Arizona

Taking Stock: How Arizona men’s tennis is looking under coach Clancy Shields

Published

2 years ago

June 22, 2024

Taking Stock: How Arizona men’s tennis is looking under coach Clancy Shields

The offseason is here, with all of Arizona’s sports done for 2023-24 season and the 2024-25 campaigns still a little ways away.

Which makes this a great time to step back and see how all of the Wildcats’ programs are doing, especially with the impending move to the Big 12 Conference.

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 the upcoming debut in the Big 12 and beyond.

Next up: Clancy Shields’ men’s tennis team

How it looked before

For the longest time, men’s tennis had been one of those sports that Arizona participated in but never really competed in. From 2011-16 the Wildcats didn’t have a winning record, going winless in Pac-10/12 play all but once during that stretch.

But when it came time to make a coaching change, athletic director Greg Byrne made one of the most underrated hires of his tenure in Clancy Shields. A young, up-and-coming coach from Utah State who was Mountain West Coach of the Year in 2016, Shields came to Tucson with a vision to turn Arizona into one of the top programs in the country.

It took a few years, with the UA going winless in Pac-12 play his first two seasons, but in 2019 it broke through with an NCAA Tournament appearance and it’s been nothing but up since.

Where things stand now

Arizona has reached the Sweet 16 in three of the last four seasons, hosting the first weekend the last two years. The Wildcats lost 4-3 at Columbia in mid-May to close out a 29-4 campaign that included winning the final Pac-12 regular-season title and becoming the first non-California team to claim the conference tournament championship.

The UA also won a pair of matches at the ITA National Indoor Championship, knocking off a pair of ranked programs en route to having the highest ITA ranking (No. 5) in school history.

And on the individual front, junior Colton Smith reached the Division I semifinals, became the school’s first All-American since 2006 and qualified for the ATP Next Gen Accelerator program which will give him access to professional tournaments.

Smith is one of three returners from the singles rotation, along with Casper Christensen and Jay Friend. And the Wildcats are bringing in the No. 5 recruiting class in the country, per tennisrecruiting.net, highlighted by 5-star prospect Santiago Padilla Cote and Serbian Zoran Ludoski.

Clancy has had his contract extended multiple times, currently through 2028, but probably needs another raise to ensure he’s not poached.

What life in the Big 12 should look like

Fresh of conquering the Pac-12 in its final year of competition, Arizona now heads to a Big 12 Conference that features the reigning national champion. TCU beat soon-to-be-former Big 12 foe Texas in the NCAA Division I finals.

Baylor, Oklahoma State and UCF also made the NCAA Tournament this past season out of the Big 12, which will feature nine schools in 2025 with the addition of Arizona, ASU and Utah. BYU and Texas Tech are the other men’s tennis participants.

One big question

Is the Sweet 16 the ceiling? Arizona had never gotten out of the opening weekend of the NCAA tourney until 2021, but it’s now done that three times in four years. But each trip to the Sweet 16 has ended in defeat, and half of the 2024 team has graduated.

Getting to host the third round would be the next step in getting over that hump. All three of Arizona’s Sweet 16 appearances have been on the road, with this past season as the No. 9 seed.

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Arizona

Michigan defenseman Hunter Hady transfers to Arizona State

Published

6 hours ago

April 22, 2026

Press Room

Michigan defenseman Hunter Hady transfers to Arizona State

Former Michigan sophomore defenseman Hunter Hady has transferred to Arizona State, according to an announcement on the team Instagram. The 6’4’’ defenseman will join the Sun Devils for his junior year.

Hady played just two games on Michigan’s blue line this season against Harvard in November and against Bentley in the NCAA regional semifinal. He recorded a secondary assist on junior forward Garrett Schifsky’s goal in the Bentley game for his only point of the year.

Hady’s contributions were more substantive in his freshman season — though his point total remained the same. He played 32 games for Michigan as the team struggled to find defensive pairings that worked throughout the year. Hady was a reliable blue line presence who could be counted on to provide solid defense and not make significant errors.

Prior to playing for the Wolverines, Hady spent three seasons with the Chicago Steel of the USHL, where he played with current Michigan teammates senior defenseman Luca Fantilli, sophomore forward Michael Hage and junior forward Jayden Perron, among others. He joins an Arizona State team that lost ground in the NCHC this season and is looking to reach a Frozen Four for the second time in its program history.

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Arizona

Pilot Jessica Cox to be inducted into Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame

Published

19 hours ago

April 21, 2026

Press Room

Pilot Jessica Cox to be inducted into Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Jessica Cox, the world’s first licensed armless airplane pilot and a leading advocate for disability-led innovation, will be inducted into the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame on Friday, May 15, 2026. The induction ceremony, hosted by Rightfooted Foundation International in collaboration with the Pima Air & Space Museum, will take place at the museum from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Cox’s recognition honors both her historic achievement in flight and her ongoing work expanding access and opportunity for people without arms. Through her leadership at Rightfooted Foundation International (RFI), Cox has championed mentorship, education and practical innovations that help aspiring pilots and families reimagine what’s possible in aviation and beyond.

“Saying I’m proud of her can’t fully encompass what I feel,” said Patrick Chamberlain, Cox’s husband and RFI’s Inclusive Engineering Director. “Jessica’s induction into the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame recognizes both what she has accomplished and what she continues to do. She has helped shed light on the many pilots with disabilities in aviation and shown the world that disability does not mean inability.”

The 2026 induction class also honors two military aviators: Frank Schiel Jr., a Phoenix-born Flying Tigers veteran credited with seven enemy aircraft destroyed in World War II, and James K. Johnson, a Phoenix-born U.S. Air Force colonel and Korean War double ace credited with ten aerial victories.

The Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame, established in 1985 and housed in the Dorothy Finley Aerospace Gallery at Pima Air & Space Museum, pays tribute to Arizonans who have made significant contributions to aviation and aerospace history.

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Arizona

2026 NFL draft: 3 potential trades back from No. 3 for Arizona Cardinals

Published

1 day ago

April 21, 2026

Press Room

2026 NFL draft: 3 potential trades back from No. 3 for Arizona Cardinals

Since the Arizona Cardinals want to trade back from the No. 3 picks, here are three deals that could work.

The Arizona Cardinals have the third pick in the 2026 NFL draft, which begins this week on Thursday. All the reports coming out are saying that they want to trade out of the pick to acquire more draft picks.

But what does a trade look like and who could be involved?

The Kansas City Chiefs are involved in talks at some level. ESPN’s Adam Schefter expects trade talks to heat up this week.

NFL teams use a variation of a trade value chart when it comes to draft picks. Now, what a team actually is willing to give up can be influenced by potential competition with other teams, but we can’t count on that.

Here is the general trade value chart teams use.

Here are some potential deals that could be done.

Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs have two first-round picks, which would be appealing to the Cardinals, who reportedly want to make a move for quarterback Ty Simpson, and the 29th pick might be just the spot to get him.

The third overall pick is worth 514 points.

The Chiefs’ picks at No. 9 (387 points) and No. 29 (202 points) together are worth 589.

To make up the difference, the Cardinals could give up No. 65 (78 points) for a total of 592 points.

One deal could be:

Cardinals receive get No. 9 and No. 29 (589 points)
Chiefs receive No. 3 and No. 65 (592 points)

Another could be:

Cardinals receive No. 9, No. 29, No. 74 and 2027 third-round pick (653 points + value of future third-round pick, which is 36-78 points)
Chiefs receive No. 3 and No. 34 (689 points)

The Cardinals keep their third-round pick and the Chiefs essentially move back five spots from No. 29.

Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys have the 12th and 20th picks but no pick in the second round.

Pick No. 12 is 347 points and No. 20 is 269 for a total of 616.

This deal is close:

Cardinals receive No. 12, No. 20 (616 points)
Cowboys receive No. 3, No. 65 (592 points)

New Orleans Saints

The Saints are perhaps a dark horse to move up, although they do not have two first-round picks. They have the No. 8 pick, worth 406 points. Their second-round pick, at No. 42, is worth 142 points.

This deal could work:

Cardinals receive No. 8, No. 42 (548 points)
Saints receive No. 3, No. 104 (547 points)

Then the Cardinals could use their two second-round picks to then move back into Round 1 to get Ty Simpson.

They could trade No. 34, No. 42 and No. 65 (395 points) for No. 28, No. 38 and No. 106 (398 total points).

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.

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