Mike Candrea
Bio
As Mike Candrea's Olympic Softball team made its way
to Athens in 2004, he spoke about not just winning,
but of the United States dominating the competition.
The Americans did, outscoring their opponents an
absurd 51-1 and capturing the gold medal. It was not
the first time Candrea dominated an event, and it
likely will not be the last. Candrea might be the
most successful college head coach in any sport.
Candrea has almost too many accomplishments to list.
As the head coach at the University of Arizona for
the last 19 years, his Wild Cats have won six
National Championships, earned 17 trips to the
Women's College World Series and advanced to the
championship game 10 times. He has been named
National Coach of the Year three times (1994, 1996,
1997). Some of Candrea's yearly averages break down
to this: a record of 54-11; 3.4 All-Americans; more
than five NCAA Tournament wins; 2.4 College World
Series game wins. A renowned teacher, the U. S.
Olympic Committee honored Candrea with the "Olympic
Shield" award in 2004, the most prestigious award
within the U.S. Olympic Movement, for his work with
the softball program. The USOC also honored him in
2004 as its Coach of the Year. Since 1988, his
players have earned 72 All-America citations for 33
different players Candrea's teams have made 19 of 20
trips to the NCAA Tournament (1987-2005) In 19
seasons as Arizona's coach, Candrea has 1027-record
and a .835 winning percentage Candrea also holds a
position on the USA Softball Women's National Team
Selection Committee.Hitting
Base running
