area, which I did." His success was noticed in Long Beach, leading to an opportunity to enter the NCAA coaching ranks in 1973. Long Beach State University (1973–1974) In Olson's one season at Long Beach State, he led the team to an undefeated conference record, a Big West championship and a 24–2 record. The only two losses were two-point losses at Colorado and at #6 Marquette University. Olson had been content to stay at LBCC, but was pursued by LBSU. "I wasn't that interested because there were rumors that Long Beach was about to go on NCAA probation," Olson said. "I told them I'd need about 10 days to think about it. They told me during that time that Long Beach wasn't going to go on probation. I believed them, but they didn't tell me the truth." Olson followed Jerry Tarkanian as coach, and Tarkanian had built the program into a National power, before leaving for the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Under Olson, the 49ers were ranked as high as #3 behind Coach John Wooden and player Bill Walton's UCLA squad and eventual NCAA Tournament Champion North Carolina State. However, with a #10 regular season ranking, the team was banned from appearing in the NCAA tournament after being put on a 3-year probation mid-season, due to recruiting violations from the Tarkanian era. Five players 49ers players from that season were drafted into the NBA. Drafted were: Cliff Poindexter (Chicago), his brother Roscoe Poindexter (Boston), All-American Glenn McDonald (1st Round, Boston), Leonard Grey (Seattle) and a year later, Bobby Gross (Portland). The 24–2 mark still stands as the school's best season winning percentage. After one season at Long Beach State, Olson accepted the head coaching position at the University of Iowa. University of Iowa (1974–1983) Olson left Long Beach for the University of Iowa and later remarked, "People didn't go from Long Beach to Iowa, they went from Iowa to Long Beach," Olson said. "I thought, 'well, I'm just going to break that trend.' I saw an opportunity.""I also liked it at Long Beach State, but I felt I had been lied to and decided to leave even though Iowa wasn't exactly a basketball hotbed," he said. Olson coached Iowa for nine seasons, from 1974 to 1983, with an overall record of 167–91 (.647), leaving as the schools all-time wins leader. Olson inherited an Iowa team that had gone 8-16 under