A lot of people have no idea just how good a coach Lute Olson was, partly because Tucson is about as far away from things as you can get and still be in a large-ish American city. He had a lot in common with Mike Krzyzewski and Dean Smith in that he became the face of his program.
The way his career ended was sad, but his influence in Tucson is powerful.
Anyway, they're going to honor him in Tucson Saturday night with the Lute Olson Retirement Celebration. It's certainly deserved. It speaks well of Olson that even with the chaos at the end of his career, all the assistants he fired are going to be there, except for Miles Simon, who is on his honeymoon and understandably indisposed. But you can gain a sense of his influence from former right-hand man Jim Rosborough, who says "[e]xcept for my last 15 minutes, I loved working for the guy. He was as good a boss as there could be because he let you do your job. He tried to always have people around him that he could trust."
