Andy Lopez Position: Head Coach Experience: 11th Year Alma Mater: UCLA, 1975

Overall Record:1042-647-7 (.616) in 29 years as a collegiate head coach
Record at Arizona:355-229-1 (.608) in 10 seasons at Arizona (Six NCAA Teams, CWS)
Record at Florida:278-159-1 (.636) in seven seasons at Florida (1995-2001) (Five NCAA Teams, Two CWS)
Record at Pepperdine:241-107-3 (.691) in six seasons at Pepperdine (1989-1994) (Four NCAA Teams, One NC)
Record at CSDH:168-152-2 (.525) in five seasons at Cal State-Dominguez Hills (1983-1988) (One D-II CWS)
D-I Postseason Record:40-29 (.583) in 13 NCAA Division I postseason appearances (1992 National Champion)
D-II Postseason Record:5-5 (.500) in two NCAA Division II postseason appearances
National Coach of the Year:Two-time national coach of the year - 1992 (consensus), 1996
Conference COY:Eight-time conference coach of the year - 1996 SEC, 1993 WCC, 1992 WCC, 1991 WCC, 1989 WCC, 1987 CCAA, 1986 CCAA, 1985 CCAA


Entering his 11th season as the head coach at Arizona, Andy Lopez once again has the Wildcats poised for success on the national stage in 2012. Since taking over in 2002, Lopez has restored Arizona as one of the top programs in the nation, guiding the school to postseason appearances in seven of the last nine seasons, including a berth in the 2004 College World Series.

Lopez has coached the Wildcats to consecutive NCAA regional appearances in 2010 and 2011 while winning 73 ballgames. His 2011 club went on the road to the College Station Regional, but fell one game shy of advancing to the super regionals despite defeating host Texas A&M in the first of two championship games.

The 2011 club was one of Lopez's most balanced in Tucson. For the eighth-straight season, the Wildcats hit over .300, finishing third in the nation with a .320 average. The pitching staff registered a 3.57 team ERA, the lowest mark for a UA staff since 1976. The Wildcats led all Pac-10 schools with six players named to the all-conference team, including sophomore pitcher Kurt Heyer, who was named a third team All-American by Collegiate Baseball.

The 2010 season was highlighted by reaching two great collegiate milestones. Arizona's season-opening victory over Sacramento State marked the 2,500th all-time win for the program as UA became just the seventh school to reach the mark. On May 16, Lopez became the 16th active and 46th all-time Division I coach to reach 1,000 career victories as his Wildcat team defeated No. 2 Arizona State, 12-4.

Beyond the milestones, 2010 was one of Lopez's finest coaching seasons. He led the youngest team in the Pac-10 Conference to a 34-24 overall record, which included a 15-game winning streak in midseason. The Wildcats battled injuries and persevered through the always-challenging Pac-10 schedule to earn a postseason berth in the Fort Worth Regional.

Now heading into 2012, Lopez has the Wildcats primed for a bigger role on the national stage. After rebuilding the proud baseball tradition in Tucson over the course of his first 10 seasons, Lopez and the Wildcats will permanently move their baseball operation to Hi Corbett Field, just a short five-minute drive from the UA campus.

Hi Corbett Field will give Lopez and his coaching staff an immediate upgrade into one of the premier collegiate baseball facilities. The historic stadium has recently been used as the spring training site for the Colorado Rockies, which now gives the UA program year-round access to a major league facility. The stadium includes over 8,500 seats, home and visiting clubhouses, a baseball office and locker room complex, an auxiliary practice field and a five-tunnel batting cage with pitching mounds.

A veteran of 29 years as a collegiate head coach, Lopez begins his 11th year at UA with a lifetime 1042-647-7 (.616) overall record at four schools. He is one of only 11 active head coaches with a national championship to his credit, and also is just one of three skippers in all of NCAA Division I history to lead three different schools to the College World Series.

In just 10 seasons at Arizona he has already guided the Wildcats to their first College World Series appearance since 1986, the first regional title since 1986, the first-ever super regional title and their first 40-win season since 1989. His 10 UA teams have gone a combined 355-229-1 (.608) despite often playing a difficult nonconference schedule in addition to the annual Pac-10 slate.

Overall, Lopez's teams have appeared in the NCAA Division I postseason 15 times, four of which went on to Omaha and the College World Series. In 1992 he led the underdog Pepperdine Waves to the national title.

In addition to his role as head coach, Lopez works closely with the UA pitching staff, including specifically serving as the Wildcats pitching coach in four of the last seven seasons, a duty he also handled for all four of his College World Series teams. In 2007 he mentored an Arizona staff that posted the second-most strikeouts in school history, the lowest team ERA in 30 years and surrendered the fewest home runs in 34 years in Tucson, while staff ace Preston Guilmet became UA's first Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year since 1989.

His recruiting classes have consistently been among the top in the nation, highlighted by his second-ranked class byCollegiate Baseballin 1999. His first class at Arizona earned a respectable No. 10 ranking from the publication, which was then followed up with a No. 4 ranking in 2003, a No. 6 ranking in 2004 and a No. 7 ranking in 2005.

Player development is an important part of the program under Lopez and his staff. A total of 113 players coached by Lopez have signed professional contracts, including an Arizona record seven that were drafted in the first 12 rounds in 2005 and 11 total players in the 2002 MLB Draft and again in 2008. In seven years at UA, he has had four players selected in the first round and a total of 47 players picked by Major League teams, including 26 that had never been drafted before. Ten of Lopez's UA-coached players have played in Major League Baseball.

A total of 33 Lopez coached players have garnered All-America honors, 76 have been named all-conference and in 1998 he helped guide Brad Wilkerson to national player of the year honors and the Golden Spikes Award.

He personally has been recognized nationally as the coach of the year twice and has won coach of the year honors eight times in three different conferences.

Lopez came to the Old Pueblo from the University of Florida, where he spent seven seasons turning the Gators into a top 25 program and a national championship contender. His .636 winning percentage at UF was third-best for any coach in Florida school history that spent five or more seasons in the top spot.

While in Gainesville, he led the Gators to a 278-159-1 (.636) overall record, two Southeastern Conference championships, five NCAA tournament berths and two College World Series appearances during his seven-year tenure.

He averaged 40 wins a season during his stay in the Swamp, while doubling, from two to four, the UF program's number of trips to the College World Series. The 1996 team, which won a school record 50 games, fell just two wins shy of the national championship title game. The 1996 exploits garnered LopezCollegiate BaseballNational Coach of the Year honors, the second such recognition of his coaching career. While at Florida, his student-athletes also performed in the classroom as well, as his players were tabbed with SEC academic honors 43 times.

He began his collegiate coaching career at Cal State-Dominguez Hills in 1983. He turned the program at CSUDH first into a California Collegiate Athletics Association championship team and then into a Division II national championship contender. His teams won league titles in 1986 and `87, and the latter went on to the Division II College World Series. Three different times he was named the conference coach of the year at Dominguez Hills and his 168-152-2 (.525) record in six seasons caught the eye of Southern California neighbor Pepperdine.

Pepperdine hired Lopez to lead the baseball team in 1989 and he began to make waves in Malibu, Calif., right from the start. Over six seasons he tallied a record of 241-107-3 (.691), his best winning percentage at a school in his career. His first team went 41-19-1 and made the first of four NCAA postseason appearances during his stay. In 1991 the Waves finished the season 41-17-1 and exited postseason play early, but laid a foundation on which the 1992 team could build.

The 1992 season culminated in Pepperdine's first and only national championship in school history. Thought by many to be too small of a school to compete nationally in baseball, Lopez and his team shocked the collegiate baseball world by going 48-11-1, including 8-1 in the postseason. The 3-2 title game victory over Cal-State Fullerton in Omaha earned Lopez consensus National Coach of the Year honors byCollegiate BaseballandBaseball America.

Lopez got into collegiate baseball as a player at Los Angeles Harbor Community College where he played two seasons before transferring to Pac-10 rival UCLA. A 1975 graduate of UCLA, Lopez was the team captain and starting shortstop for the `75 Bruin baseball team. He was drafted in the ninth round by Detroit Tigers in the amateur draft, but opted to complete his studies in Westwood and begin his coaching career instead of turning pro. He was inducted into UCLA's Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.

Upon completion of his studies at UCLA, he got his first coaching job at his junior college alma mater, L.A. Harbor Community College. He spent two seasons as an assistant coach there before moving on to the high school coaching ranks at Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, Calif. As head coach, he led Mira Costa to a 108-48 (.692) record over five seasons before being hired at CSU Dominguez Hills.

Lopez is involved in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and has twice served as the manager for Athletes in Action. His AIA teams competed internationally in 1982 and `83.

He and his wife, Linda, are the proud parents of two daughters, Kristi and Kerri. They also have two sons, Michael and David, who are both students and members of the baseball program at Arizona.

* Denotes conference champions ^ Division II College World Series % Division I College World Series ! College World Series champions