Frank Sancet led the Arizona Wildcats baseball program to national prominence beginning in the 1950s.
Sancet took over the Arizona program in 1950 and coached for 23 seasons. He won 831 games, lost 283 and tied eight throughout his career from 1950-72. He announced his retirement before the start of his final season in 1972, and after winning 38 games that year, finishing as the second-winningest coach in NCAA history at the time.
Arizona qualified for the NCAA district and regional playoffs a total of 16 times in his 23 seasons. Sancet guided the Wildcats to nine College World Series appearances, including the school's first visit in 1954. Three times UA advanced to the national title game.
During his 23 seasons on the bench, 39 players received All-America recognition, 32 were tabbed All-WAC South and eight were named to the All-College World Series team. A total of 66 of Sancet's players signed contracts to play professional baseball, of which 15 went on to play in the Major Leagues.
Once he finished his pro career, Sancet turned to coaching and returned to Arizona. He coached at Mansfield Junior High in Tucson, Jerome High School for five years and five more at Douglas High School before joining the staff at Arizona in 1947. In his early days at UA, Sancet was an assistant coach in football and baseball and freshman basketball coach before taking over as head coach of baseball in 1950.
During his collegiate coaching career, Sancet was a past president of the ABCA (1971) and he served as a member of the NCAA Rules Committee for four years.
In 1967, Arizona built a brand-new on campus ballpark that was named Wildcat Field. On April 19, 1986, the venue was officially renamed Frank Sancet Field in honor of the long-time coach. The facility was renamed to also honor Sancet's successor, Jerry Kindall, in January 2004. Jerry Kindall Field at Frank Sancet Stadium was home to UA baseball for 45 seasons.
Sancet was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2012.
