Lute Olson Out For Season

We still don't know what exactly is going on with the Lute Olson situation but last night he announced he wasn't coming back this season, only citing "family issues" as a reason. Kevin O'Neill, a more than worthy replacement, will take over.

No jokes for this one, obviously. The problems must be serious to keep him away from the game. And in response to his decision, I stand up and applaud. Olson has handled this whole situation better than any other coach probably would. Coaching a college basketball team is a glamorous job, unlike the NBA it's the coaches who are the celebrities and cornerstones of their program. But as we've seen countless times in the past, the job can control your life. For every Lute Olson, someone with a, you know, healthy perspective on life, there are a dozen crazed lunatics who let their lives, their conscience and their ethics go to hell for the sake of winning and maintaining that life of glamor. Every time I see Jim Calhoun blow a gasket on the sideline or Coach K ream out some official, I wonder the price they paid to earn the privilege to act like that. Yes, everyone in Storrs and Durham love them and they get paid tons of money, make the Hall of Fame and have old media heads slobber all over them. But does anyone really want to take a game that seriously? It's sport, it's entertainment, it's teaching (and not the American Express commercial-style teaching), it's a job-- it's not life.

I thought the media handled this well, never seeming to pry, respecting Olson's track record and his privacy. Andy Katz has been all over the story but used a tremendous amount of discretion in reporting and turns in a great piece today on the whole ordeal. O'Neill is more than capable of leading this team, which is clearly a talented one. I mean, I suppose the recruiting situation gets murky with the uncertainty surrounding Olson's status, but then again, who gives a shit?