Kevin O'Neill to be AZ Head Coach

[SoCalEagle]

Here's an interesting article about our old coach....


O'Neill to take over at Arizona when Olson retires
By ANDREW BAGNATO, AP Sports Writer
December 18, 2007

PHOENIX (AP) -- Kevin O'Neill will succeed Lute Olson as Arizona's basketball coach when the Hall of Famer retires.

O'Neill, hired as an assistant last May, has served as the 19th-ranked Wildcats' interim coach since the 73-year-old Olson went on a personal leave of absence Nov. 4 -- a leave he recently extended through the end of the season.

ADVERTISEMENT
Athletic director Jim Livengood made the announcement Tuesday, ending weeks of speculation that O'Neill would eventually succeed Olson, who has said he plans to return next season.

"Kevin is our coach for now, and will be our coach in the future when Lute decides to retire," Livengood said in a statement.

The 50-year-old O'Neill went 152-165 (.475) in 11 seasons as the coach at Marquette, Tennessee and Northwestern. Arizona is 7-2 under O'Neill this season.

"It's an unbelievable honor to follow Lute Olson," O'Neill said in a statement. "I'm thrilled to get the opportunity and will work to continue the superb tradition of Arizona basketball when Lute is done."

Olson is 589-187 (.759) in 24 seasons at Arizona and has led the Wildcats to 23 straight NCAA tournament appearances, the nation's longest active streak. Arizona won the 1997 national title under Olson.

[TallTitan34]

Looks like KO has his dream job finally.

[farmdaddy]

Congrats Kevin!

[Eye]

The U of A fan in me likes what they've done so far under KON. They've taken to the defensive end and have shown improvement since their first game of consequence against Virginia. We'll see how they fare against Memphis in about 10 days.

[CTWarrior]

Congrats to the man who saved MU basketball first!  He will be successful as long as he recruits, and there is no reason to believe he can't recruit.  I don't know how happy the Arizona fans will be if he starts winning games 56-46 like when he was here, but he will win games.

[Avenue Commons]

He's only 50? I didn't realize that he was only in his early to mid 30's when he was coaching Marquette. He's had a pretty good run: Marquette, Tennessee, Northwestern and then some time in the NBA including a head coaching stint in Toronto. And now he'll be the HC at Arizona. Good for him. It must be his sunny attitude and winning personality that allows him to keep getting good gigs.

[augoman]

don't know how long he'll last- he was soooo burned out on college ball at Northwestern..., left w/ no notice in late summer.  Then, passed DWade in the draft at Toronto, refused to trade w/ Chicago who badly wanted to move up to 3rd so as to take Wade and was willing to give quite a bit.  If he has focus, he can do very well, but...

[Eye]

I don't know how happy the Arizona fans will be if he starts winning games 56-46 like when he was here, but he will win games.

Short term ... fine. U of A hasn't won enough against quality opponents the last two years, but that looks like that may be changing this year.

Long term ... you're correct. U of A is conditioned to winning games 90-80 vs. 60-50. Lute will be around for a few more years I think after this, so that will take care of part of that. I also think Miles Simon and especially Josh Pastner have taken a greater role in the recruiting the last few years, which will help, too. U of A is still getting decent-skilled players, just not enough of them who were skilled on offense and at the same time had some interest in playing defense. If Lute, Simon and Pastner do enough of the recruiting and KON does enough of the defensive work, I think this marriage will work pretty well for a decent number of years.

[SoCalwarrior]

Given Lute's age and the circumstances surrounding his leave of absence, I would be surprised if he returns. 

[Eye]

You may know better than I in that part of the world SoCal, but everything I've read says Lute is going to give it at least one more year next year.

[SoCalwarrior]

I actually have no idea.  Just my own feelings on the matter. Lute and his first wife spent a life time together and it was such a traumatic time for him when she got sick and ultimately passed. Yet, it's the demise of a two year marriage that prompts his year leave from Arizona.  I just don't think he has the juice anymore. 

[Eye]

Remembering back to the 2000-01 season, Bobbi definitely seemed to be the love of Lute's life. I've always thought Pastner will be an outstanding head coach someday, but he's probably five or so years away. Maybe KON will be the gap guy to Pastner because as Augo said, KON seems to burn out pretty quickly in these gigs. U of A would seem to be the only one where that might not be the case, but history does say otherwise.

[Avenue Commons]

don't know how long he'll last- he was soooo burned out on college ball at Northwestern..., left w/ no notice in late summer.  Then, passed DWade in the draft at Toronto, refused to trade w/ Chicago who badly wanted to move up to 3rd so as to take Wade and was willing to give quite a bit.  If he has focus, he can do very well, but...

What's the story on this? I always thought that the Bulls gambled that Wade would fall to them at No. 7 and were surprised the Heat nabbed him at #5. BTW, I think Toronto had the 4th pick that year after Cleveland (LeBron), Detroit (Darko), and Denver (Carmelo).

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Avenue Commons is right. The Bulls were not going to take Wade at number 3 -- that's just preposterous. Everybody knew how that draft was going to pan out 1 through 4. Most were slightly surprised the Heat took him at 5.

I think augomon just made that up off the top of his head.

In addition to doing a fantastic job at Marquette, O'Neill was the best coach Northwestern has ever had and there's not even a close second.

Also, O'Neill was considered one of -- if not THE -- most sought after young coaches when we hired him. He had a fantastic reputation as a recruiter. Yet we lured him when we were literally in the toilet as a program.

Marquette has a TON to offer and it bugs me to no end when people sell us short as a coaching destination.

PS: Dukiet also had a solid reputation!

[tower912]

PRN, with this last riff, you sound just like Murf.   Don't take it as a compliment.    But, as far as KO'N's rep when MU hired him, you are correct.   He was an up and comer....who saw MU as a stepping stone to bigger things.    He did a great job while he was here.  He rescued us from the previous coach with a great reputation coming in that bolluxed the job so badly.    But Kevin did not view MU as a destination, but as a way station.     As a very passionate fan, which way do you see MU?   Would you want a coach who views it differently?  If I have interpreted your musings on the subject correctly you want a coach who is exactly like TC, just not TC.   One who is passionate about MU, develops players, graduates students, represents the university well, just one you can like.