TUCSON, Ariz. — Mike Candrea is retiring after winning eight national championships and amassing more wins than any coach in college softball history during 36 years at Arizona.

“It has been an honor to represent the University of Arizona for 36 years,” Candrea said in a statement Monday. “I am indebted to every player, coach and member of my support staff that has made the Arizona softball experience one that I will cherish forever.

“When I arrived in 1985, I wanted to build a culture of excellence and compete consistently at the highest levels of Division 1 softball. Most of all, our goal was to prepare our student-athletes for life after softball and build relationships that would last a lifetime.”

Candrea won 1,674 games – fourth-most in any sport – during a career that spanned four decades, leading the Wildcats to 24 Women’s College World Series appearances and 19 conference championships. He coached 50 All-Americans at Arizona and won gold and silver medals with Team USA.

Arizona went 41-15 this season and was knocked out of the College World Series with losses to Florida State and Alabama.

MEN’S LACROSSE: Syracuse men’s lacrosse coach John Desko, who built a Hall of Fame career as both a player and coach, announced his retirement in the wake of a disappointing season.

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“The last 46 years at Syracuse have been an incredible experience and I’m so grateful for my time here as a player, assistant and head coach,” Desko said in a statement, adding that he would elaborate on the decision in the near future.

Desko, 63, took over in 1999 and finishes with a record of 265-92. He has been with the program for all 11 of its NCAA championships, five as head coach, and was a two-time national coach of the year and Atlantic Coast Conference coach of the year five times.

Desko arrived at Syracuse in 1975 and began his coaching career as an assistant to Roy Simmons Jr. immediately after his playing career. He spent 19 seasons as an assistant to Simmons and helped build the Orange into a perennial power before taking over. He was enshrined in the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2020.

The decision to retire comes on the heels of a disappointing 7-6 season that began with the Orange ranked second nationally and ended with a lopsided loss to Georgetown in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The season included the suspension of star attackman Chase Scanlan after he was involved in what police described as a “domestic incident” involving a woman after a home loss to North Carolina in April. Desko said the suspension had been instituted for “violating team rules and expectations” and reinstated Scanlan a week after the suspension was announced.

But when Scanlan returned to practice, he worked out alone with a member of the coaching staff after the team’s five captains threatened to walk out and did not play again. The five captains also met with Syracuse Athletic Director John Wildhack, who cited federal privacy laws in declining to comment.

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When asked on a Zoom call before the NCAA Tournament if he expected to coach the Orange next season, Desko said he had no plans not to return.

A successor has not been announced, but current Syracuse women’s lacrosse coach Gary Gait is expected to take over.

FOOTBALL: Colorado starting quarterback Sam Noyer has entered the transfer portal for a second time to close a career in Boulder that included three head coaches and a brief switch to safety.

Noyer led the Buffaloes to a 4-2 record last season under first-year Buffaloes coach Karl Dorrell and a berth in the Alamo Bowl.

Originally part of the 2016 recruiting class under then-coach Mike MacIntyre, Noyer redshirted and then was a backup QB for two seasons before switching to the defensive side in 2019 under coach Mel Tucker, who is now at Michigan State. All set to transfer after the ’19 season, Noyer was convinced to come back after Dorrell was brought on board. Noyer won the starting job out of camp and helped the Buffaloes to a 4-0 start, along with a spot in the polls. The Buffaloes lost to Utah in the regular-season finale and then Texas in the Alamo Bowl.

• Alabama Coach Nick Saban, who has won a record seven national championships, agreed to a three-year contract extension running through the 2029 season.

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Alabama announced the extension, including $8.425 million in base salary and talent fee for the current contract year with annual raises of unspecified amounts.

The 69-year-old Saban, who has led the Crimson Tide to six national championships since taking over in 2007, will receive an $800,000 “contract completion benefit” after each contract year from 2022-25.

MEN’S BASKETBALL: Coach Tom Izzo has promoted Doug Wojcik to assistant coach, replacing Dane Fife.

Izzo also hired three former Spartans.

Fife left the program in April to be the associate head coach at Indiana under Mike Woodson.

Wojcik returned to Michigan State in 2018 to be Izzo’s recruiting coordinator after a previous run as an assistant coach for the Spartans led to him being the head coach at Tulsa and College of Charleston.

Former Northern Illinois coach and Spartans point guard Mark Montgomery was hired as recruiting coordinator. Former Michigan State players Austin Thornton was hired to be the team’s video coordinator and Matt McQuaid to be its director of basketball operations.

Garrett Briningstoo was hired to be Izzo’s director of operations and chief of staff, replacing former Spartan David Thomas. Julian Stall has been added as the program’s director of creative video.

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