Building & Sustaining a Championship Culture

featuring Mike Candrea,
University of Arizona Head Coach from 1986 through 2021;
8x NCAA Champions, winningest coach in NCAA Division I Softball history (1,674 wins);
4x National Coach of the Year; named the Pac-12 Coach of the Century;
Distinguished member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Hall of Fame (1996);
2x US Olympic Softball Coach (Gold in '04, Silver in '08)

One of the most popular buzzwords in coaching (and most professions) is culture, and it's easy to see why - culture impacts everything a team or organization does. However, developing a championship culture is a no easy task! In this video, Mike Candrea, one of the winningest coaches in all of college sports, breaks down culture building into five lessons he's learned from his nearly 40 year coaching career, and explains the pillars of Arizona softball's culture.

Candrea's Five Lessons

Coach Candrea offers five lessons he's learned from his coaching career that has spanned nearly four decades. You'll learn about one of his most impactful realizations when he talks about the `tale of the tape.' Candrea asks the tough questions, like how one defines success, and gets you thinking about the critical answers that will shape your culture!

Five Pillars

What are the pillars of the coach who has won more games and championships than any other coach in NCAA softball history? Sit back and hear as Coach Candrea outlines the five pillars that have made Arizona softball a top program year in and year out. You will discover how he integrates each pillar into his culture to build consistent winners on and off the field.

Sustaining Excellence

Getting to the peak of any sport is tough enough, but staying there while you have a bulls-eye on your back is nearly impossible. Candrea explains how he believes his culture has stood the test of time and continued producing championships. You'll get his three C's to sustaining excellence and how he implements them in his program.

Coach Candrea's reflections on building and sustaining a championship culture will shed light on why he has had success at every stage of his coaching career, and also provide you with a blueprint of how to build a great culture with your own team.

44 minutes. 2021.