Olson returns to Arizona as angry, arrogant as ever
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Greg Hansen,
Arizona Daily Star
In his I'm-back-and-I'm-in-charge-and-don't-you-doubt-it performance Tuesday afternoon,
Lute Olson was fully in character. He flexed and he fired.
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His feelings of persecution, his unreasonable suspicion, his mania for perfection and his certainty that he is always in the right - Captain Queeg, remember? - were straight out of Olson's autocratic news conference performances of the 1980s and '90s.
It was sad.
Olson got too angry and spent too much energy on topics that should be beneath him. At 73, he hasn't yet learned to cut the rest of the world some slack.
Eleven months ago he sacrificed his most loyal career associate, Jim Rosborough. On Tuesday, he confirmed that his stated successor, Kevin O'Neill, hired to clean up a personnel mess created by Olson himself, has also been jettisoned for the good of order.
Who's next, Josh Pastner?
I've had some notable bumps with Olson, never been a fan of the way he treats people and especially subordinates, but on Tuesday I almost could not bear to watch as Olson pulled a Bob Knight, minus the cussing.
For the good of this community, for all of the feel-good days he has provided over a quarter-century, my wish is for Olson to go out on top, smiling, handing off his treasured program to an appointed successor.
But on Tuesday, Olson arrogantly said that choosing a successor is "not something that needs to be done.''
Perhaps he'll coach forever.
If one of Olson's few trusted insiders prepped him on how to handle Tuesday's news conference, it was a colossal failure. His boss, Jim Livengood, was not at his side to sanction or deflect the harsh words.
Steve Kerr, where were you?
After burning off Rosborough and O'Neill, Olson has apparently chosen to fly solo when he needs help more than at any time in his career.
Had he sought professional advice, Olson would have looked into the TV cameras and said, even if it meant doing so through gritted teeth and against his will:
"I am sorry for leaving without a thorough explanation to our fans and to our players and to the university that has supported me unconditionally for all these years. I'm asking for you to please give me the benefit of the doubt on this one," he said.
"I will forever be grateful to Kevin O'Neill for stepping into the breach and doing the best he could with a less-than-powerful club. He will always be welcome on my staff.
"I plan to donate to charity all the salary paid to me while on my leave of absence. I'm back and ready to roll. Look out UCLA.''
Ordinarily, the return to command of a Hall of Fame coach would be met with great celebration. On Tuesday, Olson embraced the negativity and wouldn't let it go.
Livengood's absence was puzzling. The message it sent was that the athletic department encouraged Olson to bare himself, good or bad.
The fiery outcome wasn't a surprise; they know how Olson operates when quizzed by reporters.
If it wasn't a setup, it looked that way.
What should've been damage control was instead considerable damage to the reputation of the athletic department. Who's in charge here? Lute or Lute? That's the way it looked.
Now comes the hard part. With his recruiting ability compromised by age and innuendo - with UA spending about $1 million in unbudgeted income to address its basketball crisis - Olson must somehow try to land an elite recruiting class by November.
Nothing else is as important to the long-term health of UA hoops as the young men Olson signs in seven months. It is the first time since the spring of 1983 that UA's ability to recruit effectively has been in doubt.
You wonder how he will be received in the living rooms of high school superstars, or if he'll have to fall back and pursue players headed to Iowa State and New Mexico instead of Kansas and UCLA.
Olson has talked about a new contract once his deal expires in 2011.
Who knows? Joe Paterno is 81, pumping out Top 25 football teams at Penn State and compared to ol' Joe, Lute comes off as Vin Diesel.
But this is no longer about Lute's considerable physical presence. His blood pressure count and his GQ looks betray the real issue here: For the last several years, he has been overseeing a sinking program in which players have failed to fully develop and his personal demands have bit into the spirit and the financial well-being of the athletic department.
As one reader, Bill Leinbach of Tucson, wrote in a recent e-mail: "Maybe, after much hand-wringing, the UA can bring its basketball program to the same level as its football program.''
Never thought you'd see the day, huh?
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