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Editor's Pick Top Story
NO. 4: MIKE CANDREA

Hansen's Hundred, No. 4: Mike Candrea turned Wildcats into softball power

Arizona coach Mike Candrea trots onto the field with his Wildcats before first pitch of a 2018 game against South Dakota at Hillenbrand Stadium.

 Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star 2010

When UA Sports Hall of Famer George Young retired from a remarkable career as a four-time Olympic distance runner and athletic administrator at Central Arizona College, he bought a home in Pinetop and became accomplished at handiwork.

One of his projects this summer was to make a plaque out of choice piece of pinewood and carve the following inscription:

Mike Candrea

1,674 victories

1986-2021

Young, who was an All-American at Arizona in the early 1960s and won a bronze medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, would have needed a pinewood tree to list of all Candrea’s astonishing numbers: eight NCAA championships, 11 Pac-12 championships, 24 College World Series appearances, an Olympic gold medal, and, as many forget, back-to-back NJCAA softball championships at Central Arizona College in the early 1980s.

Candrea, who is No. 4 on our list of Tucson’s Top 100 Sports Figures of the last 100 years, lived next door to Young on the same rural road in Casa Grande for about 25 years. Now they both spend summers in Pinetop, a friendship and bond that began when Young was CAC’s athletic director and Candrea was the school’s assistant baseball coach, 1976-80.

Candrea was a baseball man to the core, helping Central Arizona win the 1976 national championship. His playing days were ended by multiple arm injuries, but CAC coach Kenny Richardson quickly offered Candrea a job as his top assistant coach.

Arizona coach Mike Candrea shares a few words with pitcher Kenzie Fowler after the Wildcats beat Tennessee 5-2 to advance to the championship finals at the 2010 Women’s College World Series.

"When Kenny returned from winning the national championship he came into my office and said, ‘I tell you what, without Candrea, we wouldn’t have won the title,’" remembers Young, then CAC’s athletic director. "'He’s going to make a heck of a head coach someday.'"

Young hired Candrea to be a full-time teacher, including running a fitness program for CAC’s female students. It was during a period that Candrea commuted to Phoenix to complete requirements for a master’s degree.

"I’d go in to check on Mike. His classes were always full," Young says now. "Everyone was laughing, exercising, enjoying the day. It was very impressive. I kept thinking, 'You know, he’s got something special; people like him.'"

After the 1980 baseball season, Young asked Candrea, then 25, if he wanted to coach CAC’s softball team. Initially, Candrea balked.

But once Young explained that Candrea’s salary would increase significantly, Candrea, married with a young son, accepted.

Central Arizona won the 1984 and 1985 national championships with a cumulative 98-17 record. UA associate athletic director Mary Roby, searching for a softball coach, phoned Young.

"She said, 'We’d like to recruit your softball coach,'" says Young. "I knew it was inevitable we’d lose him, and I was so happy we lost him to my alma mater. I told Mary, 'I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins the national championship in his first five years.'"

Young wasn’t far off; Candrea coached Arizona to the 1991 NCAA championship in his sixth year in Tucson. He was so successful in the 90s — 586-91 in the decade with five national titles and three No. 2 finishes — that he became the face of the sport.

That led to his selection as the 2004 and 2008 USA Olympic softball coach.

Members of the United States softball team, including pitcher Jennie Finch, put coach Mike Candrea on their shoulders as they celebrate their gold medal victory against Australia at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

In September 2000, I was waiting for a flight at the Tucson airport when Candrea walked by. He asked where I was going.

"To Australia for the Olympics," I said.

"That’s where I’m going, too," he said.

Although he was not part of the Team USA staff, Candrea talked about the possibility of coaching at future Olympic Games.

"That’s something that interests me," he said. It was the no-brainer of no-brainers.

In 2004, Candrea coached what Sports Illustrated referred to as "The Real Dream Team" to a gold medal in Greece. With UA All-Americans Jennie Finch, Leah O’Brien Amico and Lovieanne Jung playing vital roles, Team USA outscored all Olympic opponents 51-1.

The son of a New Orleans jazz musician — a baseball player who grew up idolizing New York Yankees superstar Mickey Mantle — Candrea’s journey from small-town Casa Grande to the top of the softball mountain ended in June when he retired.

Coach Mike Candrea talks with Jennie Finch, Caitlin Lowe, Chelsie Mesa and Taryne Mowatt following a game between the National Pro Fastpitch All-Stars and the Wildcats at Hillenbrand Stadium in 2010.

"I do not think people understand the level of play you see today in college softball," Candrea said at his retirement press conference at McKale Center.

“My next venture is to try and get people from around the country, the world and the NCAA to realize they have a special product."

From softball coach to softball ambassador. It's a role that Candrea should hit out of the park.

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Contact sports columnist Greg Hansen at 520-573-4362 or ghansen@tucson.com. On Twitter: @ghansen711