NICHOLAS STOLL
Managing Sports Editor
Carol Hutchins, Michigan’s true legend
S
itting atop the bleachers at
Alumni Field — home of the
Michigan softball team, and
home of its former head coach for
the past 38 years, Carol Hutchins
— Schembechler Hall is plainly
visible.
Sitting
atop
the
bleachers
at Alumni Field — home of the
Michigan softball team, and home
of now-former head coach Carol
Hutchins for the past 38 years
— Schembechler Hall is plainly
visible.
Outside the hall is a bronze
statue
of
its
namesake,
Bo
Schembechler,
the
so-called
“legendary” former football coach,
idolized by many fans, former
players and even current coaches.
Despite his complacency with the
abuse by Dr. Robert Anderson,
Schembechler’s name remains and
the statue still stands.
Somehow, Schembechler is still
the face of Michigan athletics, as
ugly and contorted as it may be.
Monday morning, a real legend
stood inside that very hall to speak
in the wake of her retirement. A
legend who goes by one name:
“Hutch.”
“I came here as a girl with
potential, and I leave a woman
with no limits,” Hutch said.
“That’s my wish for every woman
who walks out on the field.”
A sentiment reflected in every
one of her actions since she arrived
in Ann Arbor until now.
So as Hutch’s time as an active
coach for the Wolverines having
drawn to a close, it’s time to replace
the misshapen face of Michigan
athletics with a new one — hers.
Hutch is the type of person the
University tries to cultivate and
wants representing it:
“A leader and best,” Samantha
Findlay, a member of the 2005
National
Championship
team
under Hutch, labeled her former
coach. “She has withheld that title
to the utmost respect, not only for
the University of Michigan, but
for any athlete or coach who has
played softball.”
At the forefront of Findlay’s
summary
stands
the
word
“leader.” It’s easy to label a coach,
a winning head coach at that, a
leader. Boiled down, their job is
to lead. But “leader” in that sense
is not what Findlay meant; it’s too
shallow a definition.
Hutch leads in everything she
does.
Back in April 1978, Hutch
— then a two-sport athlete at
Michigan State playing basketball
and softball — had had enough.
Hutch and her teammates were
being treated unfairly, simply
because they were women.
“Well, we have to let (the female
athletes) go out and play, so let’s
just let them,” the Michigan
State athletic department said,
according to one of the players.
“Just make sure they don’t get in
the way of the boys.”
That was the attitude held at
the time, an attitude reflected
through actions. The year prior,
the Spartans’s athletic department
budgeted
$776,000
to
men’s
athletics, but less than $85,000
to women’s. It showed in the
facilities — or lack thereof — for
the female athletes, even in their
travel arrangements and even the
amount they could spend on food
while on team road trips.
It was a full-scale violation of
Title IX, the landmark legislation
minted six years prior.
The women, with Hutch as the
spearhead, took action. From that
action, two things were borne:
The class action suit, Hutchins
v. Board of Trustees of Michigan
State University, and Hutch, Title
IX trailblazer.
Over 40 years later, Hutch has
created monumental change for
women in sports. But nothing
has changed in her resolve, still
SPORTSWEDNESDAY
blazing a path forward.
“Anybody you run into knows
who Hutch is and knows the
impact that she’s had on young
athletes
and
just
women
in
general,” Findlay said. “The fact
that she’s continued to fight for
women athletes for such a long
period of time is something that a
lot of us former athletes hold close
to our heart because we appreciate
all that she’s done.
“And we wouldn’t be able to do
it if there weren’t pioneers for the
sport like her.”
Beyond athletes, Hutch has
made an impact on coaching, the
sport of softball as a whole, and
women in general. From propping
women up, to raising millions of
dollars in support of breast cancer
awareness, Hutch has made her
mark.
It culminated in Hutch winning
the first ever Pat Summitt award
in 2016, as she “exemplifies the
character and courage” of the
longtime
Tennessee
women’s
basketball coach for which the
award finds its namesake.
“Her impact is immeasurable,”
assistant coach Jennifer Brundage
said in 2017. “Ever since those
college
days,
she’s
been
an
advocate for women and gender
equality, and increasing salaries of
coaches in our sport and increasing
opportunities for women in our
sport. The list goes on and on.”
Ask anyone who knows her:
Hutch stands for what she believes
in, and nothing will get her to back
down.
Fortunately for the athletic
department, Hutch also believes
in creating a winning culture for
Michigan softball.
So when it comes down to the
full phrase “leaders and best,”
Hutch has a firm grasp on the
“best” title as well — retiring
as
the
winningest
coach
in
NCAA Softball history and the
winningest coach ever at the
University of Michigan.
Through the lens of athletic
achievement, her success as a
coach can’t be denied. No one has
done it better than Hutch.
This
level
of
achievement
has
only
been
accomplished
by expecting nothing less than
excellence;
from
herself,
her
players and from everyone in the
program.
“She doesn’t really allow you
to be anything but your best and
doesn’t allow you to make excuses
for yourself,” former Michigan
shortstop Abby Ramirez told The
H U T C H
With Hutch’s time as an active
coach for the Wolverines coming
to a close, it’s time to replace
the misshapen face of Michigan
athletics with a new one — hers.
Daily. “Sometimes it looks tougher
than other days. Sometimes it was
a kick in the butt, other days, it was
words of confidence and boosting
you up. …
“When I think of Hutch, I think
of someone who does things to a
standard of excellence always. She
does things the right way with the
right intentions.”
She does everything with the
right intentions, and none of it for
her own glory.
“This isn’t Hutch’s program,
this is Michigan,” Hutch said
in 2017. “I am a servant of the
University of Michigan. My job is
to make Michigan softball great, to
make these student-athletes great
in everything they do, to teach
them all the great lessons that you
don’t learn anywhere else.”
That’s just Hutch.
Whether she’s heralded as a
Title IX trailblazer, an excellent
coach, a women’s rights activist,
a role model or just “Hutch,” she
will no doubt go down as a legend
in Michigan history and in college
softball.
So put up a statue, name a
hall after her, do something to
commemorate her legacy.
Because the time to make Carol
Hutchins the face of Michigan
athletics is now.
Stoll can be reached at nkstoll@
umich.edu or on Twitter @nkstoll .
Managing Sports Editor Jared
Greenspan
contributed
to
the
reporting of this story.
JENNA HICKEY/Daily
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