On October 23—the day Olson announced his retirement—Christine Olson showed up at the office of Dr. Steven Knope, Lute's physician and the man who would later reveal that the coach had a stroke within the last year. She had called the office three times that day asking to speak to Knope, but had been denied, and after waiting in the reception area for 20 minutes, she stormed into his empty office and left behind a little present. It was a paper outline of a human body used for target practice at a shooting range. Oh, and this one had 25 bullet holes in it.

Needless to say, Knope has gone all "restraining order" on Christine Olson, who has claimed in the past that Knope "destroyed her marriage." How that might have gone down is anybody's guess, but we think that whatever problems may exist between these good people, they aren't going to be settled over a quiet cup of coffee. Or a fun day out at the gun range.

"Lute's doctor gets restraining order against coach's ex-wife" [Arizona Daily Star]

At the moment, Arizona has no coach. Associate head coach Mike Dunlap has been offered the "interim" gig, but said he has to sleep on it, which probably means that if he can find a better option in the next 24 hours he'll take it. Any recruits they're pursing certainly have to be re-evaluating their position and no one with a sane choice is going to commit until a permanent replacement is found. The botched announcement also made his university look foolish, since spokespeople were forced to deny the report all day long simply because no one bothered to tell them the truth.

If Dunlap turns them down—and he very well might, he's only been at the school since April and has no ties there—their options get real thin, real quick. The ranking assistant is former Wildcat Reggie Geary, who has been on the staff for one year. No established coach is going to run out on his own program this late into October. In other words, this is the kind of thing that dooms programs. Despite all their success under Olson—their streak of 24 straight tournament appearances may be in jeopardy—without the right move now, basketball at Arizona could be set back a decade.

And if that wasn't bad enough, Midnight Lute is a shaky 7/2 in tomorrow's Breeder's Cup Sprint and hasn't won a race in a over a year. Maybe they'll both need to be taken out back and shot.

Olson and others haven't grasped the art of the exit [ESPN]
Lute Lives On in Horse Racing.....Probably [Storming The Floor]
[Photo: AP]

UPDATE: Dunlap has turned down the offer and the interim job will go to first-year Arizona assistant Russ Pennell, who will run the team for the '08-'09 season. Good luck with that, Russ. [Rivals]

Olson has not been seen or heard from today, but the fathers of two highly touted Arizona recruits told the Arizona Daily Star that assistant coaches confirmed the decision to them today. ESPN hasn't wavered from their story one bit and Jason Gershon of the Arizona Rivals.com site says he has confirmation as well, and that at least one of those recruits will be pulling his commitment for now. We assume the rest of the Arizona community will be informed during half-time of the home opener, when Kevin O'Neill will be called out to center court for a ceremonial pantsing by the Olson family.

• LUTE OLSON RETIREMENT CONFIRMED (Updated) [Arizona Star Daily]
• Go AZ Cats [Rivals]
• Lute Olson’s Legacy [Rush The Court]
Thanks to Storming the Floor for their help on this story.

• Olson misses practice, annual Rotary luncheon [Arizona Daily Star]

"I said, 'Do you want to be an assistant for three more years or five more years? He said, 'No.'"

Olson's 48-minute press conference was reportedly stand-offish, blunt and a little confrontational as the media attempted to get some answers about why exactly the coach needed to take off so much time:

Frankly, even though I realize I'm a public figure, I don't think I need to go into every nuance of my private life. There were things going on in my life that did create some health issues that I needed time to address. But it was not a health scare."

Um, you kind of do, coach. Not every nuance, but perhaps you could offer a little bit of self-deprecation or enthusiasm toward the media and the fanbase that respectfully backed off of your ugly marital turmoil the whole time you were having your end-of-life crisis. And even though the coach said yesterday that he's "excited" to be back (but didn't act like it ), the only question really left to answer is this: Is Arizona excited to have him back?

'Zona's Olson Spars With Media [SI]
Olson: O'Neill Out [Wildcat Online]

One day after announcing that his leave of absence has extended throughout the 2007-08 basketball season, UA head coach Lute Olson has filed for divorce from his wife, Christine Torretti.

According to reports in the Arizona Daily Star and Tucson Citizen, the divorce was filed on Thursday in the Pima County Superior Court and it marks the end of a marriage that began in April of 2003.

Arizona's players and commitments were notified of the divorce on Thursday night before the team departed from Phoenix to Chicago for the Wildcats' game against Illinois on Dec. 8.

Lute's personal life has always been quite public in Tucson, and his relationship with Christine has been no exception. I find it odd that a divorce would force someone to take off an entire season, they are fairly common after all. Regardless, the Wildcats program is in good shape with or without the official campus Grandpa. Kevin O'Neill might be the perfect coach for this supremely talented roster. Hell, they'll probably be better off come March.

Fortunately Lute's family life hasn't been a cause of concern for Arizona's current recruiting class. None are expected to budge from their commitments, which is good, because Brandon Jennings is quite possibly the best high school player on the planet. Oak Hill's star point guard dropped 45 points on Booker T. Washington earlier this week. So when Lute comes back next season, he'll be coming back to this...

GOAZCats

"I've given 110 percent to this team and this job," Olson said through his wife Christine's press personnel. "In light of this personal matter, I feel it is in the best interest of the team and the University of Arizona to take a leave of absence."
At a news conference Sunday, Arizona Athletic Director Jim Livengood confirmed it was not a health-related issue, repeating that it was a personal issue. Olson has asked for his family's privacy, and Livengood and O'Neill have asked the media to respect those wishes.

It's pretty obvious that it would take something of great significance to pull Coach Olson away from his team, especially with the season getting underway. The last time the Hall of Famer missed significant time was back in 2001, when Olson lost his wife Bobbi to cancer.

Newly imported assistant coach Kevin O'Neil will take over the program until Olson can return. O'Neil is best known as the former head coach of the Toronto Raptors (they're like an NBA team only they play in Canada) and an assistant with the Pacers and Knicks. The suspected Canadian was brought in to be the heir apparent to Olson's kingdom, but now he's going to have to pick things up as he goes. The roster is stacked with talent and assistant coach Josh Pastner has an intimate familiarity with all things Arizona basketball.

It's also worth noting that Olson's grandson, and former walk-on, Matt Brase is a member of the coaching staff.