
Lute Olson Facts
- Robert Luther Olson
- Born September 22, 1934
- Died August 27, 2020
- Hometown: Mayville, North Dakota
- Alma Mater: Augsburg College (BA, 1956)
- Started coaching at the high school level, spending 13 years coaching at high schools at Minnesota and California
- First collegiate job was a four-year stint at Long Beach City College, where he won three league titles and a California JUCO State Championship (1971)
- Best known for his 24-year tenure as head coach at Arizona, where he won 589 games and went to 22 NCAA Tournaments (reached five Final Fours)
- His 1997 National Championship team at Arizona is the only team in tournament history to beat three #1 seeds
- Led the USA Men’s National Basketball Team to a gold medal at the 1986 FIBA World Championship in Spain, as well as a gold medal at the 1986 Goodwill Games in Moscow
- Took a leave of absence for the full 2007-08 season, with the team being coached in the interim by Kevin O’Neill
- Olson was set to return to the sidelines for the 2008-2009 season, but formally announced his retirement in October, just days before the season was set to begin – the team was coached by Russ Pennell
- It was announced shortly after his retirement that Olson had suffered an undiagnosed stroke earlier in the year and the effects (including a blood clot and depression) had led to his decision to retire
- Since the 2009-10 season, CollegeInsider has given the Lute Olson Award to the best non-freshman player in D-I men’s basketball
- Hospitalized in 2019 after suffering another stroke; passed away in August 2020 at the age of 85
- Along with his late wife, Bobbi, has five children
Lute Olson Coaching Tree
- Joseph Blair (Rio Grande Valley Vipers)
- Matt Brase (Rio Grande Valley Vipers, overseas)
- Bret Brielmaier (Long Island Nets)
- Ken Burmeister (Incarnate Word, Trinity, Loyola IL, UTSA)
- Ricky Byrdsong (Northwestern, Detroit Mercy)
- Jessie Evans (San Francisco, Louisiana-Lafayette)
- Jason Gardner (IUPUI)
- Reggie Geary (Anaheim Arsenal, overseas)
- Rich Glas (Concordia MN, North Dakota)
- Jay John (Oregon State)
- Phil Johnson (UTEP, San Jose State)
- Steve Kerr (Golden State Warriors)
- Dick Kuchen (Yale, California)
- Tony McAndrews (Colorado State)
- Jesse Mermuys (Raptors 905)
- Jack Murphy (Northern Arizona)
- Josh Pastner (Georgia Tech, Memphis)
- Miles Simon (South Bay Lakers)
- Kirk Speraw (UCF, Pensacola JC)
- Damon Stoudamire (Pacific)
- Rodney Tention (Loyola Marymount)
- Jason Terry (Grand Rapids Gold)
- Floyd Theard (Denver, Kentucky State)
- Scott Thompson (Cornell, Wichita State, Rice)
- Luke Walton (Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Lakers)
^ overall record includes head coaching positions at the NCAA Division I level only
** Listed accomplishments for this coach do not include wins or appearances later vacated by the NCAA