Record at Arizona: 589-187 (24 years)
Career Record: 780-280 (34 years)
In nearly a quarter century at the University of Arizona, Lute Olson established both the Wildcat basketball program and himself as two of the preeminent figures on the collegiate basketball landscape.
He passed away on Aug. 27, 2020.
Whether it’s the 1997 National Championship, four Final Four appearances, 23 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, 11 Pac-10 titles, or the nation’s third-best winning percentage over the last 20 seasons of Olson’s tenure, basketball excellence and the University of Arizona go hand-in-hand.
Olson, whose career spanned five decades as a head coach, also earned a title that befits those monumental accomplishments – Hall of Famer – as he was selected for enshrinement into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on June 5, 2002. In a career full of individual and team accolades, this honor ranks among the best.
When he retired, Olson was one of just 26 head coaches in NCAA history to win 700 or more games (all divisions). He finished his career with a record of 780-280, which adds up to a gaudy winning percentage of .736. He tallied a mark of 589-187 (.759) in his 24 years at Arizona, while being named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year seven times (1986, ‘88, ‘89, ‘93, ‘94, ‘98, 2003). Olson also guided Arizona to 20 consecutive 20-win seasons, and is one of only five coaches in NCAA history to record 29 or more 20-win seasons.
Long considered one of the top coaches in Pac-10 history, he led Arizona to the aforementioned 11 league titles, with the last coming in 2005. He had a career Pac-10 mark of 327-101 (.764), and the 327 conference victories are the most in league history. Olson is the No. 2 coach in Pac-10 history for career winning percentage for conference games with more than two years experience, trailing only the legendary John Wooden (.810/304-74). He was inducted into the Pac-10 Hall of Honor in 2009.
As for his Arizona career, he has the most victories (589) in school history and the second-best winning percentage (.759) in school history (minimum two seasons) with the former tally surpassing Fred Enke’s 509 from 1925-61 (36 years) during the 2003-04 season.
Olson, who was a finalist for Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame induction in 2000 and ‘01, had success long before his days on the collegiate level. In 11 years as a high school coach (1956-69), he compiled a record of 180-76 (.703). After that, there were four years in the junior college ranks at Long Beach City College, where he was 103-22 (.824). Factor in those games, along with the contests as the head coach at Arizona, Iowa and Long Beach State, and he posted 1,063 career victories and a .738 winning percentage in 1,442 career games coached. Olson became the 16th coach in basketball history (covering all levels) to register 1,000 career wins, when his Wildcats defeated Utah, 67-62, on Dec. 11, 2004.
His success happened not only on the court, but also in the recruiting process and in the number of former players that went on play in the NBA. With 13 NBA Draft picks in his last nine seasons alone, Arizona players routinely heard their names called on Draft Day. In his collegiate career, Olson produced 55 NBA Draft picks, including 34 at Arizona. Former Cats, who played under Olson, have earned over $1 billion in NBA contracts and won 23 World Championship rings.
Arizona fans quickly grew accustomed to success when basketball season rolled around, but believe it or not, this same attitude did not exist before Olson’s arrival in the “Old Pueblo” prior to the 1983-84 campaign.
When Olson took the reins in Tucson on March 29, 1983, after nine successful seasons at Iowa, he was given a program that finished just 4-24 the season before. A quick and direct rise to the top would ensue, much to the delight of the legions of hoop-crazed fans in the Sonoran desert.
Simply put, the Hall-of-Fame mentor reignited a basketball-rich tradition at the University of Arizona and made the Wildcats one program that others attempt to emulate.
In a career that has produced one major achievement after another, it was the 1996-97 season that proved to be the year when Olson reached the collegiate pinnacle of on-court coaching achievements.
After seeing his squad finish with a regular season record of 19-9 and its lowest Pac-10 finish (fifth) since his first year at UA (eighth), he rallied the troops for one of the most remarkable runs in the NCAA Tournament’s history. Going in as a No. 4 seed and with a two-game losing streak, the Wildcats proceeded to do what no team had ever done — beat three No. 1 seeds on the way to the national title.
The trio of wins didn’t come against just
any group of teams either. They came against the three winningest programs in college basketball history.
The excitement started when Arizona knocked off everyone’s favorite to win it all, Kansas, in the regional semifinal in Birmingham, Ala. Then, after going into overtime to beat Providence in the Southeast Regional final (96-92), the UA advanced to the Final Four in Indianapolis, where it beat its second No. 1 seed, North Carolina. This win set up the title game against defending national champion, Kentucky.
The Wildcats vs. Wildcats match-up proved to be a battle of epic proportions, one that resulted in the first NCAA overtime title game in seven years. When the dust settled, Olson’s club came away with an 84-79 win, a conquest that took place just two days after his 14-year anniversary of being named Arizona’s head coach. The monumental win set off a wild celebration at the RCA Dome, and back home on the streets of Tucson.
That national-championship team was built out of the same mold as the man who was in charge — forged with a competitive fire, intensely driven and dedicated to be the best. Following the year, Olson was awarded with the second annual Chase Winged Foot Award, an honor that is presented to the coach of the national champions by the New York Athletic Club.
Olson’s Wildcat squads finished the season ranked in the top 10 in one or both major college basketball polls in eight of his last 11 seasons and 14 times overall. In fact, Arizona finished the season with a national ranking in 18 of his last 20 years. As a testament to his long-term greatness, CBS-TV included Olson on its list of the “Ten Greatest Coaches in College Basketball History” during the 2003 Final Four.
He put his stamp on the NCAA and Pac-10 coaching record books with each passing season. He coached in the NCAA Tournament 28 times in his last 29 years, including the 23 consecutive appearances at Arizona, and overall he compiled a 46-27 (.630) NCAA Tournament record. In addition to the appearances with his Arizona clubs from 1985-2007, he led Iowa to trips in each of his final five years in Iowa City, including the 1980 Final Four.
Olson’s Arizona teams were 39-21 (.650) in NCAA play with trips to the 1988, 1994, 1997, and 2001 Final Fours. His Iowa teams were 7-6 in NCAA action, including a Final Four trip in 1980. His 46 NCAA Tournament wins place him ninth on the NCAA Tournament’s all-time victory list, while his 73 games coached ranks him fourth. He is one of just 12 coaches who have coached in five or more Final Fours and one of 13 to take two or more different teams to the Final Four. Further, his 27 appearances in the NCAA Tournament (adjusted for a vacated appearance) is tied for fourth on the all-time head-coaching list.
The numbers get even better when you look at what the Cats accomplished at home under Olson. Arizona amassed a record of 344-40 (.896) in McKale Center, lost only 12 non-conference games and won 272 of its final 296 games. In that span, the Cats had an amazing run of 71 consecutive victories without a defeat, making it the 10th-longest homecourt winning streak in NCAA history.
With the success of the Wildcats throughout the years, Olson’s resume includes Coach-of-the-Year honors from both the Pac-10 (1986, 1988, 1989, 1993, 1994,1998, 2003) and the Big Ten (1979 and 1981) in addition to a variety of regional and national honors. He earned the John R. Wooden “Legends of Coaching” and the Clair Bee Coach-of-the-Year awards in 2001. In the summer of 1999, he was inducted into the Pima County (Ariz.) Sports Hall of Fame, and in July 2001, he was inducted into the Two Harbors, Minn. Sports Hall of Fame in July 2001.
Olson’s success at Arizona mirrors his earlier work at Iowa, where in nine years in Iowa City from 1975 to 1983, he became the then-winningest coach in school history (168-90/.651) and took the Hawkeyes to the NCAA Tournament five straight times including a Final Four trip in 1980.
At the start of his career, Olson spent five years coaching preps in Minnesota before moving west to coach in Anaheim and Huntington Beach, Calif. high schools for six years.
He then guided Long Beach City College to three league titles and the 1971 state junior college crown and was the conference coach of the year in three of his four seasons. Olson followed that with a one-year stint as the head coach at Long Beach State (1973-74), where he led the 49ers to a 24-2 record. That got the attention of Iowa, which hired him for the next season.
Olson was born on a farm just outside Mayville, N.D., on Sept. 22, 1934, and would go on to attend high school in Grand Forks, N.D., for the 1951-52 season, where he led the team to the 1952 state basketball championship.
In college, he was a three-sport athlete (basketball, football and baseball) at Augsburg (Minn.) College from 1953-56. As a senior in 1956, Olson was recognized with the Augsburg Honors Athlete Award, which is given annually to the top male student-athlete. Since that time, he also has been honored by his alma mater with induction into the Augsburg Athletic Hall of Fame in 1977 and received the Augsburg College Distinguished Alumni Award in April 1986.
