Now we know: Olson had a stroke

by Jeff Nusser on Oct 28, 2008 3:25 PM PDT

Man, we are heavy on the Pac-10 news lately. But I thought this deserved a mention in light of my previous postings.

Earlier this week, I took Lute Olson to task for stepping down so close to the start of the season, although I (fortunately) closed with a caveat: "Unless it comes out that that there is a medical issue driving him from the sidelines, Arizona deserved better than this exit from Lute Olson."

Well, now we know that there was, in fact, a medical issue: Olson stepped down at the behest of his doctor, who determined yesterday that Olson suffered a previsouly undetected stroke at some point in the last year.

According to what the doctor is saying, this certainly explains some of the erratic behavior of the past year. His doctor said the stroke affected Olson's "executive decision-making and personality," and led to depression. The doctor had thought he was fit enough to coach, but Olson had not been responding lately to his anti-depression meds. This led to the MRI that found the stroke.

While it's clear Olson had no choice but to step away, it's still a shame that this is how Olson's coaching career ended. I stand by the theme of my post -- both he and the university deserved for this thing to end better.

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I can actually use my medical knowledge here

I have a hard time believing that Lute wouldn’t have noticed an all-out stroke in that area, so I’m wondering if it was possibly a TIA, or transient ischemic attack, which is less severe. It’s referred to sometimes as a “mini-stroke”. The bad news for Lute, though, is that whatever happened resulted in some fairly significant complications, and now he’s stepping down.

Sad stuff, he deserved to go out on his own terms.

By the way, that was a ridiculously smart caveat to your Arizona post Nuss.

by Grady Clapp on Oct 29, 2008 12:24 AM PDT reply actions