Arizona coach Lute Olson hired former Northwestern coach Kevin O’Neill on Tuesday to replace Jim Rosborough, the longtime aide who has rejected an offer to move elsewhere in the athletic department.
The staff shake-up comes after one of the more disappointing seasons in Olson’s 24-year tenure at Arizona. The Wildcats were 12-1 before collapsing in Pac-10 play. They lost their NCAA tournament opener to Purdue.
Many of Arizona’s problems stemmed from an inability — or refusal — to play defense. O’Neill stressed defense as head coach at Marquette, Tennessee and the Wildcats.
“I’ve always been a guy who thought defenses win championships and most games,” said O’Neill, who was an Olson assistant in 1986-89 at Arizona. “I would say that I’m a defensive-oriented guy.”
O’Neill dismissed speculation he’s the eventual successor to Olson, 72, who has no plans to retire. “That has never been talked about at all,” said O’Neill, 50. “That’s not part of the equation as far as I’m concerned.”
*West Virginia’s men’s soccer team was placed on two years’ probation under NCAA sanctions stemming mostly from former head coach Mike Seabolt’s unethical conduct and outside employment. … Arizona State basketball player Aubree Johnson, whose 15-year-old brother died from heart failure last November, lost her father, Tom, in a motorcycle accident Sunday in Mexico.
