John U. Bacon: Michigan coach Carol Hutchins broke ground
John U. Bacon: Michigan coach Carol Hutchins broke ground: Carol Hutchins, the softball coach at the University of Michigan, is stepping down after amassing a record 1,707 victories.
On Wednesday, Hutchins revealed her retirement. Hutchins coached the Wolverines for 38 seasons, during which time the team won 22 Big Ten titles and the 2005 NCAA championship. Bonnie Tholl, who has worked alongside Hutchins for many years, has been named the new head coach at U of M.
Michigan Radio Morning Edition host Doug Tribou spoke with sports analyst John U. Bacon about Hutchins’ accomplishments and impact on the field of women’s athletics.
This is Doug Tribou, Upon her retirement from softball coaching, Carol Hutchins will have more victories than any other coach in history. Which of her on-field feats do you admire the most and why?
John U. Bacon: One is that teams don’t factor in the possibility of snow in Michigan into their 60- or 70-game schedules until the middle of the season. While [players] are in school, they are required to spend two months on the road playing in Arizona, Texas, or Florida. And even now, her students are top-notch academic performers.
You finally get the national championship in 2005. Allow me to tell you something now, Doug. Like Carol Hutchins did for women’s softball, Alabama will achieve national prominence when one of its men’s hockey teams captures the championship.
DT: Hutchins coached a total of 12 teams to the Women’s College World Series. Although they only triumphed once, that one victory in 2005 was the first for a team from east of the Mississippi. That sums up the difficulty of competing in this region in a sport best suited to warmer climates perfectly.
To back up my claim, I spoke with the coach at UCLA that Michigan defeated in 2005. It took a lot of guts and grace for her to say it, but she said it the second [after] Michigan won: “Softball will benefit much from this. We can’t limit ourselves to simply SoCal and AZ.” That’s all it was until Hutchins’ squad triumphed.
Also, let’s remember that only eight teams compete in the Women’s College World Series, so mentioning that they made it there 12 times without winning isn’t really impressive. It’s much more difficult to win than, say, the Major League Baseball World Series, in which only two teams advance.
DT: Hutchins led Ferris State as head coach in 1982, then was an assistant at Michigan for three years before taking over as head coach there in 1985. In the decades since she first took the helm of a college softball team, Title IX has brought about significant changes in the landscape of women’s collegiate athletics in general. How did Hutchins contribute to the advancement of female students at Michigan?
Women should have equal access to opportunities, period. In the 1970s, when women’s basketball in the Big Ten was just getting started, a player for Michigan State named Hutchins filed a lawsuit against the university, claiming that it was unfair that the men’s team travelled by private jet and stayed in posh hotels while the women’s team took two vans and stayed in seedy motels.
Not all are treated equally. And the outcome was in her favour. She has so always possessed a great deal of courage. She has always considered Title IX issues. A lot more land than Michigan.
A amusing fact about the day she was appointed as an assistant softball coach is that she was asked whether she could type because that task occupied half of her appointment time. And praise be to God, she lied and claimed to be able to use a computer and type.
She is unable to use a keyboard. It pains me to say this, but if she hadn’t lied, Michigan might never have hired Jim Harbaugh, who is widely considered to be the state’s finest coach in the history of any sport.
There is a great deal of respect for Carol Hutchins amongst her former players, DT. You have talked to Hutchins extensively about her role as a leader at U of M, so you know her well. How come she was able to be so effective on the field and create such strong ties with her teams?
JUB: Well, it’s straightforward in a number of respects. She is quite picky. In other words, she has sky-high standards. But she really cares about her team. She has genuine concern for them. After leaving softball, they have excelled remarkably. Therefore, her role as a leader should not be discounted.
Yes, Doug, I will add that she is an outstanding educator. Even if you didn’t know she was a coach, her Title IX lecture in my [college] class would be one of the best you’ve ever heard. She knows her stuff, has great people skills, and can get her message over.