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The US Athletic Hall of Fame - Coaches 2023

Lute Olson

  • Contest: The US Athletic Hall of Fame - Coaches 2023
  • Embed from Getty Images
  • Sport(s): Basketball
  • Statistics: 1 NCAA Division I Tournament Win (1997)

    5 Final Fours (1980, 1988, 1994, 1997 & 2001)

    1 PCAA Regular Season Championship (1974)

    1 Big 10 Regular Season Championship (1979)

    1 SEC Regular Season (1986)

    11 Pac-10 Regular Season Championships (1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003 & 2005)

    4 Pac-10 Tournament Win (1998, 1999, 2000 & 2002)

    1 FIBA World Championship Gold Medal (1986)

    1 Big Ten Coach of the Year Awards (1979)

    7 Pac 10 Coach of the Year Awards (1986, 1988, 1989, 1993, 1994, 1998 & 2003)

    781-280 NCAA Record

    Member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame

    Member of the College Basketball Hall of Fame
  • Lute Olson first became a head coach at Long Beach State in 1973 after over a decade coaching high school and community college ball in California. Olson was only with Long Beach State for one season, where the 49ers posted a 24-2 record. This impressed the brass at the University of Iowa, where he was hired to coach the Hawkeyes in 1974.



    Iowa was not the center of the basketball universe, but it was in the Big Ten. Olson would bring Iowa to the Final Four in 1980 and the tournament in his last five years with the Hawkeyes (1979-83). Olson accomplished a lot in America's Heartland, but he saw a challenge at Arizona, a Pac-10 team that was coming off its worst season in years.



    Olson failed to take the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament in his first year (1983-84), but that would be the only time Arizona was not in the dance in the 24 years that he ran the program. He led Arizona to Final Fours in 1988 and 1994, and they would win it all in 1997. Under Olson, Arizona became not only a national power but a coveted destination for elite high school talent. Olson retired in 2008, cemented as one of the most successful basketball coaches in college history.



    Olson is currently tied with the most NCAA tournament appearances with 28, and he had a near 23-win average over his career.



    We are proud to nominate Lute Olson for the United States Athletic Hall of Fame.
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