On August 24, 2022, longtime Michigan Softball coach Carol Hutchins announced her retirement after 38 seasons at the helm of the program. She departs as the only face that Michigan Softball has ever had, the winningest coach in D1 Softball history, and a living legend of the game. I have covered Michigan Softball in some capacity for five seasons and took the past two months crafting this piece, my (and this site's) authoritative goodbye to a Michigan icon. My hope is that readers find it a reasonable send-off to a coach who often seemed larger than life to cover. I first met Carol Hutchins in person in the second week of February 2018. It was the second Michigan Softball media availability of the season. I, a freshman member of WCBN Sports Radio at the University of Michigan, was there to ask some questions and perhaps get a few soundbites for our station's softball podcast. I had covered the team's opening weekend tournament down in Tampa, Florida, and was just getti
Mgoblue published the press conferences for Carol Hutchins and new head coach Bonnie Tholl. Bonnie seemed a little nervous, but the tone of both of them shows that Michigan Softball is passing into good hands. https://mgoblue.com/news/2022/8/29/softball-watch-hutchins-tholl-press-conferences-aug-29.aspx
In surprising news that more or less came out of left field, legendary Michigan Softball head coach Carol Hutchins is retiring after 38 years at the helm: Her legacy will live on forever. Thank you for 38 incredible years, Hutch. Happy retirement. #ThankYouHutch #ForeverGoBlue Michigan Softball (@umichsoftball) August 24, 2022 Hutchins, 65, was said to be on a five-year rolling contract with the ability to stay as long as she wanted. While the timing in this stage of the summer is a bit surprising, the decision to ultimately step away is not. An exodus of players to the transfer portal seemed to be an omen of this and today we get the news. I will keep this short, because I will have a post on her in full in the coming days, but it's hard to overstate what Carol Hutchins meant not just to Michigan Softball, as the only face the program has ever had, but to the sport at large. While at Michigan, Hutchins won 22 B1G regular season titles, including 12 of 13 between 2008 and 20