Mike Candrea
Head Coach
University of Arizona
- Mike Candrea enters his 33rd season as the head coach of the University of Arizona softball team and by far, is softball’s most decorated college coach. Mike’s accomplishments include:
- 8 NCAA National Championships
- 2 NJCAA National Championships
- 21 trips to the Women’s College World Series
- 1,468 career victories (career winning percentage of 80%)
- 54 All-Americans, including 4 National Players of the Year, 5 Coach of the Year awards
- 2-time USA Olympic Softball Team Head Coach; 1 Olympic Gold Medal and 1 Olympic Silver Medal
- Head Coach of the USA Women’s Softball Olympic team that won Gold at the 2004 Olympics, and Silver at the 2008 Olympics. The 2004 team posted a perfect 9-0 record, outscoring its opponents 51-1 in one of the most dominant team performances in any sport in Olympic history.
- Candrea led Arizona to their first national championship in 1991. National championships followed in 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2006 and 2007.
- During Candrea’s tenure at Arizona the Cats have had a succession of top-level players – sluggers, hitters, dominant pitchers and Olympians. For 22-consecutive years, from 1990 to 2011, at least 2 of Candrea’s players earned All-America honors, a trend that picked back up in 2014. Four times it was 6 players – the only time that many players from one team were ever chosen.
- Candrea began his softball coaching career at Central Arizona College from 1981-85. His team won consecutive NJCAA World Series in his final two seasons, earning him national coach the year honors each time.
We couldn’t have a Hitting Summit without Mike Candrea! He’s been the leader in developing hitting technique and teaching methods and his love of learning and ability to stay current makes him the sport’s thought-leader when it comes to hitting! It’s an honor to have Mike at our first-ever Hitting Summit! ~Cindy
