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October 23, 2008
Olson missed practice on Wednesday after reporting that was sick, and later in the day informed Arizona that he would be stepping down for health-related reasons. GOAZCATS.com spoke with Arizona Sports Information Director Tom Duddleston at roughly 12:50 p.m. Eastern, and he denied the report. "We're not working on anything right now other than answering the phone to deny the fact that Dick Vitale is reporting something that we know to not be true at the moment," Duddleston said. Olson's final record at Arizona will be 598-188 over 24 seasons, including four Final Fours and one national championship. His final record as a head coach will be 780-280. Olson's retirement comes as a surprise despite the fact that the 74-year-old Hall of Famer is coming off the most troubled season in his 25-year tenure at Arizona. A seemingly endless soap opera began in November, when Olson requested a personal leave of absence for undisclosed reasons. Olson returned to the helm shortly after Arizona was eliminated in the first round of the NCAA tourney last spring. But he told the media earlier in the week that he now felt physically able to handle the grind of coaching. "I think I would say on that, the difference is last year was last year, and I was having problems with the energy level early," Olson said during a 38-minute session with reporters at the team's media day Tuesday. "So I feel much more energized at this point." It will take a lot of energy to bring Arizona back to its accustomed level among the national elite. Arizona has drawn 24 straight NCAA tournament berths, the nation's longest active streak. But the Wildcats went 19-15 last season and finished seventh in the Pac-10?their worst showing since 1982-83, the year before Olson arrived from Iowa. When Olson stepped away last fall, it started an unimaginable chain of events at the once-mighty hoops program in the desert. Assistant coach Kevin O'Neill, who took over as interim coach, was soon designated Olson's permanent successor. In December, Olson filed for divorce from wife Christine on the same day he extended his leave through the end of the season. Five months after the contentious divorce was finalized, Olson announced that he was engaged to Kelly Pugnea, 47, a Tucson resident for 25 years. After Olson returned in April, O'Neill left the program, and fellow assistants Miles Simon and Josh Pastner soon followed. Last month, the university reported a possible minor NCAA recruiting violation by Olson, who called it "an unfortunate and regrettable error." The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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