One week ago, Luke Walton was named the newest head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers while the Arizona Wildcats baseball game against USC was being played. Pac-12 and Wildcats announcers alike were beaming with pride when they heard that a former Arizona student athlete in Walton had landed a high-profile gig in professional sports.
Walton’s ties run deep in Arizona history. He was part of the 2001 team that won a national championship under head coach Lute Olson, an accomplishment that will forever go down in history and is touted as a huge accomplishment before every Arizona home game at the McKale Center in Tucson.