Wife Of The Man Of Cheese With A Basketball Story

While most of us here at LWN Sports Blog write surly, angry stories, the Tar Heel Lady wanted to warm our hearts with a touching tale about Lute Olson. Us male contributors will make sure to write about meat, smashing stuff, and irresponsible drinking to offset the estrogen.

Hello LWN readers! This is Tar Heel Lady, the lovely wife of The Man of Cheese. As an avid fan of this time of year, I have been recruited to discuss and review NCAA Basketball. For my first insightful note on this great blog, I have chosen to pay tribute to Lute Olson.

As we all know, Mr. Olson recently announced that he would not be returning for the remainder of the season as coach for the Arizona Wildcats. I must admit that I was saddened by this news, since I am a fan of this noteworthy coach. Growing up as a Tar Heel fan, I am used to watching silver-haired, wise beyond age coaches lead their teams to victory. As I heard the news that Mr. Olson would not be returning, I experienced some of the same feelings as when I heard that the great and masterful Dean Smith was retiring. Although he is not retiring, it will not be the same without him on the bench for the Wildcats.

Let’s review some of Lute’s great accomplishments. As a coach in Division I basketball, he has earned a great record of 781-280. This is a difficult feat in our time with many talented players opting out for the NBA and many coaches moving on to other colleges after poor seasons. During his time as coach of Arizona, he has pushed his team to earn a place in 11 Pac-10 Championship games. He is one of eight coaches who have coached in five or more Final Fours. He joins the listing of five head coaches in NCAA history to rack up 26 or more seasons with 20 wins. There are many more accolades that we could review, but that would take so long we would miss March Madness. Overall, the most outstanding thing of Lute Olson is his compassion for his players. He treats his players with the utmost respect and challenges them to achieve greatness in the game. He teaches his players life lessons on and off the court. He is one of the few coaches that players speak of for many years after their time in college. So, here is to Lute Olson and the hope that he will return to greatness next season! We look forward to hearing more impressive things from this exceptional coach.