Gary Parrish

Here's Monday's Dear Gary ...

Dear Gary: Lute Olson (is the) best ever. Didn't get any free handouts. Recruited all the best talent away from UCLA and USC. Huggins is a scumbag!!!!!!! Parrish likes Huggins because he's a redneck like Parrish is.

-- Colin

This was a response to Saturday's post about Bob Huggins, the one where I asked "in terms of strictly winning and losing, how many coaches over the past 25 years have been as good and steady as Huggins has been?" My premise was based on the fact that Huggins has produced 22 winning records in 23 seasons as a Division I head coach while winning at least 20 games in 20 of those years, and though Colin's reaction was laced with the stupidity that some extreme fans possess, his central point about Lute Olson was on target, and I absolutely believe that Olson would be a strong contender in any conversation about the most consistent college basketball coaches of the past 25 years.

Olson coached Arizona to 23 consecutive NCAA tournaments before taking a leave of absence and subsequently retiring, and his last losing season was 1983-84. He also took Iowa to five consecutive NCAA tournaments before moving to Arizona, so I wouldn't have a problem if somebody put Olson first on the list, placed Roy Williams right behind him and then started the debate between Huggins, Mike Krzyzewski, Tom Izzo, Jim Calhoun, John Calipari, Rick Barnes, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith, Jim Boeheim, Bill Self, Ben Howland and Bruce Pearl (if you count his years at Division II Southern Indiana).

Who am I missing?

And again, remember, I'm not talking about national titles, Final Fours or anything like that, exactly. I'm talking about a list of the men over the past 25 years who most consistently coached successful teams, i.e., the men who can be relied upon most to produce a winner year in and year out.

The ongoing (and never-ending) Lute Olson saga took another turn this week.

And this one is really bizarre.

According to the Arizona Daily Star, Olson's doctor filed a restraining order against Olson's ex-wife, Christine, the same day he announced his retirement. The newspaper reported that the restraining order was filed after Christine Toretti allegedly threatened Olson's doctor verbally and then by -- ready for this? -- placing a bullet-riddled target sheet on his chair in his office.

That's straight-up gangster.

And I really have no idea why this couldn't be a great reality series.

Russ Pennell will be Arizona's interim coach, the school is expected to announce Friday afternoon.

According to a source, the decision to go with Pennell came after associate head coach Mike Dunlap's request (formal or otherwise) to be Lute Olson's permanent successor was not granted. Pennell, 47, joined the Arizona staff in May. Last season, he was the radio analyst for Arizona State, where he had previously been an assistant under Rob Evans.

Arizona will conduct a national search to find a permanent replacement.

Among the names sure to surface are Gonzaga's Mark Few and Pitt's Jamie Dixon.

Here's Friday's Dear Gary ...

Dear Gary: How about a list of coaches or your views on who Arizona may consider to replace Lute Olson? ... I think Tennessee's Bruce Pearl would be a good candidate (after he buys a suit).

-- UKFan68

A Kentucky fan trying to get Pearl out of the SEC East, huh?

You sneaky devil you.

Seriously, what Pearl has done at Tennessee in three seasons is remarkable, so you'll get no argument from me about whether he'd be good at Arizona. But as I said minutes after Thursday's news came down, the two obvious top candidates to replace Olson on a permanent basis should be Gonzaga's Mark Few and Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon.

Would either come right now?

No, not at this minute.

Both have Final Four-caliber teams and neither would relocate less than two weeks before Arizona's first exhibition. So what that means is that the Wildcats will likely use an interim this season (it'll be assistant Russ Pennell, according to a source) and then conduct a national search that should start and stop with Few or Dixon.

You want some other possibilities?

VCU's Anthony Grant would be intriguing, as would Washington State's Tony Bennett. And if athletic director Jim Livengood wanted to "keep it in the family" he could tab former Arizona player and assistant Josh Pastner, who is now at Memphis. Obviously, Pastner is only 31 and without head coaching experience. But if you think he's going to be good (and just about everybody does) then why not go for it if you are compelled to move quickly and strongly?

I mean, Billy Donovan was 28 when he got his first head coaching gig.

John Calipari was 29.

Those two have done OK, haven't they?

But again, I'm just throwing out Grant, Bennett and Pastner as back-up plans, because the first two options should be Few and Dixon. Both are experienced and proven winners with west-coast ties (Few has been in the WCC forever and is from Oregon; Dixon is from the Los Angeles-area and assisted Ben Howland at Northern Arizona in the mid-1990s) and still young enough (Few is 45, Dixon 42) to where it's reasonable to think they'll be going strong for at least another 15 years. And, yes, I honestly believe one of them (if not both) would accept an offer after this season under certain circumstances because they will both be facing revamped rosters in 2009-10, making it an ideal time to leave if they were ever going to leave (Gonzaga will lose Jeremy Pargo, Josh Heytvelt, Micah Downs and perhaps Austin Daye after this season; Pitt will lose Sam Young, Levance Fields and perhaps DeJuan Blair).

Now I know what you're thinking, Gonzaga and Pitt fans.

You're thinking that Few and Dixon have already turned down multiple opportunities to leave, that they love their jobs and wouldn't mind retiring from their current positions. I acknowledge all of that to be true. But you must understand Arizona is a different animal, one of the top 10 programs in America, and that it would be difficult for either to pass on this gig if they felt comfortable with the administration and received the money Arizona is capable of dishing out.

As for Few specifically, at what point does he become bored killing folks in the WCC? You’ve got to think he'll want to try something new at some point, and Arizona would be a great situation, about as good a situation as would ever present itself. So those would be the reasons for Few to leave Gonzaga, to face a new challenge and see if he can run one of the nation's power programs.

And trust me, he'd be great at Arizona.

But so would Dixon.

And to the Pitt fans who have already emailed to inform me that if Dixon was in a hurry to get back west he would've taken the California job after last season, I'll just ask whether you ever considered whether it's possible Dixon rejected California because he knew Arizona would be opening soon? It would be crazy to take the Cal job if you thought you could get Arizona a year or two later, wouldn't it? And as I pointed out in Thursday's column, nobody in basketball circles really thought Olson was going to last more than one more year, meaning it's pretty safe to assume Dixon saw this day coming and has long known he'd be an obvious candidate.

Anyway, that's my long answer to a short question.

Arizona should hire an interim coach, get through this season and then pursue Few or Dixon.

Assuming the Wildcats could get one of them, the program would be set for 15 years.

And then these tumultuous times would seem like a distant memory.

Lute Olson is stepping down as Arizona's basketball coach, a source has confirmed to CBSSports.com.

The development comes less than a week after the start of official practice and one day after Olson, 74, missed a workout and scheduled speaking engagement at the Rotary Club of Tucson luncheon for what was deemed "health-related" reasons by Arizona officials, including athletic director Jim Livengood. Associate head coach Mike Dunlap is expected to replace Olson on an interim basis.

ESPN's Dick Vitale first reported the news Thursday.

A message left on the cell phone of Livengood by CBSSports.com was not immediately returned.

Looking ahead, it's reasonable for fans of Gonzaga and Pittsburgh to start worrying because Mark Few and Jamie Dixon will almost certainly develop into serious candidates to replace Olson on a permanent basis. Few obviously has strong west-coast ties while Dixon, from the Los Angeles area, is familiar with the state of Arizona given how he assisted Ben Howland at Northern Arizona in the mid-1990s.

Just five months after reaching a divorce settlement, 74-year-old Lute Olson is engaged again.

This time to a 47-year-old woman named Kelly Pugnea.

"She's a fantastic lady,'' Olson told the Tucson Citizen. "Everyone who meets her finds her very, very special.''

No wedding date has been set for the Arizona coach.

But assuming things move forward, this will be the third marriage for Olson.

I clicked on GoAzCats.com, curious how it played the good news/bad news of Monday.
 
Turns out, it just ignored the bad news altogether.
 
And there's a solid reason for that, I guess.
 
See, that Jim Storey character who runs the Cactus Classic tournament that Lute Olson was apparently trying to help with funds (against NCAA rules) also happens to be the creator and principal of GoAzCats.com, the fan website that focuses on all things Arizona. Well, not all things. It currently features news on Abdul Gaddy's commitment. And the Wildcats' loss in football to New Mexico. And Mike Stoops' subsequent press conference. But it noticeably ignores the fact that Olson is under investigation for allegedly trying to raise funds for Storey, which suggests editorial freedom isn't much of a priority as GoAzCats.com. 

On the other hand, the site did break the story on Gaddy's commitment.
 
So maybe it's just an old-fashioned trade-off.
 
I'll feed you news if you ignore mine.

How did Lute Olson respond to news that he is being investigated for a possible NCAA violation?

By landing a huge commitment, of course.

Though the timing is probably a coincidence, Arizona's bad day turned good quickly when Scout.com's Evan Daniels reported Monday night that Abdul Gaddy has committed to the Wildcats. Gaddy is considered to be the second best point guard in the Class of 2009, ranked only behind John Wall. He chose the Wildcats over UCLA and immediately made Arizona fans rejoice despite earlier news that the school has reported an apparent violation by Olson.

According to the report, a letter featuring the electronic signature of Olson was sent to boosters asking for a donation to Jim Storey's Arizona Cactus Classic basketball tournament, held last May at Arizona's McKale Center. NCAA rules prohibit institutional representatives or boosters from arranging financial assistance for potential recruits. And though Olson denied any knowledge of the letter, Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood told the Pac-10 office that "others inside and outside of the department stated that they thought that (Olson) had requested that the letter be sent."

In other words, Livengood isn't buying Olson's story. So the investigation will continue. But in the meantime Arizona fans can celebrate because the commitment of a big recruit followed the news of a possible recruiting violation, and the former tends to trump the latter ... or at least make fans not care quite so much.

Like I wrote in Monday's column, I don't agree with Lute Olson's decision to stop recruiting potential one-and-done prospects because I think it's silly to eliminate individuals for no reason other than that they supposedly belong to a group with which you don't think you're interested in dealing. In other words, if you don't want to invite a one-and-done candidate like Renardo Sidney (and the possible NCAA investigation that'll follow him) to campus, I sorta understand. But what I can't understand is why anybody wouldn't want a player like John Henson (committed to North Carolina), if only for a year.

That said, history indicates one-and-done prospects aren't necessary to succeed at the highest level.

In that respect, perhaps Olson is smarter than us all.

Consider that the past three national champions (Florida in 2006, Florida in 2007 and Kansas in 2008) did not have a one-and-done prospect and that just two of the past six national champs (Syracuse with Carmelo Anthony in 2003 and North Carolina with Marvin Williams in 2005) did. Furthermore, 17 of the past 24 Final Four participants did not use a one-and-done prospect. That's 71 percent and proof that one-year wonders aren't necessarily necessary to be elite ... though I still wouldn't turn away the next Greg Oden if he wanted to spend a season blocking shots for my school.

Anyway, here's the breakdown of Final Four teams from the past six seasons:

(Italics indicates the use of a one-and-done prospect)

--2008 --

Kansas
Memphis (Derrick Rose)
North Carolina
UCLA (Kevin Love)

-- 2007 --

Florida
Ohio State (Greg Oden, Mike Conley, Daequan Cook)
UCLA
Georgetown

-- 2006 --

Florida
UCLA
LSU (Tyrus Thomas)
George Mason

-- 2005 --

North Carolina (Marvin Williams)
Illinois
Michigan State
Louisville

-- 2004 --

Connecticut
Georgia Tech
Duke (Luol Deng)
Oklahoma State

-- 2003 --

Syracuse (Carmelo Anthony)
Kansas
Texas  
Marquette

AKRON, Ohio -- It's been a difficult 12 months at Arizona.

Perhaps you've heard.

From Lute Olson's leave of absence to the Kevin O'Neill experiment to the first-round loss in the NCAA tournament to the departure of Josh Pastner to the Emmanuel Negedu release to the ongoing Brandon Jennings saga, there hasn't been much positive coming out of Tucson. It's been bad, almost non-stop. But a good thing happened when Chase Budinger returned to school and a couple of subsequent recruiting scores have given Arizona fans a much-needed reason to be optimistic.

One of the recruits is Mike Moser.

The other is Greg Smith.

Both committed to the Wildcats within the past three weeks and both are here at the LeBron James Skills Academy. So it should come as no surprise that Olson has spent time in the first row under a basket watching his prospects, and though coaches aren't allowed any contact with players at these events don't think for a second that the prospects didn't notice.

"I loved seeing him," Smith said. "He's one of the greatest coaches of all-time. When I saw him a big smile was on my face."

Here's Monday's Dear Gary ...

Dear Gary: Lute Olson said it was "ridiculous" for Chase Budinger to stay in the draft. Do you think he'll come back?

-- Rob

In a different time I could have a lot of fun with the article in the Tucson paper and Olson's quote about how he thinks it "would be ridiculous for (Budinger) to go out somewhere around 20 or 21 when a year from now he could be in the top six" but at this point I'm kinda over the idea of documenting the strange times at Arizona. Honestly, it feels like piling on, and I'm not interested in piling on because I know it comes off the wrong way to most people, like I'm taking one shot after another at a Hall of Famer and legend.

But I will say this: Let's pretend Budinger, like Olson claims, will go 21st. That means he's guranteed to sign a two-year deal worth roughly $2.1 million, and nobody is ever going to be able to convince me that taking $2.1 million after two years of college is "ridiculous." That's a lot of money, and I'll never call a person ridiculous for taking it particularly when there is no evidence whatsoever that players actually get better in college the way some like to pretend.

I mean, some players get better in college.

But do you think Chase Budinger got better from his freshman to sophomore seasons? I don't. So why should anybody believe he'll get better between his sophomore and junior seasons and launch himself into the top six of next year's draft? It could happen, I guess. After all, that's what Al Horford did between his sophomore and junior seasons. But for every first-round pick who improves his status by remaining in college there is one who hurts himself by remaining in college, and I'd argue even those who don't hurt themselves are taking a risk that from a financial standpoint doesn't make a lot of sense.

So I guess I disagree with Olson.

But either way, I don't think it matters at all, because there isn't a single NBA or NCAA source I've spoken with in the past month who believes Budinger has any intent on returning to college barring a Brandon Rush-type injury. Short of that, he's gone. So Olson's pleas are probably not going to work, though I do like that he's being so vocal in stating what he believes and trying to help his program.