Arizona men’s tennis coach Clancy Shields, whose teams have gone 94-22 the last four seasons, have now won four consecutive league championships: the Pac-12 in 2022, 2023 and 2024, and the Big 12 title this season.
It’s not like the Big 12 isn’t a difficult tennis league; TCU is ranked No. 2, UCF No. 14 and Baylor No. 18. Arizona is currently ranked No. 10.
Arizona head coach Clancy Shields celebrates his doubles team’s win against Auburn in the second round match of the NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament on the UA campus on May 4, 2024.
What makes Shields’ run so impressive is that only one other Arizona team, men or women, has won four consecutive league championships dating to Arizona’s entry into the Pac-12 in 1978. Lute Olson’s basketball teams of 1988-91 won four consecutive Pac-10 championships, a total that was unmatched until Shields’ tennis team won the Big 12 title in Waco, Texas, last week.
Arizona won 64 Pac-12 championships in its many years in the league, but not even seven-time NCAA championship softball coach Mike Candrea could win four Pac-12 titles consecutively. Candrea’s most was three in succession (2003-05). Arizona’s women’s golf teams of 2000-02 also won three straight league championships.
