At halftime of the 1985 Final Four game between Georgetown and St. John's, ESPN's Dick Vitale announced that Lute Olson had agreed to become the next coach at Kentucky.
Tucson froze.
Olson had been seen leaving Kentucky's Rupp Arena that weekend in a new Mercedes with UK athletic director Cliff Hagan and several Kentucky boosters. Olson could not be contacted for almost 24 hours until Arizona athletic director Cedric Dempsey finally reached him at the home of a Kentucky booster.
Daily Star reporter Jack Magruder, who had flown to Kentucky, contacted Dempsey 24 hours after ESPN's announcement and was read a statement from the 50-year-old Olson that said, "the position was never offered to me."
Said Dempsey: "I'm elated, relieved and will sleep well. I don't believe money was a factor. Lute never came to me and mentioned money. He felt he was fairly compensated here."
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Kentucky hired Oklahoma State's Eddie Sutton a few days later.
Olson and his wife, Bobbi, flew home to Tucson the next day. Upon landing, Olson drove to McKale Center and held a press conference. The third-floor room at McKale was standing room only. You could sense the relief from those in the room.
From left, Arizona coach Lute Olson, his wife, Bobbi, former athletic director Cedric Dempsey, athletic director Jim Livengood and UA President Peter Likins during a ceremony at McKale Center on Feb. 26, 2000.
"Tucson is unique, that's the big factor," Olson said. "We have enjoyed ourselves so much here," Olson said he did not want to be in a "fishbowl" that comes with being the coach at Kentucky. Tucson, he said, gave him his space.
Now Tucson holds its collective basketball breath again, fearful that North Carolina or possibly Kansas will pursue UA coach Tommy Lloyd. It takes me back to what Steve Kerr, then coming off his sophomore season at Arizona, said during the Olson-to-Kentucky paranoia. "We have to remember it's his life and career. The Kentucky job is the top of the coaching world and I will respect his decision."
Arizona's basketball coaching job is clearly one of the 10 leading positions in the game. I would ask: If you can recruit the kind of talent Olson and Lloyd have recruited to Tucson, why in the world go anywhere else? Why would you want to chase the ghosts at North Carolina or Kansas? The compensation is so off the charts that it can't possibly be a difference-maker.
Unless there is some unknown narrative — such as discord within the UA athletic department — it's doubtful Lloyd could find more happiness than he has created in Tucson. But as Kerr said 40 years ago, this is Lloyd's life and career. He'll do what he thinks is best for him and his family.
In the last 60 years, 10 prominent UA coaches and administrators left for what they considered better opportunities. Most of those decisions created surprise. Never say never, right? Here's what prompted those 10 Wildcat leaders to leave:
– 1969: Track coach Carl Cooper, a UA alumnus from Tucson High who coached three Olympic medalists in the 1960s, left to become the executive director of the USA Track and Field Federation. His lure? It was the most important job in American track and field. Cooper later retired in Tucson.
– 1972: Tennis coach Dave Snyder, who had coached Arizona to seven Top 10 finishes in the NCAA with a 149-29-2 record, left to become head coach at Texas, his alma mater. Snyder became the second-winningest tennis coach in NCAA history at Texas.
– 1975: Football coach Jim Young, who had coached Arizona to unprecedented success — consecutive seasons of 8-3, 9-2 and 9-2 — left to become the head coach at Purdue. The lure? Arizona was then in the WAC, a mid-major. At Purdue and later Army, Young became a College Football Hall of Fame coach. He later retired in Tucson.
– 1986: Football coach Larry Smith, whose team had been ranked as high as No. 3 and went 9-3 and 8-3-1 his last two seasons, became the head coach at USC. The lure? He went to three Rose Bowls at USC and got a significant raise. He later retired in Tucson.
– 1994: Athletic director Dempsey, on the job for 11 years, left to become the executive director of the NCAA, the most prestigious job in college sports.
– 2011: Swimming coach Frank Busch, who coached UA to back-to-back NCAA championships and finished in swimming's "Final Four" (men/women) 15 times, left to become director of the USA Swimming Olympic National Teams. He later retired in Tucson.
– 2016: Athletic director Greg Byrne left to become athletic director at Alabama, where he remains.
Jay Johnson said many will question why he left UA, but he couldn't pass up the LSU job. "You stare down the challenge," he said. "You figure out how to put the pieces in place to be successful, and then we're going for it.”
– 2021: Baseball coach Jay Johnson, coming off his second College World Series appearance, left to become LSU's head coach. He has won two NCAA titles at LSU and is paid $3.05 million a year, the highest-paid coach in college baseball.
– 2023: Football coach Jedd Fisch left to become head coach at Washington, where he remains. He is paid $7.5 million a year, about $3 million more than he made at Arizona.
– 2024: Women's golf coach Laura Ianello, a UA alumna who had won an NCAA championship as a player and as the UA's 2018 coach, left to be the head coach at Texas, where she remains. She is paid $295,000 at Texas, about $100,000 more than she made at Arizona.
Sometimes money talks, sometimes it's the appeal of a bigger stage. Lloyd seems to have both of those at Arizona.
