OT: Summer Reading (Basketball related) | Syracusefan.com

OT: Summer Reading (Basketball related)

cliftonparksufan

Iggy Award Czar/Co 2020-21 Iggy Award Winner PPG
Joined
Aug 14, 2011
Messages
17,229
Like
30,431
Just finished up Lute! a book about Lute Olson. It was published in 2007 so it doesn't tell everything about his complete life and his death in 2020. But it's a great book and you can hit up Wiki for the rest of the story. Olson is similar to Boeheim in which he grew up in a small town and eventually made his mark coaching at small town, big fish schools. But unlike JAB, Olson coached high school and community college ball for something like the first 15 years of his career and didn't take his first four-year college job until he was 39. He still ended up in five Final Fours, winning one, and coulda, shoulda won others except for key injuries at the wrong time.

Talks a lot about his wife Bobbi and then his second wife Christine. It's pretty sad what happened with Bobbi. Great book. Easy read. I've read a lot of other coach's books, like Belichick and Jay Wright, among others, and it's always great to see what they think their priorities are, whether in life or on the court. You definitely get a much great appreciation for guys like Boeheim and Olson who were so successful for so long, pulling the right strings with 18-22 year olds. Olson just happened to have a master's in psychology.

 
Last edited:
Just finished up Lute! a book about Lute Olson. It was published in 2007 so it doesn't tell everything about his complete life and his death in 2020. But it's a great book and you can hit up Wiki for the rest of the story. Olson is similar to Boeheim in which he grew up in a small town and eventually made his mark coaching at small town, big fish schools. But unlike JAB, Olson coached high school and community college ball for something like the first 15 years of his career and didn't take his first four-year college job until he was 39. He still ended up in five Final Fours, winning one, and coulda, shoulda won others except for key injuries at the wrong time.

Talks a lot about his wife Bobbi and then his second wife Christine. It's pretty sad what happened with Bobbi. Great book. Easy read. I've read a lot of other coach's books, like Belichick and Jay Wright, among others, and it's always great to see what they think their priorities are, whether in life or on the court. You definitely get a much great appreciation for guys like Boeheim and Olson who were so successful for so long, pulling the right strings with 18-22 year olds. Olson just happened to have a master's in psychology.

If I recall though Olsen’s retirement was rather sad. He was pretty much forced to retire when his behavior prompted doctors to order an MRI where they realized he had suffered a stroke probably the year before. Arizona administration, friends etc were very worried about his erratic and out of character behavior his last year or so coaching. He was missing functions, practices etc and doctors advised his immediate retirement before another season.

Just an aside - I can’t believe that Jay Wright won’t be coaching next year.
 
If I recall though Olsen’s retirement was rather sad. He was pretty much forced to retire when his behavior prompted doctors to order an MRI where they realized he had suffered a stroke probably the year before. Arizona administration, friends etc were very worried about his erratic and out of character behavior his last year or so coaching. He was missing functions, practices etc and doctors advised his immediate retirement before another season.

Just an aside - I can’t believe that Jay Wright won’t be coaching next year.
Yes, the book was written before any of that happened, but people can google for more info. His second marriage only lasted like five years and supposedly there were allegations from both sides about hiding money or something. Plus, Lute sat out a year coaching and supposedly promised Kevin O'Neill, who grew up in Northern NY, the HCIW position and then reneged on it with O'Neill being the 2nd coach he did that to. But, in retrospect, it was probably the right decision not to promote O'Neill. Then he got married for a third time. His behavior definitely changed during all this time, and not for the better. Hopefully other older coaches can read the handwriting on the wall.
 
Yes, the book was written before any of that happened, but people can google for more info. His second marriage only lasted like five years and supposedly there were allegations from both sides about hiding money or something. Plus, Lute sat out a year coaching and supposedly promised Kevin O'Neill, who grew up in Northern NY, the HCIW position and then reneged on it with O'Neill being the 2nd coach he did that to. But, in retrospect, it was probably the right decision not to promote O'Neill. Then he got married for a third time. His behavior definitely changed during all this time, and not for the better. Hopefully other older coaches can read the handwriting on the wall.
Being proactive with one’s health is key. I imagine the stress over that marriage/divorce certainly didn’t help at his age. Sad.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
167,127
Messages
4,681,571
Members
5,900
Latest member
DizzyNY

Online statistics

Members online
39
Guests online
1,597
Total visitors
1,636


Top Bottom