A new deck of cards
Bryan Roy's experience in Reporting | 
Be the First to Comment
Arizona faces second consecutive season of adjustments with interim head coach
By Bryan Roy
Arizona Daily Wildcat
[The back story: This is the Basketball Guide's cover story, rewritten a dozen times after the Lute Olson saga unfolded over the course of the preseason.]
UA interim head coach Russ Pennell addresses the media on Wednesday in McKale Center. Pennell said he had no plans in changing Lute Olson's run-and-gun offense and zone defense.
Phyllis Goodman spent the past 24 years watching her fresh-faced children develop and graduate under their ageless father – a man committed to offering guidance and support regardless of the circumstances.
She looked on from section 16 of McKale Center in high spirits and energy throughout the ups and downs of their family.
Children, as ever Wildcat roster since 1983.
Father, as in Lute Olson.
The iconic Arizona basketball super fan, now 75, stands alone as McKale Center’s most recognizable active figure throughout the program’s storied history.
Goodman’s heart and passion began long before the rich basketball tradition in Tucson. Standing proud with her classic cardinal “U of A” sweatshirt and signature blue Arizona wool-woven hat, the fiery Goodman has arrived early and never missed a minute of action – jumping, cheering, dancing and singing “Bear Down” season after season.
But in today’s uncharted era, as these Wildcats embark on a journey without their legendary Hall of Fame head coach, the phrase “Bear Down” couldn’t be more meaningful to Goodman.
The program’s father is gone for good after a second consecutive dramatic departure.
“I knew all along there had to be something wrong – this was not coach Olson,” a teary-eyed Goodman said, who has attended games since before McKale Center’s erection in 1973. “Nobody ever said a bad word about him, so something was very wrong.”
Indeed, the past two years of Olson’s legacy confused fans like Goodman. But the dust has settled and the reality of life without Lute now adorns today’s new era of basketball.
The long-term health of Olson’s program remains unknown – it’s something that UA athletic director Jim Livengood persistently looks to maintain while players and assistants adjust without Olson.
This time, for good.
