The offseason is here, with all of Arizona’s sports done for 2024-25 season and the 2025-26 campaigns are still a little ways away.
This means only one thing, it is a great time to take stock on where some of the programs stand now. Over the next few weeks, we’ll take a look at each of the UA’s men’s and women’s athletic programs to see what shape they’re in and what prospects they have for the near future.
We’ll break down each team and evaluate how it is performing under its current coaching staff, looking at the state of the program before he/she arrived and comparing it to now while also looking at what year two in the Big 12 might look like.
Next up: Clancy Shields’ mens tennis program.
How it looked before
For a long time, men’s tennis was a participation sport for Arizona, as it struggled through conference play in the Pac-12.
The Wildcats did not have a winning record from 2011-16, which also included going winless in Pac-10/12 play with the exception of one season.
However, in 2016 former athletic director Greg Byrne made one of the most underrated hires as of recent history for Arizona in Shields.
Coming from Utah State and fresh off a Moutain West Coach of the year award, Shields arrived in Tucson with a vision to turn Arizona into a more competitive program.
While it may have been a rough start, which included staying winless in Pac-12 play for his first two seasons, an NCAA tournament appearance in 2019 was just the beginning of the turnaround in Tucson.
Where things stand now
Arizona has made the Sweet Sixteen in four of the last five seasons. This season included the introduction of the Big 12 and safe to say the Wildcats found continued success.
Going 6-2 in conference play put Arizona as the number two seed in the conference tournament. Beating both Texas Tech and Baylor, the Wildcats took on the UCF Knights in the championship.
After losing both regular season matchups to the Knights, Arizona got revenge when it needed it most, winning the conference tournament championship in its first season in the Big 12.
This opened up an opportunity to host the NCAA tournament opening rounds. Sweeping both Denver and Harvard, the season would come to an end losing to Virginia 2-4.
Finishing with an overall record of 26-5, Shields has established the program as a program of sustained success.
This season the Wildcats were led by senior Colton Smith who went 23-2 in single matches and 10-9 in doubles matches. He was also named the Big 12 player of the year.
Along with Smith, junior Jay Friend went 34-4 in singles and 19-6 in doubles. Friend, as well as Smith, were named All-Big 12 First Team singles.
Friend was also named Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Fellow junior Eric Padgham was named to the All-Big 12 First Team doubles with Friend.
For the foreseeable future, it looks like Shields has Arizona mens tennis in good standing, and the team will be led by Friend going into next season.
How Big 12 life differs from the Pac-12
A good first impression was made in its first Big 12 season for Arizona. After not finding enough wins in the Pac-12, the Wildcats have a chance to establish themselves as a top Big 12 program.
They will more than likely have to continue to compete with teams like TCU, UCF, and Baylor for the top spot in the conference.
Other than those three teams, Arizona will need to continue to beat the teams they are supposed to beat.
One big question
Can the Wildcats get past the Sweet Sixteen? As its been stated, Arizona has made it to the Sweet Sixteen in four out of the last five season.
Unfortunately not going beyond that has been hard truth that the Wildcats have had to deal with. What is it going to take to move beyond the Sweet Sixteen?
Maybe its the luck of the draw in facing a lower opponent one year. Perhaps Arizona needs to secure a higher position in order to host a Sweet Sixteen matchup.
Nevertheless, continuously going to the Sweet Sixteen is still a very honorable accomplishment for a program who used to have little to no success. Shields has the program in a good position to keep improving and to keep having post season wins.