The impact legendary coach Mike Candrea has made on softball in general, and at Arizona specifically, goes beyond the eight national championships with the Wildcats.
Rebekah Quiroz
With the hiring of Rebekah Quiroz as Pima’s new softball coach last week, replacing her father Armando Quiroz, makes it eight former Wildcats who played under Candrea who are now head coaches.
Rebekah, who lettered with Arizona in 2002 after starring at Flowing Wells and Pima, is one of four head coaches at the college level who were once Wildcats. There are also four former Arizona players who are head coaches in high school (the complete list is at the bottom of this post).
“I am most humbled and honored to accept the position of head softball coach for Pima Community College,” Rebekah said. “I will do my absolute best to ensure continuity of this nationally recognized and respected program that my father (and prior coaches) have created.
“Thank you for the opportunity to serve Pima College and the Tucson community that I love. I am everything I am because of my father; I am honored, and proudly carry his name through this next journey of my coaching career.”
Lute Olson and men’s basketball have the largest amount of former Arizona players as head coaches with nine, followed by softball and football with eight.
New Pima coach Rebekah Quiroz was part of Arizona’s national runner-up team in 2002 (Pima photo)
Some updates:
Former Arizona and CDO standout Shelley Duncan is now managing Class AA Jackson (Miss.) in the Arizona Diamondbacks farm system. He managed Class A Visalia (Calif.) last year. Before that in 2015 and 2016, he managed Class A Hillsboro (Ore.). He’s on a track to join Terry Francona as a major league manager some day. …
Vicky Maes not returning to coach Arizona’s women’s tennis team leaves Danielle Steinberg at Kansas State the lone former Wildcat in that sport as a head coach. …
Safford recently hired former Arizona walk-on football player Eric Hjalmerson as its new head football coach. Hjalmerson walked on with the Wildcats as a defensive back in 2000 after playing at Blue Ridge High School and Eastern Arizona College. Hjalmerson never played or lettered at Arizona.
The following is a list of the 33 former Arizona athletes who presently are head coaches:
FORMER ARIZONA ATHLETES AS CURRENT HEAD COACHES
High school boy’s basketball (2)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Mike Bibby,1996-98,Phoenix Shadow Mountain,2014
Jason Stewart,1997-99,Encinitas (CA) San Dieguito,2014
[/table]
Men’s college basketball (4)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Jason Gardner,1999-03,IUPUI,2014
Craig McMillan,1984-88,Santa Rosa (CA) JC,2000
Josh Pastner,1996-00,Georgia Tech,2016
Damon Stoudamire,1992-95,Pacific,2016
[/table]
Men’s professional basketball (3)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Matt Brase,2003-05,Rio Grande (D-League),2015
Steve Kerr,1983-88,Golden State (NBA),2014
Luke Walton,1999-03,L.A. Lakers (NBA),2016
[/table]
College baseball (2)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Tod Brown,1990-94,North Dakota State,2007
Bill Kinneberg,1979-80,Utah,2005
[/table]
Professional baseball (2)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Shelley Duncan,1999-01,Class AA Jackson (MS),2018
Terry Francona,1977-80,Cleveland (MLB),2013
[/table]
Women’s college basketball (2)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Brenda Frese,1989-93,Maryland,2002
Adia Barnes,1995-99,Arizona,2016
[/table]
High school football (7)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Marcus Bell,1996-99,Eager Round Valley,2011
Robert Bonillas,1995-98,Desert View,2012
Mark Keel,1979-82,Silverdale (WA) Central Kitsap,2000
Michael Klyce,2004-08,Los Angeles Locke,2017
Scott McKee,1999-02,Sahuaro,2009
Clarence McRae,2003-04,Mountain View,2012
Brandon Sanders,1995-98,Pueblo,2014
[/table]
College football (1)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Edwin Mulitalo,1995-98,Southern Virginia,2018
[/table]
College softball (4)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Debby Day,1989-91,Cal-Lutheran,2002
Kristie Fox,2004-07,UNLV,2017
Jennifer Martinez,2008-09,Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College,2017
Rebekah Quiroz,2002,Pima Community College,2019
[/table]
High school softball (4)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Amy Baray-Rocha,1999,Salpointe,2015
Jackie Coburn,2002-05,Scottsdale Horizon,2013
Krista Humphreys,1993-96,Corona (Calif.) Centennial,2015
Jody Pruitt,1990-93,Peoria Sunrise Mountain,2011
[/table]
High school soccer (1)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Alex Davis,2003-07,Flowing Wells,2011
[/table]
College women’s tennis (1)
[table=”desc”]
Player,Years/UA,Team,Start
Danielle Steinberg,2005-09,Kansas State,2014
[/table]
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.
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