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Reports: Arizona’s Lute Olson is stepping down

By Chris Dufresne
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ESPN basketball analyst Dick Vitale is reporting that 74-year-old Lute Olson is resigning as basketball coach at Arizona. FoxSports.com is also reporting the story, although school spokesman Tom Duddleston said Thursday morning that Olson had not informed the administration that he is resigning.

Olson has a career record of 780-280 at Long Beach State, Iowa and Arizona. His Arizona team of 1997 won the NCAA championship. Olson took a leave of absence last year and was replaced by Kevin O’Neill, who left the program after Olson decided to return in 2008.

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ESPN is reporting that associate head coach Mike Dunlap will take over for Olson on an interim basis. Stay tuned to latimes.com for updates.

-- Chris Dufresne

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Chris Dufresne

Chris Dufresne was the Los Angeles Times’ national college football/basketball columnist from 1995 to 2015. He also covered skiing at the Winter Olympics and wrote extensively on most sports. He is a multiple national award winner and was named 2011 California Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Assn. A Los Angeles native, he started at The Times in 1976 as a truck loader and literally worked his way up (two floors to be exact).

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