Michigan Coaching Staff Tabbed Nation's Best by NFCA
7/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The accolades for the University of Michigan softball program keep rolling in, just less than one month removed from the program's first-ever NCAA national championship. The Michigan coaching staff has been named the Speedline/NFCA National Coaching Staff of the Year after leading the Maize and Blue to a 65-7 overall record and helping Michigan become the first Big Ten Conference team to win a softball national crown.
Michigan's 2005 coaching staff consisted of head coach Carol Hutchins, associate head coach Bonnie Tholl, assistant coach Jennifer Brundage and volunteer assistant coach Jennifer Teague. This marks the sixth time the Michigan coaching staff has earned Great Lakes Regional Coaching Staff of the Year distinction (1998, '99, 2001, '02, '04, '05), but the first time the Michigan staff has been recognized nationally.
This is the second time Hutchins has been involved in a national coaching honor after earning NFCA National Coach of the Year honors following the 1995 campaign in which Hutchins led the Wolverines to their first-ever Women's College World Series.
Hutchins recently wrapped up her 21st season in the third-base coaching box at Michigan (1985-2005) and holds an overall record of 917-345-4 (.726) with the Maize and Blue. Including her one season as head coach at Ferris State (1982), Hutchins is 940-356-4 (.725), with her 940 career wins ranking her seventh among active Division I coaches and all-time. She became just the eighth coach in Division I softball history to reach 900 career wins when the Wolverines beat DePaul 1-0 at Kia Klassic on March 19.
Tholl just complete her 12th season on the Michigan staff and her third as the program's associate head coach. A fixture in the first-base coaching box, Tholl was a four-year starter at shortstop for Michigan from 1988-91 and was one of four Michigan players named to the first Big Ten All-Decade team (1982-92). In Tholl's 12 seasons on the Michigan staff, the Wolverines have made eight trips to the WCWS.
Tholl and Brundage have been the primary assistant coaches to Hutchins for seven seasons now with Brundage, a former All-American at UCLA and 2000 Olympic gold medalist, serving as the pitching coach. Brundage helped guide junior Jennie Ritter (Dexter, Mich./Dexter HS) to one of the finest pitching campaigns in Michigan history as she became just the second Wolverine hurler to earn All-America first-team honors.
First-year volunteer assistant coach Jennifer Teague rounds out the nation's top coaching staff for 2005 after arriving in Ann Arbor from Concordia College, where she led the NAIA school to its first-ever appearance in the national championship in 2002.
Contact: Rich Marion (734) 763-4423
