Christopher Wuensch Staff Writer

21 years in, Lute keeps on winning

Can you remember what you were doing in 1982?

Prince was 17 years ahead of his time with his mega-hit "1999," and Men at Work were still making albums. Back then, movies such as "E.T." and "Poltergeist" were probably scaring you to death, while the third installments of "Rocky" and "Star Trek" were paving the future of jocks and nerds everywhere.

Just two years into those awesome Î80s, the University of Iowa had just lost its head coach. The man who had taken the Hawkeyes to the NCAA Midwest Regional Final that year had accumulated a 168-90 record in nearly a decade's worth of coaching. In fact, the North Dakota farm-bred coach became the winningest coach in Hawkeye history ÷ he's since been surpassed by Tom Davis with 259 wins.

Before he arrived in Iowa City, the Hawkeyes were a marginal program that won a mere four Big Ten Championships since 1904. Five straight tourney appearances and a trip to the Final Four later, the man who would become Tucson's number-one citizen left and said goodbye to the Midwest ÷ and Lute Olson became a Wildcat.

Over two decades later, the locals back in Solon, Iowa still remember Olson. The slightest mention of the silver-haired Hall of Fame coach causes smiles right before they point and tell you that he used to live right there: "On the other side of Lake MacBride."

Twenty-one years. That's a long time, yet Olson keeps on coaching and, more importantly, keeps on winning. Next Wednesday against NAU ÷ barring an upset of Biblical proportions ÷ the Hall of Fame coach is going to win his 500th game as Wildcat skipper, a fitting way to tip off the 100th season of Arizona basketball.

A lot has happened in the time it took Olson to accumulate those half-thousand victories. Since he took the reins of Wildcat basketball, the United States has been led by four different presidents with a total of six terms. Communism still flourished in Russia and Czechoslovakia was still only one country. "Revenge of the Nerds" was filmed on the campus of the UA and Michael Jackson was still black. Grunge music, Vanilla Ice and mullets all thankfully disappeared as fast as they came.

Well, two out of three aren't so bad.

Consider this: Olson has been manning Arizona's sidelines for so long that half of his dozen current players weren't even born before he coached his first game as a Wildcat. Heck, he had almost 20 wins under his belt before freshman Beau Muhlbach was born.

Even with No. 500 right around the corner, another milestone is looming in the not-too-distant future for Olson. At 69 years young, Olson will be in a race to his 700th career win with another coaching legend and fellow Naismith Memorial Hall of Famer, John Chaney of Temple University. The owl-eyed Chaney, who was enshrined into the Hall a year before Olson, enters the 2003-04 campaign needing seven wins to reach the milestone. Olson needs nine. Chances are that mark will be celebrated in the Southwest before it is in Philadelphia.

Which of Olson's five children and 14 grandchildren do you think will be on hand to relish that victory? I know one who will be. Grandson Matt Brase just happens to be sitting on the end of Olson's bench.

With the proper tutelage, Brase could, in theory, become the 47th player Olson has had drafted into the NBA lottery. Chances are he won't, but someone on this year's squad will be, and perhaps more than one.

Under Olson, no other school in the Pac-10 has put more players into the NBA than the UA. With stars such as Channing Frye, Hassan Adams, Andre Iguodala and Salim Stoudamire, one of them is bound to follow in the footsteps of the 10 current NBA players that passed through the Mckale Center's halls before them.

Can you remember what you were doing in 1982?

Lute Olson can. He was winning basketball games.