Breaking news: Lute Olson takes indefinite leave of absence

This is running at the bottom of the ESPN News sticker and also at SportsNetwork.com.

The Silver Fox is taking an indefinite leave of absence for personal reasons and Kevin O'Neill will take over while Olson is away. Is he pulling a Dean Smith? The release said the reasons are not health related.

Arizona is playing an exhibition game right now, live on Fox College Sports and on regional FSNs. The time change screwed up the tv listings so I didn't record the start of the game. Arizona does not participate in these silly time changing schemes. Grrrrrr!!!

Now you can all go back to watching the soccer game between New England and Indianapolis on CBS ;-)

Update
During the half-time report of the exhibition game, FSN Arizona's Shawn Mooney interviewed "acting head coach" Kevin O'Neill. No details were revealed by O'Neill said "our thoughts and prayers are with Christine and Lute and their family".

More from the half time show, the news was broken to the team at 8:30am, before it made its way to the masses. Coach Olsen requested total privacy, so we are not going to find out what happened from the insiders.

After the game, Arizona AD Jim Livengood (sp?) will appear on the post-game show on FSN Arizona. Meanwhile, Indianapolis leads the New Englanders by 13-7 just seconds before the end of the half.

Kevin O'Neill's impact on the game was obvious, the opposing team, Concordia only scored 50 points.

Update #2
Arizona Athletic Director Jim Livengood appeared on the FSN Arizona post-game show discussing the Lute Olsen leave of absence. This started at the end of the football while Livengood and the Olsons were watching the football game together. They are honoring Lute's privacy so they will not give any more details. Livengood said "he'll be back". Next up a Kevin O'Neill interview.

Kevin O'Neill, with his new widescreen glasses, said they were "all shocked", himself included. We "played well enough" and was satisfied with the defense. O'Neill stressed that Olson is coming back this year and he'll be there next year too.

In a pre-recorded interview, Lute Olson said that Kevin O'Neill came in to be the "Defensive co-ordinator" and take over the defense from Lute. O'Neill said he doesn't want to switch, he wants to "know who to blame". The enforcer has spoken! He is also impressed by Jamelle Horne's rotations on defense.


Update #3: November 27, 2007
According to multiple reports, Lute returned to Tuscon for a practice, but it is still not clear if or when he will return for good. One of the blogs in that link mention that it may have to do with the health of one of his sons.


Update #4: December 7, 2007
Arizona announced that Lute Olson will not be coaching this season. More details on our latest Lute Olson story, which includes a nice timeline by the Arizona Star Net Daily.