After 38 seasons at the helm, University of Michigan softball coach Carol Hutchins has announced her retirement. The sport’s all-time coaching wins leader leaves big shoes to fill in Ann Arbor.
With 1,707 victories, no coach in any sport in the history of U-M athletics has more wins than Carol Hutchins – or “Hutch” as many people know her as.
After playing basketball and softball as a student athlete at Michigan State, she was hired as an assistant coach at rival Michigan in 1983 and was named head coach two years later.
Her lengthy Hall of Fame resume includes 22 Big Ten titles, 29 NCAA tournament appearances, and, in 2005, Michigan became the first school east of the Mississippi River to win a national title.
John U. Baconis an author and U-M historian.
“She has been one of the most profound leaders for Title IX from her time as a college student with a lawsuit versus Michigan State through her time with the University of Michigan where she has changed hundreds, if not thousands, of lives. Her impact cannot be measured.”
Bonnie Tholl, who has been Hutchins’ assistant for 29 years, was named the program’s next head coach.
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