A year off to tend to a nasty divorce, all while drawing over $700,000 a year in salary, against current state law.
Very nice indeed.
Very nice indeed.
Nice gig Lute's got
- Thread starter Skkorpion
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Renz
An Army of One
Nowhere does it say that paid leave is "against state law". I agree with DeConcini that anything Lute makes while on leave he has more than given back to the UofA in the last 24 years.
Olson on paid leave of absence
Legendary basketball coach will draw salary while on hiatus this season
Anne Ryman
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 15, 2007
When University of Arizona basketball coach Lute Olson extended his leave of absence for the rest of the season, people were so shocked that the question of whether he would continue to get paid never came up.
The answer is yes, he will be paid, though university officials declined to say whether the legendary coach is using up vacation or sick time as part of his leave.
And although most people don't get months of paid leave to deal with personal problems, Olson's treatment illustrates the rarified world of major college sports, putting him more in the league of a CEO of a major company than that of a typical university employee.
Indeed, Olson's base salary of $737,790 makes him one of the highest-paid employees in the state university system. But even those who question the leave acknowledge that he has brought in millions of dollars to the UA athletic department and put Tucson on the map in his 24 years as head coach of the Wildcats.
Former U.S. Sen. Dennis DeConcini, who serves on the Arizona Board of Regents, said he understands why some would question Olson's treatment. If Olson were a new coach with only one or two years at UA, this might be a legitimate concern, he said.
"But Lute Olson isn't the average Joe," DeConcini said. "He's a pristine celebrity. He's brought Arizona millions of dollars of publicity and dollars and funds for successful basketball."
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/ua/articles/1215olson1215-CP.html
Olson on paid leave of absence
Legendary basketball coach will draw salary while on hiatus this season
Anne Ryman
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 15, 2007
When University of Arizona basketball coach Lute Olson extended his leave of absence for the rest of the season, people were so shocked that the question of whether he would continue to get paid never came up.
The answer is yes, he will be paid, though university officials declined to say whether the legendary coach is using up vacation or sick time as part of his leave.
And although most people don't get months of paid leave to deal with personal problems, Olson's treatment illustrates the rarified world of major college sports, putting him more in the league of a CEO of a major company than that of a typical university employee.
Indeed, Olson's base salary of $737,790 makes him one of the highest-paid employees in the state university system. But even those who question the leave acknowledge that he has brought in millions of dollars to the UA athletic department and put Tucson on the map in his 24 years as head coach of the Wildcats.
Former U.S. Sen. Dennis DeConcini, who serves on the Arizona Board of Regents, said he understands why some would question Olson's treatment. If Olson were a new coach with only one or two years at UA, this might be a legitimate concern, he said.
"But Lute Olson isn't the average Joe," DeConcini said. "He's a pristine celebrity. He's brought Arizona millions of dollars of publicity and dollars and funds for successful basketball."
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/ua/articles/1215olson1215-CP.html
DeConcini? 
Maybe you're too young to know he's a crook and a liar.
False promises, land deals and bribes. :Keating5:
Not sure he's the best person to be speaking about money and what's appropriate.
As for Lute, if he had class he'd donate the money to charity or back to the U of A.
Who else works for a state university and gets months of paid leave to deal with personal problems?
Maybe you're too young to know he's a crook and a liar.
False promises, land deals and bribes. :Keating5:
Not sure he's the best person to be speaking about money and what's appropriate.
As for Lute, if he had class he'd donate the money to charity or back to the U of A.
Who else works for a state university and gets months of paid leave to deal with personal problems?
green machine
I rule at posting
Where's the problem? If UofA wants to pay him, that's their business.
Bigger question is why does Lute need a year off? 
IIRC, when his first wife died he only took off a couple of weeks.
Some UofA fans have indicated there is more to it...but what?
IIRC, when his first wife died he only took off a couple of weeks.
Some UofA fans have indicated there is more to it...but what?
MaoTosiFanClub
The problem
Nothing we'd tell you.
Almost all of Lute's salary is paid by booster groups, the rest is covered by the UofA athletic department which does not rely on state funding. When you're a HOF coach you get perks, getting paid while his issues are resolved is part of that.
And Lute makes $1.4 million after all is said and done too.
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Renz
An Army of One
What?! You mean big-time college coaches aren't treated like everyone else? The next thing you're going to tell me is that life isn't fair!
Must be a slow news day. This is a complete non-issue to everyone who isn't a Lute/UofA hater.
So now we know why Lute can't afford to play in Flagstaff - he needs all the money he can grub for himself.
MaoTosiFanClub
The problem
You're really still hung up on this?
green machine
I rule at posting
What?! You mean big-time college coaches aren't treated like everyone else? The next thing you're going to tell me is that life isn't fair!
Must be a slow news day. This is a complete non-issue to everyone who isn't a Lute/UofA hater.
Hell, I'm not a Lute Olson fan at all and I don't see any problem with this.
Until U of A and ASU play in Flagstaff, yes. Long-time series was ended by lute's childish whining. No rest until the series is rightfully restored. It has cost NAU a lot of lost revenue from lute's temper tantrum.
MaoTosiFanClub
The problem
You can complain when your beloved Illini travel to UIC.
Arizona has bigger fish to fry than NAU, get a real athletic department and maybe we'll talk. At least we give your sorry program a shot at glory every year in McKale, unlike Herb who dodged the Jacks this year in favor of two other terrible Big Sky teams. Lute was 100% right, Arizona Basketball couldn't be a power if they were playin at NAU every other year.
Actually, NAU has a very good athletic program - winning football teams, cross-country teams that are a national power, good basketball,
And if you really think that having to go to NAU every other year to play the in-state rival would have hurt U of A's team, then you are even more delusional than I thought.
MaoTosiFanClub
The problem
Someone who's clamoring for a national power to take roadies against an insignificant program in the Big Sky is calling me delusional? That's funny. Lose-lose scenarios do hurt a program which is all playing at NAU is.
Keep holding out though. I'm sure it will be a special day for you when UCLA travels to UC-Davis, Kentucky takes a game at Murray State, Kansas plays at Emporia State, and Arizona heads up the hill to take on NAU.
Hilarious.
Renz
An Army of One
Jon also conveniently fails to mention that the biggest reason the UofA won't play at NAU was all the Lumberjoke "fans" who yelled obscenities at Lute, threw things on the court etc. the last time the Cats played in Flag. I'm sure he will find a way to spin it so that it was all the fault of Lute, though.
I don't understand why the UofA "owes" anything to NAU just because they happen to play in the same state.
I don't understand why the UofA "owes" anything to NAU just because they happen to play in the same state.
Since when did NAU become an "in-state rival" of the U of A? I must have missed the memo on that one.
I did a quick Google search and that phrase is used to describe NAU on arizonaathletics.com which bills itself as "THE OFFICIAL ATHLETICS WEBSITE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA" and also in The Arizona Daily Wildcat.
MaoTosiFanClub
The problem
Says the same thing on ASU's website by the way.
They really need to change that, I think NAU's rival is Mesa Community College.
Lefty
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Totally agree. Lute deserves the money. Not only has he made the UofA a top baskeball program, he helped restore the Pac-10 as a major basketball conference.
Also, for what Lute has done, he clearly is underpaid compared to the other top coaches in the country.
Here is a good take by Greg Hansen on Lute's salary.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sports/216465
UA athletic director Jim Livengood should not for a moment hesitate to pay Lute Olson his full salary this season. Because Olson has not engaged in leverage talks with any school dating to his 1985 and 1989 flirtations with Kentucky, he has not tapped into his full earning potential. Now is the time to reward him for being loyal, among many other intangibles, foremost being the winning image Olson indirectly brings to the school and to Tucson.
In modern college sports business, most of the heavyweight college football and basketball coaches have bonus-laden contracts for loyalty. Louisville's Rick Pitino, for example, is to be paid a $3.6 million "continuation bonus'' if he's still on the job in 2010 and another $3.6 million if he sticks it out until 2013.
Oklahoma's Bob Stoops is to receive a $3 million "anniversary benefit'' if he makes it to his 10th anniversary Dec. 31, 2008, as the Sooners' football coach. And even a coach like Cal's Jeff Tedford, who hasn't won a championship of any sort, is due a $2.5 million bonus if he stays with the Bears through 2009.
The UA doesn't have to justify paying Olson while he sits out the basketball season. According to the Department of Education, the top three money-makers in Pac-10 basketball revenue for the 2006-07 season finished this way:
● Arizona — $16,710,417.
● UCLA — $9,108,587.
● Washington — $8,842,303.
When it comes to revenue, Olson has provided the UA with a veritable cash machine, always open, always flush, for 25 years. Of course he gets paid.
Actually, the reaction to Lute was AFTER he made his deragatory comments about NAU, and how he was glad that this would be Arizona's last game in Flagstaff. The reaction was well deserved to the arrogant prick that Lute is. I was at the game. While I didn't do any of those things to the Wildpussies, Lute brought it all on himself with his whining and crying.
Have been, for over a century.
I see the education they supposedly give at U of A is about as valuable as a diploma from Kindergarten...
Pathetic coach, pathetic fans...
Renz
An Army of One
