Sad to hear. Glad he was able to get back to IC a few years ago.
Lute Olson placed in Hospice Care
- Thread starter Chishawk1425
- Start date
All the best for his remaining time. Will be a sad day for U of I and Arizona.
Very sad to hear this. God bless him and his family.
Douglas C. Neidermeyer
HB Legend
In the early 80's Iowa had arguably the best D-I Big Three Coaches in my memory with Hall of Famers Lute Olson, Hayden Fry and Dan Gable. The common denominator: AD Bump Elliot, a real "coaches" AD.
Prayers to Coach Olson. Lute, Lute, Lute ... https://www.azcentral.com/story/spo...coaching-legend-in-fight-his-life/3442801001/
There is your Mt Hawk(rush)more..
May the Good Lord bless Lute and his family at this difficult time. A great coach and even better person.
I left Coach Stringet out from that list only because Lute left following the 82-83 season and Vivian came in the 83-84 season. No doubt she belongs on the Mt Rushmore of Iowa coaches with the other three. Technically, Vivian was hired by Christine Grant, the AD for Women’s sports. I worked several of Vivian’s camps at Iowa and got to know her personally. She is an amazing person.
RIP Lute. Lute and Ralph Miller were the greatest Iowa BB coaches of my fandom.
Iowa city is a small town and a fishbowl. Lute and Bobby had little privacy. The Iowa basketball network was created and lute was a star. Some coaches handle it better than others.
I was a wee lad when Iowa went to the Final Four but I remember the excitement here in Iowa. My Dad rued the day Lute left Iowa. However, a few years later, we ended up down in Tucson where Lute quickly took over a then football town and made it into a basketball one. Over the years, we got to see all those great Arizona teams first hand.
I think he left Iowa for a combination of reasons...sure, weather might have been an ancillary benefit but the fishbowl comment above probably hits close plus he had extensive recruiting ties in Southern Cali. Let's face it...for most all other sports not named wrestling, Iowa is a tough place to recruit to for elite talent. Over the years, Lute owned the west coast and even managed to grab some studs from the NY area.
I am a wrestling guy but my personal Mt. Rushmore of coaches of the teams I have followed includes Gable, Brands, Andy Reid, and Lute.
I think he left Iowa for a combination of reasons...sure, weather might have been an ancillary benefit but the fishbowl comment above probably hits close plus he had extensive recruiting ties in Southern Cali. Let's face it...for most all other sports not named wrestling, Iowa is a tough place to recruit to for elite talent. Over the years, Lute owned the west coast and even managed to grab some studs from the NY area.
I am a wrestling guy but my personal Mt. Rushmore of coaches of the teams I have followed includes Gable, Brands, Andy Reid, and Lute.
I think it was a combination of things. Weather, a chance to pull of program out of the dust, better recruiting prospects - and I'm sure money played a role.
Also, I think Lute needed a re-boot. He was pretty frustrated his last couple of years - officials, the media. He obviously made a good decision.
RIP Lute!
The Lute Olson era was great fun for Hawk fans. Olson was very fan friendly and had a good rapport with the press until toward the very end. Was a very sad day when he announced his departure, but really, it wasn't totally unexpected by then. R.I.P. Lute!
On a different note, the Gazette ran a picture of Lute today, with William "Sweet May" Mayfield. As far as I know, Mayfield has never returned to IC for any of the celebrations and I was wondering if anyone knows why, and what happened to him. He was a pretty decent player on the '78 (when he was injured) and the '79 teams (which was the last Iowa B1G Champion). I think he played in Italy for a few years after leaving Iowa, but that's about all I know.
On a different note, the Gazette ran a picture of Lute today, with William "Sweet May" Mayfield. As far as I know, Mayfield has never returned to IC for any of the celebrations and I was wondering if anyone knows why, and what happened to him. He was a pretty decent player on the '78 (when he was injured) and the '79 teams (which was the last Iowa B1G Champion). I think he played in Italy for a few years after leaving Iowa, but that's about all I know.
Greg Hansen: Lute was at top of AD's 'short list' for 9 years before he lured coach to Arizona
Cedric Dempsey's first exposure to Lute Olson came in 1974, when the future Hall of Famer led Long Beach State past Pacific. Dempsey knew then that Olson had something special.
tucson.com
Interesting article on how the Arizona AD pursued Lute -- He had wanted to hire him two years earlier but Lute wasn't interested. As the article points out, Lute felt it would be easier to recruit to Tucson (especially from California where Lute had previously coached) and the Pac-10 wasn't nearly as strong as it had been and Lute saw the possibility of dominating the league. Of course the weather played a factor as well.
There have been several interesting articles on Lute the past week from a variety of perspectives. I have no doubt that he would have had the same impact on the national scene had he stayed in Iowa City. Lute was a tenacious recruiter, great x and o and player development coach who excelled at developing team cohesiveness.
Bobbie and the weather was certainly the number one factor, but Lute was really getting fed up with some of the fans and media. Even with the overall adoration he received from the casual fans, I think he felt unappreciated by a certain segment of fans and media that thought we should be going to the Final Four every year. He took some heat for the Wichita St. TO error and the team slump in the '81-'82 season, when we gave up our shot at another B1G title and eventually lost in the NCAA's to Idaho. Now, as then, fans will be fans.
The Arizona Daily Star did a special tribute section to Lute today in their Sunday Paper. Here is but one of the articles "An Appreciation of Lute's Commitment to Consistency". https://tucson.com/sports/arizonawi...cle_dd952d2d-b17e-558b-9378-7d2326a19104.html
As I read all of the articles in the special section I couldn't help but think of what Iowa Basketball would have been under Lute. In the 24 seasons that Lute coached at Arizona, the Wildcats made the NCAA tournament the last 23 including 4 Final Fours and 1 Championship and 11 conference championships. In those same 24 seasons under Raveling, Davis and Alford, the Hawks made the tournament 14 teams with no conference regular season championships. Iowa's overall won-lost record was 480-284 and 213-200 in the Big Ten play while the Wildcats under Lute were 589-188 and 327-101 in Pac 10/12 play. Would Lute have fared as well at Iowa as he did in Tucson -- we will never know, but in talking to those who have been in Southern Arizona over the past 40 years, they know Lute was the best thing that ever happened to this area.
As I read all of the articles in the special section I couldn't help but think of what Iowa Basketball would have been under Lute. In the 24 seasons that Lute coached at Arizona, the Wildcats made the NCAA tournament the last 23 including 4 Final Fours and 1 Championship and 11 conference championships. In those same 24 seasons under Raveling, Davis and Alford, the Hawks made the tournament 14 teams with no conference regular season championships. Iowa's overall won-lost record was 480-284 and 213-200 in the Big Ten play while the Wildcats under Lute were 589-188 and 327-101 in Pac 10/12 play. Would Lute have fared as well at Iowa as he did in Tucson -- we will never know, but in talking to those who have been in Southern Arizona over the past 40 years, they know Lute was the best thing that ever happened to this area.
