Arizona Athletics: Top 5 Arizona Wildcat greatest impact coaches

No.2 Mike Candrea 1986-Present

Winning. 1500 wins. 1600 win. The more he coaches, the more he wins, simple as that. In his 33 years as head coach of Arizona Softball, Mike Candrea has had one of the greatest impacts for Arizona Athletics. What he has accomplished from his first season till now is simply remarkable.

Wins, Pac-10 regular season championships, national championships, former players that have gone on to have successful careers at the next level, Candrea has done it all! Some of those players include Jennie Finch, Nancy Evans and Jenny Dalton who all have their jersey retired.

There is one thing to win, but it’s whole other thing when you consistently do it year after year for 33 seasons! It doesn’t hurt either to have had the talent of players Candrea has had. Winning attracts the best and Candrea has used that as leverage and has recruited the best of the best.

His records and stats speak for themselves:

• 33 straight NCAA Tournament appearances
• 8 College World Series Titles
• 11 Pac-10/12 Titles
• Multiple Hall of Fame inductions, including being inducted into the USA Sotball Hall of Fame in 2017

The one stat that stands out more then anything is 1600 wins, which he accomplish this past season. Candra became the second coach ever to reach that mark and also became the fastest in any sport to win that many games. With the Wildcats now set to begin the NCAA Tournament, they will look to continue to add to the win column.

Season after season, the newly renovated Rita Hillenbrand Stadium is sold out. That is a testament to Coach Candrea and what he has done for this program. He has set the bar real high when it comes to winning and he isn’t done yet!