A Hair-Raising Moment for Olson

It was raw, sweaty bliss and Lute Olson was right in the middle, his hair no longer TV perfect, his jacket wrinkled, his tie not Windsor-knot tight.

Moments after Arizona’s coach won his first national championship with an 84-79 victory in overtime against Kentucky, he was transformed from his never-a-hair-out-of-place self to a jubilant mess.

He had the look of a happy man, one who no longer carries the burden of being the best coach never to win the NCAA championship.

“I still have difficulty believing this happened,” Olson said. “It’s kind of like a dream.”

Perhaps it was hard to grasp because for so long Olson has heard that Arizona and he are not among the greats.

He is one of only four coaches to take two teams to the Final Four--Iowa in 1980 and Arizona in 1988, 1994 and this season--but Olson has said people have dwelt on his failures instead of his success.

But all the first-round losses and seasons that ended abruptly seemed forgotten Monday night.

“He’s taken a lot of criticism, and you know he doesn’t take it well,” said Steve Kerr, a guard on Arizona’s 1988 Final Four team who drove down from Chicago to watch the game. “He’s a little sensitive. And I think a lot of the criticism has been unfair. But this now puts an end to all that.”

Olson’s relief may have been most visible in his look after Monday’s victory, and also the actions of his players. After his young team had defeated another favorite, the players did something only few have at Arizona. They messed up the coach’s hair.

“In [the 1994 NCAA tournament] the guys did it when they won to get in the Final Four,” center A.J. Bramlett said. “But we talked about it and decided that was bad luck, that we would only do it if we won it all.”

Bennett Davison was the first. He hugged Olson and then with two hands reached down, palmed his head and rubbed his white hair until it stood up. Later Donnell Harris, Michael Dickerson and Bramlett formed a triangle around Olson and all three reached and messed up his hair.

“It was fun, something we all talked about doing,” Bramlett said.

“We’re all so happy for him. Coach never got the credit he deserved. People don’t look at what he has done. But they’ll have to now.”

Said Harris: “I think Coach was bound to win one, and I’m just glad we were the ones that won it for him. Coach has helped us achieve our dreams, and I’m sure this is one of his dreams.”

But even with the look of a winner, Olson wasn’t sure this would secure his status as a great coach.

“I’ll got to my grave with people still talking about the losses, but I feel badly for them,” he said.

After his hair was beyond repair, Olson donned a white cap with “National Champions” across the front. He kept it on through the press conference, and as he left the RCA Dome.

“He looked pretty good in that [cap], didn’t he?” said Bramlett.

He did.