I love how you provide two views that can be seen as reasonable from Arizona fans; Olson can't coach anymore and should step down, or Olson can't coach anymore but should be allowed to coach because of what he's done in previous years. Anyone of the opinion that Olson can still coach (hasn't missed a tournament since the early 80's), recruit (next year's incoming class is top 5 nationally) and adapt to his surroundings (the assistants purge is being done for good reason) must be a raving lunatic, right? Give me a break.
And what, you're trying to get people to feel sorry for Livengood. Maybe he should do his job better. No true or educated Arizona fan is going to back Livengood over Olson, and it's not just because Olson is God in Tucson, it's because Livengood has done a fairly mediocre job as AD. Both of his football hires have strained the school's athletic department, people lost their jobs, and to top it off, Livengood publicly stated over a year ago that they wouldn't spend much money on the next basketball coach. Then Livengood makes that stupid decision of naming O'Neill Olson's successor before conference play even began and now the school will have to fight in the courts over more lost money.
I don't mind that you do an article from afar, but telling Arizona fans what's reasonable and what's not makes no sense when you don't even have a good idea of what's going on yourself. Olson went on the radio talking about basketball. He didn't go on to talk about his divorce. Because of the circumstances, Olson wanted to reach out to his public audience. The two local papers here are jokes, for the most part, and Olson has stopped giving them serious attention.
Excellent points, all, and I am with youon the media sensationalizing this
to death, and the reality is the AD just hasn't been that great.
I have spend considerable time with my mom and relatives living in the
Valley of the Sun, and know what you mean about the coverage and
the local rah rah until the team is dumped on, and the feeding frenzy picks
up.
The Wildcats are one of the few really successful sports teams in the recent
Arizona history, ecept for the Arizona State baseball and the couple of
yers of the Diamondbacks. It is hopeful that Lute , a class act in the storied
game if ever there was one, can get personal issues resolved and come
back to the team that clearly still needs him.
All the best to Zona sports and UA in particular.
I happened to be a lucky attendee at the game a few years ago in Seattle in which
the Iguodala, Walton, Fre, Stoudamarie crew played UW in an overtime game
when UW had Bobby Jones, Roy and Nate robinson....awesome...college bb
at its best. Think UA won in overtime; regareless it showed, again, what
a class act UA and their coach is and will, I am sure, continue to be.
There is no need to Hit Arizona's battleship!!! IT HAS ALREADY SUNK!!!! Pull the grey hair away from your eyes. Even your so called God should know when it is time to step down. No one should really care what his divorce is about. He should have known better not to remarry anyways. That decision is just as bad as your brilliant successor O'Neill not saving any timeouts for when it really counts.
By the way he did go on to set the record straight on his divorce. He was trying to save Face and clear the air on his divorce.
I have watched AZ basketball since 1978 and I root for them but there is no way that Olson can ever get this program back to elite status, atleast not while he is still the coach.
HE IS NOT THE COACH HE USED TO BE. HE HAS LOST TOUCH, HE CANNOT COACH THE KIDS OF TODAY..........HE HAS PROVED THAT SINCE THE DONNELL HARRIS BAGEL AND SNICKER SNATCHING!!!
