Hoops coach enters 22nd season at UA feeling as young as ever
When Lute Olson woke up today to celebrate his 70th birthday, the legendary Arizona men's basketball head coach wasn't at his home in the Tucson foothills.
He was instead on the road yet again, recruiting, and, according to those close to him, he wouldn't have it any other way.
"He'll have a 4 a.m. wake up call, be in two or three states in one day with recruits; but he'll still be able to do that each day," said Olson's daughter Jody Brase, whose son, Matt, is a senior forward playing for Olson's Wildcats. "It's how he looks 20 years younger - or more - than he is."
"He's the youngest 70-year-old guy I know," said Ryan Hansen, director of basketball operations. "I'm 30 and he's probably in better shape than I am."
Hansen said that for Olson - after 30 years of coaching, 711 victories, five Final Four appearances and a National Championship - age hasn't come close to becoming a factor because of how hard he's always worked at staying in shape.
When it comes to getting in the weight room, Olsen might have a better work ethic than some of the players, added Brad Arnett, the UA athletics department's head strength and conditioning coach. Arnett said players know they have to work hard because Olson's in there with them a lot of the time.
"If they're not pulling their weight, he just gives them that look, and it's an immediate change," said Arnett of Olson's effect on his players, adding that the 22-year UA coach uses a 27-piece circuit machine to work out at least three days a week. "When it comes to my job as far as emphasizing the nutrition aspect of things, kids being in shape, as far as maintaining it, being consistent, it's never a problem with him because he's probably in better shape than some of our kids."
So if Olson is doing great physically, the question remains: Is he still able to relate to his players, some of which may be more than 50 years younger than Olson?
Associate head coach Jim Rosborough isn't worried.
"We are kind of doing two or three things here," said Rosborough. "We are here for the academics, we are here for the basketball and we are here for the social thing. I've never found it hard to relate to the kids. We're all dealing with the same things. If we ever lost touch with the kids, we'd be done."
"I think they respect us," said Rosborough. "We work hard giving to the kids. Sometimes we have to give them tough love, and I think they understand that. We get a year older, but we've dealt with this 17-22 age group for years. What are we going to hear that we haven't heard before?"
Brase said setting an example is what Olson's coaching philosophy is all about.
"He feels if he doesn't uphold what he strongly believes in, how can he expect his players to do that?" Brase said. He's said year after year 'I would not go out on the court for gameday if I haven't done my hour of exercise. I expect my players to do that and I know that it's the best thing for anybody."
Olson is downplaying the big day, though. Brase said that he wanted to be together with his family. His family - and extended family in McKale Center - expects him to return from the recruiting trip sometime this afternoon. Brase said the family has a small get-together planned for later tonight.
As for a campus celebration, Rosborough said there are just a few small plans, like lighting up the scoreboard in McKale with a birthday message and having Jay Rees, the UA director of bands, bring some members of the pep band over to the UA basketball office to perform.
"It'll be a fun day," said Rosborough.
"It's better when we're singing to Lute than when he's singing to us," he added with a laugh, referring to Olson's lack of talent in performance arts.
And if everything stays the way it is, with Lute Olson at the helm, it could be another fun decade for Arizona basketball.