Mike DeCourcy

Kevin O'Neill, 50, officially has been named the successor-in-waiting to Arizona basketball coach Lute Olson. O'Neill has been serving as interim head coach while Olson takes a leave of absence for the 2007-08 season to deal with personal concerns.

O'Neill previously was head coach at Marquette, Tennessee, Northwestern and with the NBA's Toronto Raptors. He was an assistant under Olson at Arizona in the late 1980s and returned to work with the Wildcats this spring as associate head coach. O'Neill's hiring was done primarily to improve the program's defense and on-court discipline.

At Marquette, O'Neill built a team that reached the Sweet 16 of the 1994 NCAA Tournament. He recruited many of the players who reached the Sweet 16 for Tennessee in 2000, but left for Northwestern largely because of disputes with the UT administration. He turned down interest from South Florida to fill its head coaching vacancy this past spring to return to Arizona as one of the highest paid college assistants.

He spoke with me by telephone Tuesday morning, about 90 minutes after news of his eventual ascendancy became official.

Sporting News: How did it come about that you'd be named the successor to coach Olson?

Kevin O'Neill: I think basically Jim Livengood and our president have a lot of confidence in me, which I really appreciate. Lute was all for this, which was a very big part of it for me. I think everybody thought it was the right thing to get some stability and continuity in the program.

I'm honored. Following Hall of Fame guys, whenever it happens, is a difficult thing to do. I followed Lenny Wilkens in Toronto, and now I'm following a guy who is an absolute legend in Tuscon, Arizona.

SN: When you took the job as associate head coach last spring, did you envision this developing?

O'NEILL: We never discussed this. I didn't come here thinking this. It was never part of the equation at all. But the unforeseen circumstance of Lute's leave of absence put it in position where it was the smart thing to do something like this.

I think what it does more than anything is it clears up any recruiting issues about, 'Who's going to coach me?' If you look at it, either Lute is going to coach you, or I'm going to coach you. That eliminates that uncertainty from the process.

SN: It also eliminates somebody being able to make that an issue in your recruiting.

O'NEILL: It's been a huge issue in our recruiting. I've only been here seven months, eight months, and it's been a huge issue.

SN: You were an assistant coach under Lute Olson in the late 1980s. How much of your coaching philosophy coincides with what he has done with the program in the last 10 or 12 years?

O'NEILL: I went a lot of places and learned a lot, in particular the NBA. I've had a lot of learning experiences other than Arizona. But the basics of my coaching philosophy, what I am as a coach, were formed when I was at Arizona from '86 to '89. No turnovers, good shots, rebounding and sound defense lead to winning. We also believe good people make a good product, and we believe that student athletes come first. Our philosophies are the same.

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I'm better looking, but the bottom line is our philosophies are the same. Maybe our approaches are different.

SN: When you came in as associate head coach, a lot of people — including me — thought you could help give the players a good, swift kick in the proper direction. Is that how it's worked out?

O'NEILL: What I was able to do is be a different voice from Lute. I was able to get my arms wrapped around these guys. Whether it was practice, conditioning, academics, I was able to help them understand how important hard work is. I think right from the beginning I was able to be with these guys on almost a daily basis. I was in touch with all of them and visited them at their homes, and basically stressed the importance of working hard.

We're starting to get it a little bit.