Lute's mother, Alinda, said Albert was "different" returning from WWI, some believed he may have been exposed to poison gas while working in a military construction battalion.

As a high school teacher, Olson mentioned he had tired of mundane items such as hall monitoring and checking restrooms for smokers.

Del Walker, a great guy, was the athletic director, and I recall his telling me when he hired me that he wanted me to recruit players strictly from the Long Beach area, which I did.

[19] Under Olson, the 49ers were ranked as high as #3 behind Coach John Wooden and player Bill Walton's UCLA squad and eventual NCAA Tournament Champion North Carolina State.

However, with a #10 regular season ranking, the team was banned from appearing in the NCAA tournament after being put on a 3-year probation mid-season, due to recruiting violations from the Tarkanian era.

[25] Olson inherited an Iowa team that had gone 8-16 under Dick Schultz, finishing 10th in the Big Ten and suffered four consecutive losing seasons.

The team made the now 48-team NCAA tournament with an 18–8 record (10-8, 4th in the Big Ten), despite playing a good portion of the season without injured (knee) All-American guard Ronnie Lester.

With Lester out, Guard Kenny Arnold had stayed in the line-up and played the entire season with a broken right thumb, leading the team in total points and assists with the injury.

Nicknamed "The House That Lute Built", Carver-Hawkeye Arena, a facility Olson had envisioned for the future of the university, opened on January 5, 1983, against Michigan State.

[37] Olson was voted Pac-10 Coach of the Year seven times, made 5 Final Four appearances and won the 1997 NCAA championship with Arizona, where his team accomplished the feat of defeating three #1 seeds in the same tournament.

[39] Throughout the nineties and 2000s, Arizona under Olson was one of the top producers of NBA talent in terms of number of alumni playing in the league.

[40] The basketball program at Arizona has been dubbed "Point Guard U"[41] because of the numerous players who have excelled at that position, including Damon Stoudamire, Kerr, Bibby, and Terry.

Additionally, point guards Reggie Geary and Matt Othick both played briefly in the NBA and Kenny Lofton went on to become an All-Star center fielder in Major League Baseball.

All-American Jason Gardner (graduated in 2003), had been the only starting Arizona point guard to not have played any NBA minutes since before Steve Kerr in 1984, prior to Mustafa Shakur and Chris Rodgers in recent years.

[42] Despite this reputation, Arizona under Olson has also developed many outstanding shooting guards and swingmen: Sean Elliott, Gilbert Arenas, Jud Buechler, Khalid Reeves, Miles Simon, Michael Dickerson, Chris Mills, Richard Jefferson, Luke Walton, Andre Iguodala, Salim Stoudamire, Michael Wright, Ray Owes and Hassan Adams all excelled with the Wildcats, and many went on to stardom in the NBA.

[42] Fewer Arizona big men have made such a big impact in the NBA, but Olson has coached several notables: forward Tom Tolbert and centers Brian Williams (later renamed Bison Dele), Sean Rooks, Loren Woods, and Channing Frye have also made careers in the NBA.

[50] Olson's behavior became erratic in 2007, beginning with the dismissal of 27-year associate head coach Jim Rosborough in April 2007.

[54][55] Kevin O'Neill publicly stated that he was still relying on a promise to be Lute Olson's successor, and that he would return to UA to be an assistant for the 2008–09 season.

However, during an April 2008 press conference in which he appeared visibly annoyed and defensive with reporters, Olson announced that O'Neill would never coach at the University of Arizona again.

[56] This marked the second time in a year that Olson had reneged on a promise to promote an assistant coach, following his dismissal of Jim Rosborough.

Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood also said assistant and former Wildcat guard Miles Simon (a key player on Olson's 1997 national championship team) would no longer coach.

[59] After a day of speculation fueled by initial reports by Dick Vitale of ESPN,[60] Livengood formally announced Olson's retirement the afternoon of October 23.

Livengood would not speculate on Olson's permanent replacement; it was widely assumed Dunlap would coach the team on an interim basis.

Olson had also apparently suffered from atrial fibrillation for several years, which could have produced a blood clot resulting in the stroke.

[69] On September 9, 2015, he visited with players and Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery, attending a football game and holding a brief press conference to talk about his memories.

[71][72] Over time, Olson, Lester, Iowa teammates and fans have contributed to help Kenny Arnold, who was the second leading scorer and assist leader for the Hawkeye Final Four squad in 1980.

Along with the successful players noted above, Olson has 46 NCAA tournament wins, one behind John Wooden and one ahead of Bob Knight.

As the games fade away, the future will paint a flattering portrait of him...Across the last quarter-century, Olson made our city feel good about itself.

[83] On February 11, 2012, Olson was initiated into the Pi Kappa Alpha International Fraternity by Gamma Delta Chapter at the University of Arizona.

Beginning in 2010, The Lute Olson Award is presented annually to the nation's top Division I player in College Basketball and is selected by a 30-member committee.