Women's History Month Q&A: How Jenny Allard Won $1 from Hutch
3/10/2020 1:36:00 PM | Softball, Features
The first major recruiting commitment for University of Michigan softball head coach Carol Hutchins in 1986, Jenny Allard (1987-90) was a four-time All-Big Ten Conference selection, earning first team honors in 1987, '89 and '90 as well as a spot on the second team in 1988.
She exploded onto the national scene during the 1989 campaign as a junior, leading the Wolverines in nearly every offensive category, including batting average (.351), hits (65) and RBI (29). When called upon to fill a vacancy in the pitching circle, she also became a force there, tallying a 19-9 record with a 0.75 earned run average and 64 strikeouts. She was honored with All-America first team and Big Ten Player of the Year accolades.
As a senior, Allard hit .300 with 11 doubles while going 10-8 from the circle with a 1.55 ERA and was awarded Michigan softball's first Big Ten Medal of Honor. In 1992, she was named to the Big Ten's All-Decade team.
Last month Allard began her 26th season as head coach at Harvard with a 635-473-3 career record and eight Ivy League titles during her tenure.
In an interview with MGoBlue.com for Women's History Month, Allard discusses her female role models, how sports and Title IX influenced her life, the evolution of softball, and her favorite memories from her time at Michigan.
Q. What did involvement in sports mean to you during the time you were competing? And now?
A. Sports was a way to feel strong. It allowed me to participate in an activity I was good at and build confidence and relationships with others. Sports, and particularly softball, was a large part of my life where I could identify as an athlete, train, and grow as a person.
And now, involvement in sports is my career. As a competitor I was a participant developing my skills as an athlete. Now I use sports to help develop others. We compete to become a better version of ourselves, to grow and learn. I grow every year as a coach in my relationships with my players, and grow in my relationship with teaching the sport.
Q. March is Women's History Month. Who have been your female heroes and/or role models and why? How did they influence the person you've become?
A. I was raised and influenced by strong women. My mother was a role model and mentor in my coaching career. When I was working in private industry after college and was not happy, she suggested I get into coaching. She saw something in me I did not see in myself. My heroes are my grandmothers -- they are deceased but still influence me to this day. Both my grandmothers were raised in Michigan and did not have the competitive experiences in sports that I had. However, my paternal grandmother was a swimmer, and Matt Mann (Michigan men's swimming coach, 1926-54) was her coach -- interesting Michigan connection. Both my grandmothers showed extraordinary strength in raising their families, living through the great depression, not having anything, and figuring out how to survive and support their children's education.
Coaching role models and influences are Hutch (Carol Hutchins) and Gayle Blevins, former coach at the University of Iowa, who gave me my first college coaching job.
Q. What does Title IX mean to you? What are some ways you've seen it affect your athletics career?
A. Title IX means opportunity. I was born in 1968, and I benefited from the opportunities created by Title IX. Being able to attend the University of Michigan and play softball with an athletic scholarship would have never happened without Title IX. I also played on the junior national softball team because of the growth of opportunities in the sport for girls.
Q. Update us on your life. What have you done since graduating from U-M? What are you doing now?
A. I worked in private industry as an accountant for two years following graduation, both for a large public accounting firm and then for my dad's automobile dealership with the goal of working with him and taking over the business. I volunteered to coach at my former high school -- Woodbridge (in Irvine, California) -- to give back and loved what I was doing. I planned to get my teaching credential to teach and coach at the high school level. Then Gayle Blevins asked me to join her staff. I spent two years at the University of Iowa and then got the head coaching job at Harvard in the fall of 1994. I have been here ever since.
(Harvard photo)
In addition to coaching, I have gotten two master's degrees from Harvard, worked as an on-campus academic advisor for 12 years, and currently serve as a non-resident advisor. I have had tremendous opportunities at Harvard and have been grateful for my time here. Personally I have a supportive partner and 16-year-old son!
Q. You won the Big Ten Medal of Honor in 1990. What does that award mean to you?
A. To me that award is a standard of excellence. That was a tremendous honor because it combined academic, athletic, and character traits.
Q. How did U-M and athletics prepare you for life after college?
A. Competing for Michigan taught me to challenge myself, to train hard, have high expectations, to appreciate the game, to work with others on common goals, play with pride, and, most of all, to be a great person. So, I carry with me the ability to work hard, work well with others, be grateful for opportunities, and develop a sense of pride in my work.
Q. What is your favorite memory from your Michigan career? Favorite Hutch story?
A. I have lots of great memories but will mention a few.
One that stands out as most competitive memory was my junior year (1989) during our final series at Minnesota. We had to sweep to win the Big Ten title, and we played our hearts out. We won the first three games of the series and dropped the final game (4-3). It was heartbreaking; we lost the title to Iowa. My only goal during my four years was to win a Big Ten title. That is the closest we came.
Off the field I remember always talking with Bonnie Tholl (U-M player 1988-91, current associate head coach) about practices. She was a student of the game, and we lived in the same apartment building. She was always ready to talk softball.
Hutch is a great mentor and guide. I was fortunate to play for her, and she was a young head coach during my time at Michigan, so we grew with her. She has such passion for the game, pride for Michigan, and standards for her student-athletes and wants them to be strong women.
I remember playing at Iowa and coming up to bat. Gayle Blevins, the Iowa head coach, put a shift on in the outfield as I was a pull hitter, so all their outfielders were in center and left field and no one was in right field. Hutch looked at the outfield, looked at me, looked at the outfield again and said from the third base coaching box, "I will give you a dollar if you hit the ball to right field." I took her challenge, got off the plate, and hit the ball to right field. It was the only time I made it all the way to third base on a ball hit in the outfield, because no one was in right field. She was laughing so hard when I got to third base. Hutch has the ability to keep her players focused, challenged but relaxed as well.
Q. You are in your 26th year as softball coach at Harvard. How has the game evolved over the years?
A. The game has changed through technology and training. The bat technology changed our game a great deal. We moved from a pitching-dominated game in the late '80s and early '90s to an offense-dominated game. Also, student-athletes are coming in faster and stronger. They are focusing only on softball and training more specifically for their sport. The unintended consequence is that we are seeing more overuse injuries at a younger age and more injuries in college, but overall, athletes are better trained and incorporating more overall fitness training as well.
Softball has always been a game of speed, but now it's a game of speed and power.
MGoBlue.com has additional Women's History Month content planned for March 17 (feature on rowing All-American and Olympian Kate Johnson) and March 23 (Q&A with tennis national champion Brienne Minor). For more information on Women's History Month, visit womenshistorymonth.gov.
