Jeff Lund sports editor

What can you do in two years?

Or what have you done in two years?

Have you knocked out some general education credits, failed college algebra twice, gone on dozens of weekend fieldtrips for a worthless class that meets once a week?

That's what most students are concerned with.

Two years can even be a longer time for college coaches. Revamping the programs, getting new sets of recruits, and implementing a coaching philosophy can take years. Sometimes it doesn't happen at all, and when no results are yielded, it's time to start all over again with a new coach.

For two UA coaches, two years have made all the difference.

Two years ago Andy Lopez agreed to take over an Arizona baseball team that had sunk into mediocrity since its national championship in 1986.

On a stage away from the high-profile head coach change on the baseball diamond, the women's tennis team got a new coach as well. Former UA great Vicky Maes started her career at Arizona.

In two years Maes and Lopez have done incredible things with their respective teams, pulling their squads into conference contention.

Since 1992, when the baseball team won the Pac-10 South with an 18-12 mark, the Wildcats only finished in the top three once ÷ the 1993 season.

The '90s were littered with sixth and seventh place finishes.

In Lopez's first season, his team went 9-15, seventh in the conference, and it is even more remarkable now that his team is currently 30-16 (9-6 in Pac-10).

It is the players he recruited during the last two years that are leading the way for the team that is making a serious run for the conference title, which would be the first since 1992.

This past weekend, the Wildcats took a series from the Stanford Cardinal at home for the first time since 1999. It was also the first time since 1993 that UA won a series against Stanford.

That in itself is impressive, but Lopez has no intention of stopping there. After toppling No. 4 Stanford, a seed has been planted in the team that it can compete with anyone.

That is why Lopez has succeeded, only taking two years to turn a mediocre team into a young, fast bunch of winners.

Like Lopez, Maes has been doing some work of her own in her second year.

Maes led her tennis team to its first conference title since 1993.

Last year Maes, a four time All-American herself, took an 80th-ranked Arizona team, finished No. 18 and tied for fourth in the Pac-10.

This is after Maes inherited a 6-14 team that mustered just one conference victory in 2001.

Her team, like Lopez's, is young and loaded with talent. There is not one senior on the squad, with Debbie Larocque being the lone junior.

It is also noteworthy that Maes, a native Belgian, has five countries other than the United States represented on her squad öö New Zealand (Dianne Hollands), Canada (Larocque), Slovenia (Maja Mlakar), France (Emilie Scribot), and Germany (Zorica Zasova).

It's definitely been an impressive run so far for both teams. While ultimately it's the athletes who tally the scores, it's the coaches who make all the difference.

Maes has been involved with the university since 1994, and is not likely to take her talent elsewhere. This means the future of Arizona women's tennis looks bright.

With UCLA's baseball team dropping off, Lopez ÷ a Bruin alumnus ÷ might be inclined to return to Westwood and revitalize that program. It is surely something that would be understandable, but you can be sure that the athletic department will do what it can to keep Lopez in the dugout.