Mike Candrea

Mike Candrea
Biographical details
Born (1955-08-29) August 29, 1955 (age 69)
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Alma materCentral Arizona College
Arizona State University
Playing career
Baseball
1973–1974Central Arizona
Position(s)Second baseman
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Baseball
1976–1980Central Arizona (asst.)
Softball
1981–1985Central Arizona
1986–2021Arizona
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
2024Arizona (interim AD)
Head coaching record
Overall1,674–433–2 (.794)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Awards
  • 4× Speedline/NFCA Division I (1994, 1996, 1997, 2007)
  • 3× National Coach of the Year (1994, 1996, 1997)
  • 12× Pac-12 Coach of the Year (1986, 1987, 1988, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2000–2003, 2007, 2017)
  • NFCA West Region (2017)
  • 3x Pacific Region Coach of the Year (1994, 1995, 1997)
  • Northwest Region Coach of the Year (1988)
  • CAC Hall of Fame (2009)
  • USA National Softball Hall of Fame (2017)[1]
  • National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame (1996)[2]
  • Arizona Softball Foundation Hall of Fame (2009) [3]
  • Pima County Sports Hall of Fame (1998) [4]
Records
2nd on List of college softball coaches with 1,000 wins
Medal record
Head Coach for Women's Softball
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2004 Athens Team competition
Silver medal – second place 2008 Beijing Team competition
Head Coach for ISF Women's World Championship
Gold medal – first place 2002 Saskatoon
Gold medal – first place 2006 Beijing
Head Coach for World Cup of Softball
Silver medal – second place 2005 Oklahoma City
Gold medal – first place 2006 Oklahoma City
Gold medal – first place 2007 Oklahoma City
Head Coach for Softball at the Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 2003 Santo Domingo
Gold medal – first place 2007 Rio de Janeiro

John Michael Candrea (born August 29, 1955)[5] is the former head softball coach and served as interim Athletic Director between Feb. 2 and March 3, 2024 at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.[6][7] He was the head coach of the United States women's national softball team in 2004, when Team USA won a gold medal, and in 2008, bringing home silver. At the time of his retirement in 2021, Candrea was the all-time winningest coach in college softball history, and ranked fourth of any coach in any NCAA sport with 1,674 wins.

  1. ^ "Mike Candrea". USA Softball. Archived from the original on January 21, 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  2. ^ "NFCA Hall of Fame". NFCA. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  3. ^ "Arizona Softball Foundation Hall of Fame (Mike Candrea)". Arizona Softball Foundation. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  4. ^ "Mike Candrea". Pima County Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference AZ bio (2004) was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Dave Heeke out as University of Arizona director of athletics". 22 January 2024.
  7. ^ "University of Arizona Appoints Desireé Reed-Francois as Director of Athletics". 19 February 2024.