http://arizona.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=735229</p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- Arizona coach Lute Olson is taking a leave of absence for unspecified personal reasons. <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">document.write(insertImage('http://vmedia.rivals.com/uploads/974/411891.jpg', '411891.jpg', 0, 267, 200, 1, 'Lute Olson is taking a leave of absence.', 'GOAZCATS.com', 1194252292000, 'Lute Olson', 974, 'Align=Left'));</script> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="208" align="left" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="202"></td> <td width="6" rowspan="4"></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right"><font face="verdana" size="1">GOAZCATS.com</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="3"></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><font size="1">Lute Olson is taking a leave of absence.</font></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> In a statement issued by his public relations firm on Sunday, the 73-year-old Hall of Famer said the matter was not health related. "For the past 25 years, I have always given 110 percent to the team and this job," Olson said. "In light of this personal matter, I feel it is in the best interest of the team and the University of Arizona to take a leave of absence." Olson said he wanted to "reassure everyone that this isn't a health scare, but rather a personal matter that needs my undivided attention." The specific reason was not given. "I want to thank everyone in advance for their support and prayers and request that the media respect my family's privacy during this time," he said. Assistant coach Kevin O'Neill will assume Olson's duties in his absence. "Lute will be back coaching our team shortly," O'Neill said before 17th-ranked Arizona beat Concordia 68-50 in an exhibition game Sunday. "He has been a great ambassador of the game. He has led our team for 25 years, and he will continue to lead our team for a long time." Olson has a 780-280 record in 34 seasons as a major college coach. In 24 years at Arizona, he is 589-187 with 23 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. His Wildcats have won 11 Pac-10 championships, reached the Final Four four times and won the 1997 NCAA title. "This is a guy who cares about a lot of things, not just a guy who caress about a round ball going through a hoop," athletic director Jim Livengood said. "He cares about people, and he cares about kids and everything -- everything. Right now he has things he wants to take care of. We are going to honor that." <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">document.write(insertImage('http://vmedia.rivals.com/uploads/974/562716.jpg', '562716.jpg', 0, 267, 200, 1, 'KO is replacing Olson, for now.', 'Associated Press', 1194252292000, 'KO', 974, 'Align=Right'));</script> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="208" align="right" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="6" rowspan="4"></td> <td width="202"></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right"><font face="verdana" size="1">Associated Press</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="3"></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><font size="1">KO is replacing Olson, for now.</font></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> Olson took an extended leave of absence in 2001 when his wife Bobbie was terminally ill with cancer. He eventually returned and led that Arizona team to the Final Four. Olson has since remarried. "We will allow Lute this time that he needs," Livengood said. "That time schedule has not been set. He will be the person who will determine that. Today, we are going to move forward. Kevin O'Neill has taken responsibility to lead our basketball team and our basketball program." Livengood and O'Neill met with the team on Sunday. "Lute recruited every one of those guys," O'Neill said. "They love him. They admire him, and they respect him, and they know what he stands for. They handled it very well. They are concerned for Lute personally, not how they will respond." O'Neill, a former Olson assistant who returned to the program this offseason, has been a head coach at Marquette, Tennessee and Northwestern. He said he expected to talk with Olson regularly. "I feel bad for the players and for the community," O'Neill said. "Let's face it, we deserve every bit of Lute that we can get. I came here to coach with Lute and coach at the University of Arizona. I love this city and I love Lute. I thought it was the right thing to do. It is not how I feel about how I feel or what is going on with me. "My main concern is Lute and (his wife) Christine and the players. That is where my focus will be." Arizona opens its regular season Nov. 13 at home against Northern Arizona.</div></p> I can tell you that this matter truely isnt about Lute and his health. He should be back soon, but this isnt a good sitation.</p>
Finally. I was wondering if I'd ever get a chance to see this Arizona team play up to their full potential this season.</p>
Kevin O'Neill was alright but this team needed Lute back IMO, he lets them loose a lot more. Glad to see Lute return but I heard he wasn't going to coach in the games right away.....</p>
Yeah, many were expecting him to coach tonight, but my guess is that the earliest he comes back is the 8th in Chicago. I would imagine when he comes back he wants a full week of practice under him before returning to the bench. He is still going to be at practices, but I think we will see him come back after the A&M game, giving him 6 days to comeback and prepare for Illinois. I will be at the Illinois and UNLV games, so I am hoping to see him on the sidelines for both.</p>
Link</p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Arizona basketball coach Lute Olson is getting divorced.</p> A divorce petition was filed in Pima County Superior Court on Thursday, the same day the 73-year-old coach said he would extend his leave from the team through the end of the season, court spokesman Dave Ricker said Friday. It's not clear whether Olson or wife Christine filed for divorce.</p> Ricker said he has not seen the petition, and legal records supervisor Ray Rivas in the clerk's office says court rules bar public scrutiny of divorce petitions until the filer's spouse has been served or 45 days have passed.</p> The filing was first reported online by the Tucson Citizen and the Arizona Daily Star.</p> Olson announced his leave Nov. 4 and said the reasons were personal and not health related.</p> In a statement released by the university Thursday announcing Olson's leave extension, the Hall of Famer said he plans to return to coach the Wildcats for the 2008-09 season.</p> "There are personal issues within my family that need to be addressed and I must devote my full energy to that," Olson said in the statement.</p> Gordon James, a public relations executive who has represented the Olsons, had no comment other than to say, "Mrs. Olson is en route from New York and will be issuing a statement." James said her flight was expected to arrive Friday evening.</p> Athletic director Jim Livengood, in Chicago with the team, said: "There's no comment from me. It's a personal family matter and should be addressed appropriately."</p> The No. 22 Wildcats (5-2) play Illinois on Saturday.</p> Olson has coached Arizona for 24 seasons and posted a 589-187 record with 23 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. His Wildcats have won 11 Pac-10 championships, reached the Final Four four times and won the 1997 NCAA title.</p> Assistant Kevin O'Neill, who is serving as interim coach while Olson is gone, said Friday he wants Olson's privacy respected. He said he's doing the best he can to fill in for "someone who is true greatness."</p> "I have great respect and admiration for what our players have done to this point in terms of focusing on basketball only in a very difficult situation -- a situation that, really, there's no blueprint for," O'Neill said.</p> Olson and his first wife, Bobbi, were married for 47 years before her 2001 death from ovarian cancer after a 2 1/2 -year fight. The couple had five children.</p> She served an active role in Olson's basketball program, joining him on recruiting trips and even cooking pancakes for prospective players when they came to visit Tucson. Former players revered her for being so instrumental in creating a family atmosphere. The university renamed the basketball court Lute & Bobbi Olson Court after her death.</p> In April 2003, Olson married Christine Jack Toretti -- a prominent, politically active Pennsylvania businesswoman who is 22 years his junior.</p> Toretti, who took Olson's last name after their wedding, remains chief executive of an oil and gas drilling company and sits on several corporate boards. She has three sons from her first marriage.</div></p> </p>
