The Arizona Wildcats softball coach had himself quite a successful weekend. Coach Mike Candrea not only became the fastest coach in NCAA softball history to reach 1,500 career wins, he became the fastest NCAA coach in any sport or division to accomplish that feat. It took just 1,882 games to get there.
As if that wasn’t good enough, the Wildcats swept the top ranked Washington Huskies in the process. Arizona is in the midst of a 32-1 season and is currently ranked in the top 4 in all major national polls.
We are especially excited about Arizona’s success this season, as our owner’s daughter, Tamara Statman, is one of the Wildcats’ starters as a sophomore.
Candrea is just six wins behind University of Michigan coach Carol Hutchins for the most wins in NCAA softball history. At the pace that the ‘Cats are on this season, it would be quite surprising if he wasn’t able to take the top spot in that category as well.
In honor of this incredible accomplishment, Everyone Loves Buttons decided to create some special Zipper Pulls for Coach Candrea and the Wildcat faithful.
Entering 2017, the Wildcats had won eight national championships, reached the College World Series 21 times and produced 54 All-Americans including four National Players of the Year in 24 seasons under Coach Candrea.
Candrea’s accolades stretch beyond the NCAA, as he coached the USA Olympic team to a gold medal in 2004. That team is widely regarded as one of the most dominant Olympic teams of all time… in any sport. They were able to finish 9-0, while outscoring their opponents 51-1 in the process.
It is remarkable that the Arizona program has been able to sustain such success for decades. Since 1988, the Arizona Wildcats have won at least 33 games in every season, eclipsing the 50-win mark 17 times. It looks like they are well on their way to continuing that unprecedented run of success.
We can only hope that he will add another title to his amazing resume this season.