Arizona’s Caitlin Lowe 12th active head coach groomed by Mike Candrea

Former Arizona All-American and U.S. Olympic outfielder Caitlin Lowewas officially introduced Wednesday as the successor to Mike Candreaas the Wildcats’ softball coach.

Lowe, 36, spent the last nine seasons under Candrea following a professional career with the USSSA Pride. Lowe served as the program’s director of operations in 2013 and then as a volunteer assistant coach in 2014, before joining the coaching staff full-time in 2015. She served as Arizona’s associate head coach from 2018 to 2021.

She is the 12th active head coach from high school to the pro ranks to play under Candrea, who officially announced his retirement Monday after 36 years with the program.

FORMER ARIZONA ATHLETES WHO ARE SOFTBALL HEAD COACHES

List of softball head coaches of various sports and different levels who competed at Arizona.
Compiled by AllSportsTucson.com.

Name	UA	Team	Sport	Start
Candace Abrams	2000-04	Clarendon (Texas) JC	Softball	2020
Amy Baray-Rocha	1999	Salpointe Catholic HS	Softball	2015
Jackie Coburn	2002-05	Scottsdale Horizon HS	Softball	2013
Debby Day	1989-91	Cal-Lutheran	Softball	2002
Tanya Farhat-Villarreal	1994-97	West Bend (WI) Slinger HS	Softball	2015
Kristie Fox	2004-07	UNLV	Softball	2017
Krista Humphreys	1993-96	Corona (CA) Centennial HS	Softball	2015
Stacey Iveson	1986-89	Israel National Team	Softball	2019
Caitlin Lowe	2004-07	Arizona	Softball	2022
Jennifer Martinez	2008-09	Abraham Baldwin (GA) JC	Softball	2017
Jody Pruitt	1990-93	Peoria Sunrise Mountain HS	Softball	2011
Rebekah Quiroz	2002	Pima CC	Softball	2019
Gina Snyder	2018-19	Manatee (FL) Squeeze	Softball	2020

“Tucson you have my heart,” Lowe said at McKale Center on Wednesday during her introductory press conference. “I promise not to give my best impersonation of Coach Candrea, but the absolute best version of myself each and every day.

“His lessons live inside of me and I can’t wait to pass them on to future generations.”

Candrea told AllSportsTucson.com’s Steve Riveraand Troy Hutchisonthat Lowe impresses him the most because of her “excellence” and “humility.”

“She’s something else. She doesn’t even want to even talk about how good she is,” Candrea said. “I fell in love with her. I love what she represents. And then being able to watch her grow as a coach, it’s been acknowledged that it was a good decision, that she was ready for this.”

Candrea gave her the responsibility of scouting opponents the last four to five years.

“She likes watching video and she does a really good job of giving you a synopsis of how we’re going to play defense on the opponents,” he said. “She does a really good job with the kids on looking at a pitcher and say, ‘This is what your plan should be.’

“Who best other than her to be able to do that?”

Here is a complete list of known active coaches who were Arizona athletes:

FORMER ARIZONA ATHLETES WHO ARE HEAD COACHES

List of head coaches of various sports and different levels who competed at Arizona. Compiled by AllSportsTucson.com.

Name	UA	Team	Sport	Start
Adia Barnes	1995-99	Arizona	Women's hoops	2016
Heidi Bomberger-Bruschi	1993-97	Attleboro (MA) Feehan HS	Volleyball	2020
Matt Brase	2003-05	Pallacanestro Varese (Italy)	Men's hoops	2022
Robert Bonillas	1995-98	Desert View HS	Football	2012
Tod Brown	1990-94	New Mexico	Baseball	2022
Casey Candaele	1979-82	Buffalo (AAA) Blue Jays	Baseball	2021
Jackie Coburn	2002-05	Scottsdale Horizon HS	Softball	2013
Clark Crist	1977-80	Pulaski (VA) River Turtles	Baseball	2021
Debby Day	1989-91	Cal-Lutheran	Softball	2002
Shelley Duncan	1999-2001	Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (AAA) Yankees	Baseball	2023
Byron Evans	1983-86	South Mountain HS	Football	2020
Terry Francona	1977-80	Cleveland Indians	MLB	2013
Tanya Farhat-Villarreal	1994-97	West Bend (WI) Slinger HS	Softball	2015
Brenda Frese	1989-93	Maryland	Women's hoops	2002
Kristie Fox	2004-07	UNLV	Softball	2017
Margo Geer	2011-14	Alabama	Swimming/Diving	2020
Chip Hale	1984-87	Arizona	Baseball	2022
Jason Hisey	1988-91	Canyon del Oro HS	Baseball	2019
Jack Howell	1983	Tri-City (A) Angels	Baseball	2021
Krista Humphreys	1993-96	Corona (CA) Centennial HS	Softball	2015
Mark Keel	1979-82	Silverdale (WA) Central Kitsap HS	Football	2000
Steve Kerr	1983-88	Golden State Warriors	NBA	2014
Andy Litten	1999-03	Scottsdale Horizon HS	Football	2021
Hunter Long	2013-15	Douglas HS	Football	2019
Caitlin Lowe	2004-07	Arizona	Softball	2022
Brandon Manumaleuna	1997-00	Lawndale (CA) Leuzinger HS	Football	2020
Jennifer Martinez-Walls	2008-09	Abraham Baldwin (GA) JC	Softball	2017
Craig McMillan	1984-88	Santa Rosa (CA) JC	Men's hoops	2000
Richard Mercado	2002-04	Santa Ana (CA) Mater Dei HS	Baseball	2019
Leighton Milton	1992-93	Hollywood (CA) HS	Football	2020
Edwin Mulitalo	1995-98	Southern Virginia	Football	2018
Ronnie Palmer	2005-08	Monterrey Peninsula (CA) JC	Football	2020
Jose Portilla	1996-97	Heritage Academy	Football	2017
Rebekah Quiroz	2002	Pima CC	Softball	2019
Colt Sedbrook	2006-08	Crown College (MN)	Baseball	2024
Jason Stewart	1997-99	Encinitas (CA) San Dieguito HS	Boys hoops	2014
Damon Stoudamire	1992-95	Georgia Tech	Men's hoops	2023
Rafael Valenzuela	2008-10	Bowling Green (A) Rays	Baseball	2023

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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. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District