Customer Reviews

Lute!: The Seasons of My Life

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It really is an interesting book about Lute's years. It sometimes is a bit disjointed and jumps between years, but from the standpoint of getting his viewpoint on all of the games I remember watching over the years was definitely captivating. He talks about how he barely missed out on such recruits as Kevin Johnson and Reggie Miller, and also discusses how his team should have beat Magic's MSU team that ended up winning it all. It is also nice to read about Bobbi, and how she was so close to all the players, and how, once, when she was sick and they were trapped in Budapest, Robert Sarver (current Phoenix Suns owner) flew out there to help them out in a time of need.

I recommend this book to any college or pro basketball fan, but especially to those that are Arizona alum.

Even Tucsonans who thought they knew everything about their long-time University of Arizona basketball coach will learn some interesting things from this autobiography. In it, Lute Olson shares his thoughts as he offers behind-the-scenes looks into on-court events and his personal life during his 70+ years. His modesty grabs you almost immediately. His tolerance for journalists, players, coaches and officials who fell short of his standards becomes apparent as he recounts scores of incidents in his career. I was an assistant city editor at the Arizona Daily Star in 1985 when its sports department rushed into print with a libelous and untrue story on Olson that caused him to consider looking elsewhere. I was assigned to take over sports and right the ship. We had been dead wrong, and we said so. Fortunately for us and the University of Arizona, Olson finally forgave our error and decided to stay. This book deals with the incident more charitably than we deserved. His decision to stay at Arizona for more than 20 years after that was right for the UA and for him. He went on to win a national championship and election to basketball's Hall of Fame. If you're a fan, a current or former player, a one-time coach or just a lover of good stories, this book is for you. It's about a poor kid who worked hard, married his school sweetheart and did pretty well for himself and his family. He suffered three terrible losses in his life but rebounded each time. Lute Olson is worthy of a Hall Fame both inside and outside of basketball.

You don't have to be an avid basketball fan to enjoy this book and appreciate the life of a good person. Like many of us, Lute Olson and his wife Bobbie, his high school sweetheart, start on life's journey, upon graduating from college. Starting with very little money, but with a love for basketball, a strong work ethic and moral values, Lute and Bobbie earn a very successful life together.

My first exposure to Lute Olson was when my daughter attended University of Arizona from 1983 to 1988. These were the formative years for Lute at U of A when he was building the Wildcat program. Everyone on campus was in love with the team...Steeve Kerrrr, Sean Elliot and others. I still remember a photo of the team in black tie titled, A Class Act.

Shortly after my daughter's graduation I had the pleasure of briefly meeting Lute Olson in 1990 at the Long Beach Arena during the initial rounds of the NCAA tournament while attending a U of A booster rally. I introduced myself and my wife to Lute and explained that my wife and I really enjoyed the program, but that the real reason I was at the arena was to watch my alma mater, Loyola Marymount University, compete. I fully expected Coach Olson to make some sort of macho remark about a small-time program being lucky. I couldn't have been more wrong. Instead, he was very complimentary of the program that Paul Westhead had put together in a short period of time. He was very gracious and friendly. This experience only seemed to validate the person I began to know and understand while reading the book.

The story Lute tells is also about two love stories. The first is about his life with his first wife Bobbie, who tragically dies of cancer after 47 years of marriage. Bobbie was his lover and best friend who was a major part of his professional coaching career. A few years after Bobbie's death, Lute meets Christine, a divorcee with three sons, who is twenty-three years younger. They eventually marry, but not without a lot of difficulty while they attempt to merge two families together.

It's a wonderful story about a good man. A must read. Lute, if you happen to read this review, thank you for sharing your life with us. I wish the very best.

I just finished Lute! and thoroughly enjoyed what I read. Ironically, I finished the book a couple of days after the North Carolina Tar Heels (go Heels!) thrashed the Arizona Wildcats by 20 some odd points. Reckon this was payback for the times Arizona beat UNC in the March Madness Tournaments of years past.

Among the topics covered in the book were:

1. Lute Olson's early childhood and early love of basketball.

2. Various coaching jobs - high school, Long Beach State, Iowa, Arizona.

3. Relationships with certain coaches (Roy Williams, Bobby Knight, John Wooden, Al McGuire, Jerry Tarkanian, Pete Newell, etc.).

4. His long-time marriage to his first wife, Bobbi, whom he obviously loved very much and was deeply hurt by her passing.

5. His current marriage to Christine Torreti.

6. Relationships with various college basketball players.

7. Summaries of his various seasons at the colleges he coached at and how they ended (sometimes after a deep run in the NCAA tournament, sometimes, an early first-round exit).

8. Relationships with other family members and various friendships.

9. Description of his recruiting, publicity, and other basketball coach-related duties.

10. Several instances of good humor.

The book was a joy to read and I gained a deeper appreciation for Coach Olson. As a matter of fact, if I had a son who was college basketball material, I would count it a privilege if he played for Coach Olson at Arizona (assuming, of course, that none of the basketball powerhouses in the ACC were interested in him!).

All in all, a great read about a class act. Highly recommended.

I am an Arizona grad who relocated to Iowa in 1979, so I have followed Lute's coaching career from his days in Iowa through his stint at Arizona. This book "fills in the pieces" of what happened before Iowa, plus providing wonderful insights into his coaching career. Candid in many spots, it is an exellent book, written by a great coach, teacher, and human being. A must read for sports fans!

I purchased this book for my 84 yr old mother. You see I'm an Arizona Wildcat and through the blood connection between us my mom says she's one to. To say she has a crush on Lute would be an understatement. She and all of Tucson LOVE Lute. My mom read this book in record time and couldn't put it down. She'd quote me passages everytime I called. She'd share little tidbits she learned. Now I finally get to read the book and I'm having trouble getting anything done around the house. I guess I have a crush on Lute to. It's interesting to learn more about his humble beginnings and his love for basketball and Bobbie.

I recommend this book to any basketball fan and to anyone who likes a love story.

As a longtime follower of the University of Iowa Hawkeye sports teams, I have many fond memories of some of the more memorable victories. My most vivid recollection is of Steve Waite receiving a pass and driving to the basket and drawing a foul The basket and subsequent foul shot sealed a victory and earned the Hawkeyes a trip to the 1980 NCAA final four. Lute Olson was the coach at that time and this was one of many successes in his long and successful career as a basketball coach.
That career actually began quite slowly, Olson started out as a high school basketball coach with other major duties. However, once he hit the college level, he quickly demonstrated his talents as a coach as his teams have always done very well. To me, the high points of the book were the sections where Olson described his years at Iowa, his successes and failures. Olson notes that had two foul shots been made in the NCAA tournament or if superlative point guard Ronnie Lester had not been (re)injured in a final four game, it is likely that he would never have left Iowa.
Another high point is near the end when he describes a reunion of his 1980 Hawkeye team and the revelation of the illness of guard Kenny Arnold. When Olson and the other members of the team learned of Arnold's problems, they banded together to see that he received the best of care. This more than anything is a demonstration of how Olson built teams first and stars second.
Olson's life is one of great success, he is as devoted to the game of basketball as anyone can be and his record as a coach is one of the best. While this biography is very interesting there is one flaw, a continuation of what most observers believe was Olson's one weakness as a coach. He often mentions bad calls by officials as a reason for a loss. While bad calls do happen, they are a part of the game and to claim that the reason your team blew a fifteen point lead is one or two bad calls is bad coaching.
This aside, this is an excellent biography of one of the best basketball coaches of all time and a man who took character development as seriously as he did wins on the court.

I got this book for my husband for Father Day and he absorbed it in about 3 days! Must be some interesting book ....He stated it was a really good read. Not to mention I recieved 20.00 off the bookstore price by ordering on Amazon ....

If you are an Arizona fan you will love this book for the personal info the newspaper never could give. Interestingly written too. All basketball fans will enjoy the coaching insights.

For basketball fans this book is a humorous look in to the hectic life of a hall of fame basket ball coach and his college players. A very enjoyable and insightful book. It kept my interest throughout the whole book and brought many smiles.