UA head coach Lute Olson returned to the basketball program yesterday, according to published reports, although UA athletics director Jim Livengood told the Wildcat in a 3:30 p.m. phone call he had “”not yet”” come back.

“”He’ll be back fairly soon,”” Livengood said at the time. “”It could be any day.””

Meanwhile, Livengood said he would speak with Kevin O’Neill about his future “”sometime toward the end of this week.””

O’Neill, who took over as interim head coach on Nov. 4 hours before the team’s first exhibition game, has not decided if he wants to return next year to the assistant role he was hired for.

It’s also undecided whether O’Neill will receive the incentives in Olson’s contract, as Livengood said that decision would be made at the “”end of the academic year.””

That may end up being a moot point as O’Neill did not lead the team to any basketball-related incentives in Olson’s contract, with the easiest incentives being reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament and winning 20 regular-season games.

If the team’s GPA exceeds 3.0 or the graduation rate exceeds 53 percent a $5,000 incentive would be called for. It could increase to as high as $25,000 if the team has a 3.4 GPA or the graduation rate is 73 percent or above.