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Citing unspecified personal issues, Arizona coach Lute Olson has decided to sit out the entire basketball season.

Olson, 73, said he still plans to coach next season and asked fans for patience in dealing with his "personal situation." He initially began his leave of absence on Nov. 4, leaving the program in the hands of veteran assistant Kevin O'Neill.

"I do this with great reluctance, because I care greatly about the University of Arizona, the basketball program and the players on this team," Olson said in a UA statement. "But there are personal issues within my family that need to be addressed, and I must devote my full energy to that."

O'Neill told the UA players during a stopover in Phoenix on their trip from Tucson to Chicago on Thursday night. Olson did not meet with them.

"I'm not going to get into all the details," O'Neill said upon arriving in Chicago late Thursday night. "The only thing I want to say is I respect Lute's decision and we're going to go forward the best we can."

UA President Robert Shelton said Olson asked to extend the leave for family issues and athletic director Jim Livengood declined to discuss the issues in detail.

"I think there are some things he wants to take care of, needs to take care of," Livengood said Thursday night from Chicago, where the Wildcats will face Illinois on Saturday. "But right now, candidly, it would be inappropriate to comment."

Upon leaving last month, Olson said in a statement that he was facing a "personal matter" that was not a health scare.

Appointed personnel at the UA such as Olson are allowed to take up to a year of unpaid leave, and the time can be paid if there is accumulated sick and leave time. Livengood would not say if or when Olson's leave would become unpaid but indicated he would be paid at least in the short term.

"It's an authorized leave, granted by me," Livengood said. "He has plenty of hours … with what he's accumulated over the years."

Olson's contract, valid through the 2010-11 season, has a $714,567 base salary and additional incentives totaling up to $1.055 million.

Livengood said O'Neill would remain the interim head coach, with no adjustment in salary as of now. O'Neill was rehired as an assistant coach for $375,000 in May, after an 18-year absence in which he served as head coach for three college teams and one NBA franchise.

O'Neill, who replaced longtime Olson aide Jim Rosborough, has led the Wildcats to a 5-2 record entering a game Saturday against Illinois in Chicago.

"Kevin has done an absolutely superb job stepping in for Lute," Livengood said in the statement. "We have enormous confidence in his ability to lead the team in Lute's absence."

UA players have been outspoken in their support of the fiery O'Neill, praising him for his commitment to defense and toughness, among other things.

"Kevin's our man right now," guard Jawann McClellan said Wednesday. "We'd love Coach O (Olson) to come back but we have to ride with Kevin and he's done a great job. … His personality has rubbed off on this team."

McClellan said O'Neill has done an indescribably good job considering that he's had to deal with rumblings about Olson constantly. Olson began the leave of absence just hours before the UA opened its exhibition season with a game against Concordia University. During the Nov. 4 news conference, O'Neill said Olson would be back "shortly," and Livengood said Olson would coach the Wildcats "many, many more times," though O'Neill stopped using the phrase "shortly" after 12 days.

Olson returned to help coach in most practices beginning on Nov. 26. However, he has not attended any of the Wildcats' games since then and did not give the team any indication this week if he would coach them Saturday.

O'Neill was an assistant coach at UA in the late 1980s under Olson, helping the Wildcats reach their first Final Four, in 1988. Overall, Olson has led the Wildcats to four NCAA Final Fours and one championship, in 1997. Under him, the Wildcats reached 23 straight NCAA tournament appearances and won or tied for the Pac-10 Conference title 11 times.

Olson amassed a total of 1,063 wins over his 49 seasons of coaching, 780 of them at the Division I college level. He was 589-187 over 24 seasons with Arizona.

As the oldest head coach in Division I basketball, Olson has been facing retirement rumors for years, especially from rival recruiters. But, even at age 66, he kept going in 2001 after his longtime first wife, Bobbi, died of ovarian cancer.

The Wildcats reached the NCAA championship game that season, and also reached the Elite Eight in 2003 and 2005. They also continued to recruit at a high level, pulling in one of the nation's top 2008 recruiting classes last month, including the top-rated point guard in the nation, Brandon Jennings of Los Angeles.

All four of those recruits have signed binding letters-of-intent, meaning they would have to sit out a year if they decided not to play for Arizona. Jennings' Los Angeles-based adviser, Kelly Williams, said Thursday before the announcement that Jennings remains solid on the Wildcats but did sign with the intention of playing for Olson.

"Lute is the draw, you know what I mean?" Williams said. "Kevin's the assistant coach, he's got NBA ties and Brandon was impressed with him. … But (if Olson doesn't return), I'm sure that's something we'll have to address. Let's see how the team does under Kevin. A lot goes into that. But I like Kevin a lot."