Greg Hansen

[catgrad97]

Remember this oldie but goodie?

Bill comes due for Arizona program engulfed in chaos

Opinion by Greg Hansen

In the end, there was no teary farewell, no band playing, no banners waving, no fairy tale at all.

It was Jim Livengood flanked by two thinkers from the school's public relations brigade, Paul Allvin and Stephen J. MacCarthy, saying something in code that really meant "the lawyers will clean up all the details."

As Don Henley sings, "This is the end, this is the end of the innocence."

By the time the UA puts all the dollars together, Lute Olson's retirement won't be about happy memories; it will be about the chaos that has engulfed Camelot, the once-thriving UA basketball program.

The first guy to knock on the door will be the attorney for Kevin O'Neill, the vagabond coach who a few months ago was publicly announced as Olson's successor.

"When does Kevin start?" his attorney will ask? Let the bidding begin.

Then will come the unhappy calls from parents of UA ballplayers who pledged to become Wildcats because Olson assured them he would be their coach.

There will be no good answer.

"Sorry," they will be told. "Lute didn't tell us, either."

Olson had to re-recruit Chase Budinger and Nic Wise and Jamelle Horne, pledging that if they remained Wildcats, he would erase the sting of last year's dysfunctional drama.

Tough luck, huh?

It's not true that Livengood failed to put an exit strategy into place and was unprepared for this preseason crisis; in fact, he has been working on Olson's departure for months.

Livengood chatted formally with former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery about replacing Olson for this season. But the timing didn't work, and in the end Olson wanted to give it another shot and, well, nobody had enough power to tell him no.

It wasn't good business sense, but when a man coaches you to four Final Fours and 11 Pac-10 titles in what seemed like 11 years, he has the hammer. It was his choice, and perhaps his unwise judgment, to put the program he so artfully built into so much jeopardy. But no one, not even the university president, was willing to back him down.

And so now the bill comes due.

The UA recruiting class of 2009 is all but bankrupt. The team the next coach puts on the floor, in 2009-10, could be as bad as the one Olson inherited in 1983-84.

Because of that, there is a simultaneous feeling of appreciation and one of melancholy. There is also the reality that Olson wasn't going to be able to re-establish Arizona as an elite-level franchise.

"My personal opinion is that this is the right time for Lute to go," said Matt Othick, Arizona's skillful lefty shooting guard from 1989 to '92 who is now a Las Vegas businessman. "I didn't want to see him struggle. He's a special coach, and only a few have ever matched what he accomplished, but things had taken a turn for the worse.

"I'm glad to see that he stepped away before his image could be tarnished."

As Livengood begins to woo a replacement — is John Calipari too much to expect? — it is with a sense of expediency.

The UA athletic program is beholden to Lute's annual yield of about $16 million. It is one of the five or six top-grossing college basketball departments. Season ticket sales have dropped by almost 2,000 since 2006, and it is imperative — urgent for the health of the UA swimming, tennis, softball and baseball teams — that Arizona continues to produce similar basketball revenues.

Every bit as important as Olson's 24 consecutive NCAA tournament seasons are these figures:

● In 2006-07, the Wildcats produced $17,056,700 in basketball revenues.
● In 2007-08, the figure was $16,609,000.

No wonder they put his name at center court. In a self-supporting athletic department, Olson was an ATM. Can you fathom how many UA golf events in Hawaii and how many volleyball recruiting trips were funded by Olson's basketball program?

"Lute didn't have anything left to prove," 1988 Final Four center Tom Tolbert said on his San Francisco radio program Thursday. "Tucson wasn't on the map when he took that job. Tucson was nowhere. But he put it on the map, and he has meant a hell of a lot to that city and to those who played for him."

Or as 1988-91 point guard Matt Muehlebach, a Tucson attorney, said: "We all had visions of Lute going out in the Final Four, or by winning a championship. But this is probably for the best. I'm left with a tremendous, positive feeling about him and Arizona basketball."

In the end, that is what will be remembered. Lute's sloppy departure will be forgotten; his fabulous success will prevail.

What happens next is on Livengood. It's is the ultimate challenge of his long career. His charge is to find a replacement who will win at Olson's level, generate income at Olson's level and carry the torch with similar command.

No one is going to be happy with anything less.

[97cats]

enter Sean Miller

[Daryl Zero]

enter Sean Miller

Did seem pretty grim before this.

[97cats]

Sean Miller April 2009

"and i think over the long haul, as long as we continue to recruit the right players and treat 'em right, and develop them, that success will follow -- especially at a place, like i said, that has had such great success before i even showed up."

[catgrad97]

Miller May 2011

"I am here for the long haul, unconditionally."

[gumby]

enter Sean Miller

Did seem pretty grim before this.

Indeed. I see you, Tim Floyd!

[Sonora919]

The sky was definitely falling back in those days. We ended up being very fortunate to land Miller given the circumstances. That one could have just as easily gone sour and we could be on coach #3 since Lute left trying to figure it all out. A testament to Arizona basketball I suppose.

[UAEebs86]

It bothers me that Hansen continued to take shots at Lute after we all found out he had a stroke. My father had a stroke before he passed and I saw the personality changes. After Ben's stroke, Greg should know better than anyone. Shame on him.

[ASUHATER!]

when exactly is that article from anyway? march of 2009? talking a lot about o'neill though even though he'd been gone for almost a year then right? if i remember correctly, o'neill was hired after the 2006/2007 season and told something about being the successor, lute went on his leave of absence right before the 2007/2008 season started, and then sometime in spring/summer 2008 o'neill left since lute said he wanted to come back and dunlap was hired as well, lute abruptly retires right before the season and dunlap turns down the job and pennell is brought in as well...

but yeah, in about march of 2009 things were bleak. only returning a couple scholarship players, recruiting class was dead, lute was retired, o'neill left, dunlap/pennell were just supposed to be placeholders unlike the "successor" that o'neill was...late march of that year i was honestly leaning towards being convinced i was seeing the death of arizona basketball and that we'd go the way of university of san francisco or ccny or oregon state basketball by 2015.

[ASUHATER!]

The sky was definitely falling back in those days. We ended up being very fortunate to land Miller given the circumstances. That one could have just as easily gone sour and we could be on coach #3 since Lute left trying to figure it all out. A testament to Arizona basketball I suppose.

if we'd hired floyd or someone else, then heck by 2014/15 (8th year A.L., after lute) we could be on our 4th coach if the pennell/dunlap replacement was fired or quit or went to another job within his first 5 years.

[UAtrue]

All the (probably rightful) criticism thrown at Livengood, he did right by bringing in Miller.

[Chicat]

All the (probably rightful) criticism thrown at Livengood, he did right by bringing in Miller.

He really tried to fuck it up. I credit Calipari with the hire more than Livengood.

It bothers me that Hansen continued to take shots at Lute after we all found out he had a stroke. My father had a stroke before he passed and I saw the personality changes. After Ben's stroke, Greg should know better than anyone. Shame on him.

Bothered me too. I always thought that for an opinion piece writer he took too many things personally, including that bizarre press conference after the stroke. Had he been the one dishing out the slights (which he's been known to do) he would have said that it wasn't personal and to lighten up.

[Olsondogg]

I dislike Hansen, always have. But give him credit, he's remained relevant through it all by being Tucson's "journalistic" equivalent of Skip Bayless.

[az91]

I dislike Hansen, always have. But give him credit, he's remained relevant through it all by being Tucson's "journalistic" equivalent of Skip Bayless.

I agree that Hansen has remained relevant despite the passage of time. I think the quality of his articles has actually improved over the last few years. It helps there doesn't seem to be anything personal with Miller like there was with Lute.

[Irish27]

I dislike Hansen, always have. But give him credit, he's remained relevant through it all by being Tucson's "journalistic" equivalent of Skip Bayless.

I agree that Hansen has remained relevant despite the passage of time. I think the quality of his articles has actually improved over the last few years. It helps there doesn't seem to be anything personal with Miller like there was with Lute.

Didn't he say that it was 98.9% that Rondae was gone?

[Daryl Zero]

Didn't he say that it was 98.9% that Rondae was gone?

And he was right. There was a 1.1% chance that Rondae would stay and he did.

[Salty]

The sky was definitely falling back in those days. We ended up being very fortunate to land Miller given the circumstances. That one could have just as easily gone sour and we could be on coach #3 since Lute left trying to figure it all out. A testament to Arizona basketball I suppose.

Technically, Coach Miller is coach #3 since Lute left.

1. KO
2. Pennell
3. Miller

[Merkin]

enter Sean Miller

Did seem pretty grim before this.

Indeed. I see you, Tim Floyd!

[UAtrue]

Tough to be a Miner's fan (or coach, apparently) these days....

[catgrad97]

enter Sean Miller

Did seem pretty grim before this.

Indeed. I see you, Tim Floyd!

I wonder who "ghansen711" is in the comments section? Hmmm...

[Chicat]

The only thing I noticed in the comments section was the guy talking about "hebes" owning the media and how that doesn't make him "atin-Semetic".

[UAEebs86]

Greg Hansen of Arizona Daily Star: 'Arizona is a sinking ship'


https://soundcloud.com/zonesportsnetwor ... hip#t=0:00


Sounds like Pops wants to move back to Utah. I say go for it.

[azcat49]

Well once again Hansen made it about him. I really hope RR and the team listens to that before the game. You know what Sean Miller would do to Hansen in the interview room if he heard that.

Of course maybe RR knows his defense will need such motivation but my goodness, the disrespect was far reaching to all levels of the program

[rgdeuce]

Almost every time I read one of his stories or hear him speak, I wonder how the hell the guy still has a job here. Most sportswriters are going to hit you with some really bizarre takes and some of those are intentional, but this dude does not really grasp sports. He's a "read the Dummy's guide to sports" and regurgitate stuff he has heard guy who has little knowledge of the nuts and bolts of the game. Combine that with the fact that he was in Lute Olson's ass for most of his career. Lute was the king of the town, and sportswriters who do that to figures like him, Rick Pitino, whomever, usually do not last long. Whoever makes the decisions at ADS was probably picked on by jocks, which would explain why the paper has historically seemed to go after athletes and collegiate sports (money) a little harder in their stories. Controversy sells, but from the people I know, maybe 10% like Hansen; 30% dislike him but still read to see what he said this time, or for the occasional story he does do well; and more than half skip right past his stories. Purely anecdotal, but I'd bet those numbers aren't that far off.