Arizona Athletics: Top 5 Arizona Wildcat greatest impact coaches

No.1 Lute Olson 1983-2007

Luteeeeeeeee Olson. For those true diehard Wildcat fans know what I am talking about here. After player introductions, the coach, the hall of famer, Lute Olson would be introduced to a sold out McKale Center. For 24 seasons as head coach of Arizona Basketball, he commanded the sidelines and transformed this program to what it is today.

When his coaching career was all said and done he was the winningest coach in Arizona Basketball with a record of 589-188, surpassing Coach Fred Enke. He took this program to 23 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, five Final Fours and led the Wildcats to their only NCAA Championship in 1997. They came close to winning again in 2001, but lost to the Duke Blue Devils in the title game.

Under Olson, the Wildcats dominated the Pac-12 conference, winning 11 regular season conference champions and four tournament championships. Olson was also awarded the Pac-10 coach of the year seven times!  As a result of his G.O.A.T like coaching career at Arizona, he was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002 and the College Hall of Fame in 2006 and 2019.

Like Coach Candrea, winning attracts elite talent and Olson took full advantage of that. Steve Kerr, Sean Elliot, Mike Bibby, Jason Terry, Damon Stoudamire, Andre Iguodala and Richard Jefferson are just a few of the many talented athletes recruited by Olson. Many of his former players have gone on to have hall of fame careers of their own.

To honor Olson and his wife Bobbi (who passed away in 2001 in to cancer) they renamed the playing surface inside McKale Center to “Lute and Bobbi Olson Court.”  After his coaching career ended at Arizona, he still continued (and still does) show up and support Coach Sean Miller from the stands. That shows his passion and how much he cares for Arizona basketball.

Arizona basketball remains to be one of the top programs in college basketball today, thanks to one man and one man only, Lute Olson.

At Zona Zealots, we would like to personally thank these five coaches and the impact they had on Arizona Athletics. What they did for this city, this university and for Wildcats fans all over the globe, we can’t thank you enough! Bear Down, Arizona!