DAVID SANDERS / arizona daily star 1997

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Lute Olson spent nearly half of his 49-year Hall of Fame basketball-coaching career at Arizona, leading teams respected for their success and stability.

Over the past 18 months, however, he made several uncharacteristic changes. Most notably, Olson took an unexplained leave of absence for the 2007-08 season, and shook up his coaching staff before and after the break.

In April 2007, Olson removed longtime associate head coach Jim Rosborough, and replaced him with former college and NBA head coach Kevin O'Neill, who had served as an assistant to Olson in the late 1980s. By October 2007, Olson said having O'Neill on the staff would give him an additional "hammer" for disciplining his players.

But by Nov. 4, O'Neill took over for Olson, who announced his leave. "It's not a health scare, but rather a personal matter that needs my undivided attention," Olson said in a statement, issued by his wife's public relations firm.

Olson returned for several practices later in November but on Dec. 6, announced he would miss the rest of the season. He filed for divorce from his second wife, Christine, on the same day.

UA athletic director Jim Livengood named O'Neill the eventual successor to Olson on Dec. 18, and the Wildcats went on to their 24th straight NCAA tournament appearance despite an uneven season in which they finished seventh in the Pac-10 Conference. But shortly after Olson returned following the season, he held a combative news conference in which he announced that O'Neill would not be on the staff this season.

Olson later said it was "difficult to see 25 years of hard work almost down the tubes," but changed his tune during his preseason media day on Tuesday. "I think the staff did a very good job with them," Olson said. "It may be that the philosophy was different but I think they got the most out of them."

O'Neill stayed on the UA staff as a fundraiser until June, when he became an assistant coach of the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies. As it turned out, it was the first move toward a completely new staff: Josh Pastner left to take a similar position at the University of Memphis, while Miles Simon was fired in a move that Olson indicated came from the UA athletic administration.

During the past off-season, turbulence continued on the recruiting front. Two of his incoming freshmen, Brandon Jennings and Emmanuel Negedu, backed out.

Jennings, rated the top point guard in the class of 2008, opted to sign a professional contract in Italy. Negedu successfully received a release from his binding UA letter of intent because he was unhappy with the assistant coaching changes, then enrolled at Tennessee.

The UA also lost two 2009 prospects when point guard Abdul Gaddy and Greg Smith decommitted from nonbinding commitments, though Gaddy eventually recommitted and the Cats did pull in a pair of well-regarded wing forwards, Solomon Hill and Mike Moser. Olson also added a pair of lower-rated recruits, guard Gerald Judkins and forward Darnell Shumpert, to his 2008-09 roster.

For most of his Arizona tenure, especially after reaching the 1988 Final Four, Olson was able to pull in many of the nation's top players, especially in the backcourt. As a result, the Cats went to Final Fours in 1988, 1994, 1997 and 2001, winning the national championship in 1997.

The 1997 title came in dramatic, surprising fashion. The UA finished fifth in the Pac-10 and earned a No. 4 seed in the tournament, yet ousted three No. 1 seeds en route to the title.

Arizona knocked off No. 1 Kansas in the Sweet 16, topped Providence in overtime in the Elite Eight, then went on to beat a pair of No. 1 seeds in the Final Four, North Carolina and Kentucky.

"We said, 'We want to win now,' " recalled Simon, the 1997 Final Four MVP. "I think that was our mentality."

Although the title may have been seen as the pinnacle of Olson's career, he also led the Wildcats to a 30-5 record in 1997-98, when they were shockingly defeated by Utah in the West Region final.

A year after the Cats went to their last Final Four under Olson, in 2001, he did what may have been his best coaching job. Olson started guard Salim Stoudamire and center Isaiah Fox, while thrusting Luke Walton and Rick Anderson into leadership roles along with the soft-spoken but hard-nosed guard Jason Gardner.

Unranked at the beginning of the season, the Cats went 24-10 and reached the Sweet 16. Perhaps not ironically, Olson was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame after the season.

Olson's Hall of Fame credentials included not only his accomplishments at the UA but also his 1980 Final Four at Iowa and the gold medal he coached Team USA to in the 1986 World Championship.

Team USA, which included Navy's David Robinson and the UA's Sean Elliott as well as then-relatively unknown UA guard Steve Kerr, defeated the Soviets 87-85 in the gold medal game.

"It looks pretty good, doesn't it?" Olson said after receiving a gold medal. "My feeling is one of elation."

Olson experienced similar highs at many levels, starting at Mahnomen (Minn.) High School, near his hometown of Mayville, N.D. Just a year out of Augsburg (Minn.) College, Olson coached Mahnomen to a 22-3 record in 1956-57 and was promptly given an $800 raise to take over Two Harbors High for $4,000 per year.

Olson spent four seasons at Two Harbors, moved to Colorado for a year, then picked up his career again in California. He led Marina High School of Huntington Beach to four straight 20-win seasons before taking over at Long Beach City College in 1969, which led him to Division I at Long Beach State, then Iowa.