Hall of Fame basketball coach Lute Olson, who built Arizona into a national power and led the Wildcats to the school’s only NCAA championship, has died at the age of 85.
Olson was hospitalized last year after a stroke, and was recently transferred to hospice care.
His death was confirmed by family to media outlets in Arizona.
Olson went 589-187 in 24 seasons in Arizona, leading the Wildcats to four Final Four appearances, 23 consecutive NCAA tournaments and 11 Pac-10 titles, as well as the 1997 national title.
He was inducted into the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002 and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006, and a statue of Olson was erected in 2018 outside the McKale Memorial Center.
Olson ended his coaching career with a record of 776-285 in 34 seasons in Arizona, Iowa and Long Beach State.
Arizona won just four games in 1982-83, the season before Olson arrived in Tucson, and had reached the NCAA Tournament twice since 1951.
But the Wildcats turned things around quickly under Olson, reaching the NCAA Tournament in his second season at the school and advancing to the school’s first Final Four in 1987-88, when they finished 35-3.
Arizona reached the Final Four again in 1994 before winning its first and only NCAA title in 1998, when newcomer Mike Bibby and junior Miles Simon Olson led the Wildcats past heavily favored Kentucky in the championship game.
The Wildcats also advanced to the national championship game under Olson in 2001, when they were defeated by Duke.
Olson began his coaching career in 1973-74 at Long Beach State, where he went 24-2, before being hired the following season in Iowa. He coached the Hawkeyes to the NCAA Tournament five times in nine seasons.
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