Lynda McCandlish entered the 2008 season as head coach of the Golden Bears after a long, successful career as a player in Upper Arlington. Coach McCandlish began playing lacrosse in 7th grade as a member of the Hastings Middle School team. As a freshman on the high school varsity squad, Coach McCandlish made her first impact for the Golden Bears. She eventually earned All-District, All-Region, Honorable Mention All-American, and First Team All-American honors. In her four years on varsity she held all-time leading scoring and assist records (which were later broken by her sister Kristin, who is a senior on the Northwestern Wildcat Lacrosse Team). Most notably, she helped lead the Golden Bears to their first State Championship in 2002.

After graduating from Upper Arlington in 2002, Coach McCandlish went on to play at Northwestern University, only a second-year program at the time. What happened next is lacrosse history. In 2005, the Wildcats earned their first-ever NCAA National Championship in lacrosse. This was historical since no school outside the Eastern Conference had ever won a Division I championship. What is even more remarkable is that the core of the Wildcat team consisted of players, like Coach McCandlish, from the Midwest and other non-traditional lacrosse areas. The Wildcats went on to win back-to-back national championships her senior year. NU coach Kelly Amonte Hiller is credited with innovating the game of lacrosse and Coach McCandlish came back to UA to share her knowledge of and passion for the game with the 2008 Golden Bear squad.

McCandlish is currently co-director of a girl's club team, the San Diego Wildcats, and is head coach of the San Diego State women's club team.