What happened with Arizona’s coach?

By Rob Miech (contact)

Monday, Dec. 17, 2007 | 7:09 a.m.

Who: Arizona vs. UNLV

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday

Where: Thomas & Mack Center

Tickets: $16-$34; unlvtickets.com

Jerry Tarkanian and Lute Olson enjoy a good horse race, so it's appropriate that someone gave his horse the moniker that Tarkanian gave Olson.

Midnight Lute, shown here with jockey Shaun Bridgmohan, is a star in Tucson car dealer Paul Weitman's barn.

In October, the 4-year-old colt, guided by jockey Garrett Gomez, won the $2 million Breeder's Cup Sprint at Monmouth Park in New Jersey.

Tarkanian's son George bought a Lexus from Weitman, who co-owns the Bob Baffert-trained horse with Mike Pegram.

Tarkanian came up with the "Midnight Lute" nickname for Olson in 1986, when Tom Tolbert had planned to play at UNLV but switched to Arizona at the last second.

Olson claimed he and his staff were the first to visit Tolbert in his home.

"Lute didn't like it at the time," says Tarkanian, laughing, of the nickname. "Now, I think he's happy with it."

Especially if he had 10 across on his namesake in October.

Even former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian is mystified about Lute Olson's sabbatical from the Arizona program he molded into a national power.

"I don't know what has happened," Tarkanian says. "They're not saying what's wrong, but there's got to be something there."

When the Wildcats come to Las Vegas to play the Rebels on Wednesday, Olson, 73, will not be coaching for the first time in 17 years.

"You think of Arizona, you think of Lute Olson," says UNLV coach Lon Kruger. "It will be a little unusual not to see him on their bench."

Olson leaving the Wildcats is the conundrum of college basketball, fueling rampant speculation about his desire to coach, personal life and health.

Last season, he denied rumors that he was suffering from Parkinson's disease, which is often indicated by a shaking head and hands.

"A complete lie," Olson said at a February news conference. "When you get nervous, you start to shaking a little. But most people my age do (shake)."

Veteran Pac-10 college basketball writer Jon Wilner, who has known Olson for almost 20 years, predicted his retirement will be permanent.

Although it appeared Olson hadn't aged a day for the longest time, Wilner wrote that the Hall of Fame coach looked as if he had aged 10 years when Wilner saw him before this season.

Tarkanian has heard the same line. But he said Olson looked fine and was optimistic when the two crossed paths at Del Mar Race Track, near San Diego, in August.

Olson had finished recruiting, seemed upbeat about the upcoming season and was excited to have former assistant Kevin O'Neill back on his staff.

Olson took a drastic step in the off-season when he essentially fired Jim Rosborough -who had assisted Olson for 28 years, the past 18 with the Wildcats - and hired O'Neill, seemingly to shore up Arizona's defense.

Before he could settle in Tucson, O'Neill was named interim coach at the start of practice when Olson temporarily stepped aside to tend to personal matters.

On Dec. 7, the same day Olson filed for divorce from his second wife, Christine Olson, he announced he wouldn't return to the basketball court this season.

The former Christine Jack Toretti, 22 years younger than Olson, is prominent in Pennsylvania politics and the chief executive of an oil and gas drilling company.

"I'd heard he's had real problems with that lady," Tarkanian says, "that she had problems with people in the Tucson community."

O'Neill's pat answer to the question he's most often asked on the recruiting trail is that he's the coach this season and Olson intends to be the coach next season.

"These are unusual circumstances for any coach," says O'Neill, 50. "There's just a little bit of uncertainty."

Under O'Neill, Arizona plays a gritty man-to-man defense, shelving Olson's zone tendencies. The Wildcats lost to No. 4 Kansas in overtime, defeated No. 9 Texas A&M and beat Illinois in Chicago.

When Kruger coached Florida, games against O'Neill's Tennessee teams were hard-nosed, physical and tough, and Kruger expects the same Wednesday.

Olson calls O'Neill once or twice a week.

"He's asked for his privacy, and I've honored that every step of the way," O'Neill says. "I admire and respect how the kids have handled their business and moved forward."

Olson first hired O'Neill in 1986. Two seasons later, he helped the Wildcats go 35-3 and reach their first Final Four. Then they went 29-4, and O'Neill got the top job at Marquette.

Olson's last act as Arizona's coach might have been choosing his successor.

"Unfortunately, this is not my first rodeo," O'Neill says. "There are good circumstances and bad circumstances. I've been fired, rehired, all that kind of stuff.

"It's helped me, somewhat, deal with this whole thing."