Arizona Athletics: Top 5 Arizona Wildcat greatest impact coaches

Arizona Athletics has seen many great coaches since the beginning. Time to rank out the top 5 who made the greatest impact.

Since the beginning, there have been many great coaches that had a significant impact on Arizona Athletics across all sports. Wins, championships, records, all the great Wildcat coaches have those three things in common. They also impacted the athletic program in other ways as well. From increasing the fan base, to taking their respective sport to the next level in terms of being one of the major powerhouses, all of them have left a legacy that will never be forgotten.

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Now who are the Top 5 greatest coaches the made the greatest impact at Arizona? Before I go into that, it’s important to remember the context of this list. These are the coaches that set themselves apart from the rest. These are the coaches that made an impact during their tenure but also for the future of Arizona Athletics.

It’s also important to understand too that this type of list people aren’t going to agree with. That’s fair. There are always those debates that will continue on forever, such as who is the greatest of all time Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant or Lebron?

Now sit back, relax and enjoy the read starting with No.5 Fred Snowden.

No.5 Fred Snowden 1972-1982

The fox, Fred Snowden. One of the top 3 Arizona basketball coaches of all time, Snowden’s teams knew how to score and knew how to win. In his 10 year tenure at Arizona, Snowden had an overall record of 167-108. He took the Wildcats to the NCAA tournament twice, in 1976 and 1978, advancing as far as the Elite 8 in 1976, earning the program their first tournament wins before Lute Olson took over. That year he had the great Bob Elliot, Al Fleming and also Gilbert Myles on his roster.

Similar to how college and especially in the NBA where teams are consistently scoring over 100 points per game, under Snowden the Wildcats topped 100 points in 27 games! This style of offense had an immediate impact to Arizona Athletics. It brought excitement to Tucson, which resulted in an increase of attendance. For his efforts, in his first season with Arizona he was named WAC Coach of the Year.

He was also part of several transitions that Arizona basketball went through. In 1973, they went from playing inside Bear Down Gymnasium to McKale Center. Also, in his last 4 seasons as head coach, the Wildcats went from playing in the WAC to the Pac-10 (now know as the Pac-12). This was an hard adjustment to make as they did not make the post season during this time.

Snowden’s style of offense and producing the first NCAA Tournament win set the stage perfectly for the next era of Wildcat basketball under coach Lute Olson.

No.4 Dick Tomey 1987-2000

One of the nicest and most beloved coaches at Arizona, Dick Tomey put Arizona Football on the map during his 13 seasons as head coach. Known for his “Desert Swarm” defense, Tomey had an overall record of 95-64-4 (winningest Arizona football coach of all-time) and 60-49-4 in the Pac-10. He led the program to 7 bowl games, including the Fiesta Bowl in 1994, shutting out the Miami Hurricanes 29-0!

Not done. He also is the only Wildcat football coach to have led the program to two 10 win game in a single season. Former coach Rich Rodriguez is the last coach to have a 10 win game season, which he did back in 2014, but did it just once that season.  Hopefully under Sumlin, Arizona Football can get back to its winning ways.

The impact Tomey had on those who played under him spoke for itself in terms of the success they had after playing at Arizona. Tomey had a lot of highly talented players that went onto to have successful NFL careers, including Tedy Bruschi, and Lance Briggs. Keys to winning involve have the right players that fit your system, Tomey certainly did that.

Tomey recently passed away after battling lung cancer. He will certainly never be forgotten for the impact he had not only to Arizona Football and Arizona Athletics but for the city of Tucson.

No.3 Jerry Kindall 1973-96

Hard not to put this individual at the No.2 or even No.1 spot, but that says a lot about those on the list. During his 24 seasons as head coach for Arizona Baseball, Jerry Kindall put Wildcat baseball on the map. He had an overall record of 860-579-7, which included three national championships! Not only did he win a national championship as a coach, but also as a player. He knew how to win!

Kindall also racked up individual and team accolades as head coach for the Wildcats:

• Three time national coach of the year
• Inductee into the College Hall of Fame in 2007
• Won 3 Pac-10 titles and 1 WAC Title

Similar to Tomey, Kindall had many highly talented players in college baseball play for him. One of those being Terry Francona, who went onto become the general manager for the Cleveland Indians. Kindall impacted so many players and help guided them to success at the next level.

He had such an impact for Arizona Athletics that in 1986, while Kindall was head coach, they named the baseball stadium after him and former coach Frank Sancet, Jerry Kindall Field at Frank Sancet Stadium. Kindall knew how to win and how to be successful. He will go down as one of the greats to have coached college baseball.

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!

No.1 Lute Olson 1983-2007

Luteeeeeeeee Olson. For those true diehard Wildcat fans know what I am talking about here. After player introductions, the coach, the hall of famer, Lute Olson would be introduced to a sold out McKale Center. For 24 seasons as head coach of Arizona Basketball, he commanded the sidelines and transformed this program to what it is today.

When his coaching career was all said and done he was the winningest coach in Arizona Basketball with a record of 589-188, surpassing Coach Fred Enke. He took this program to 23 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, five Final Fours and led the Wildcats to their only NCAA Championship in 1997. They came close to winning again in 2001, but lost to the Duke Blue Devils in the title game.

Under Olson, the Wildcats dominated the Pac-12 conference, winning 11 regular season conference champions and four tournament championships. Olson was also awarded the Pac-10 coach of the year seven times!  As a result of his G.O.A.T like coaching career at Arizona, he was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002 and the College Hall of Fame in 2006 and 2019.

Like Coach Candrea, winning attracts elite talent and Olson took full advantage of that. Steve Kerr, Sean Elliot, Mike Bibby, Jason Terry, Damon Stoudamire, Andre Iguodala and Richard Jefferson are just a few of the many talented athletes recruited by Olson. Many of his former players have gone on to have hall of fame careers of their own.

To honor Olson and his wife Bobbi (who passed away in 2001 in to cancer) they renamed the playing surface inside McKale Center to “Lute and Bobbi Olson Court.”  After his coaching career ended at Arizona, he still continued (and still does) show up and support Coach Sean Miller from the stands. That shows his passion and how much he cares for Arizona basketball.

Arizona basketball remains to be one of the top programs in college basketball today, thanks to one man and one man only, Lute Olson.

At Zona Zealots, we would like to personally thank these five coaches and the impact they had on Arizona Athletics. What they did for this city, this university and for Wildcats fans all over the globe, we can’t thank you enough! Bear Down, Arizona!