TUCSON, ARIZ. ? Arizona basketball coach Lute Olson is returning to the Wildcats at the end of the season.
Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood confirmed the 73-year-old Olson, who has been on personal leave since Nov. 4, will come back under a contract that runs through 2011.
“We are delighted that Lute will be rejoining the program,” Livengood said in statement. “He is one of the true legends of collegiate coaching, and his return is something that I know will be embraced by everyone who cares about our basketball program.”
Questions have swirled about the reasons for Olson’s leave for months. Olson said in a statement it was necessitated “by a medical condition that was not life-threatening, but serious enough to require time away from my coaching responsibilities.”
That’s a change from a statement Olson issued on the day he took his leave. He said then he wanted to “reassure everyone that this isn’t a health scare, but rather a personal matter that needs my undivided attention.”
When the leave was later extended to the entire season, Olson said in a statement, “There are personal issues within my family that need to be addressed, and I must devote my full energy to that.”
Olson was not immediately available for comment.
