Softball
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach
- Email:
- btholl@umich.edu
Bonnie Tholl is in her fourth season as head coach of the University of Michigan softball program in 2025-26. She was named the fourth head coach in Michigan softball program history on August 24, 2022, after spending 29 years as the Wolverines' top assistant, including the previous 20 as associate head coach under the legendary Carol Hutchins.
Tholl guided the Wolverines to back-to-back Big Ten Tournament titles and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2024 and 2025 and compiled an 82-39 record over the last two seasons. In 2025, the Wolverines avenged a pair of regular-season sweeps to shut out both No. 4 Oregon (5-0) and No. 9 UCLA (2-0) in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals and championship game, respectively, before falling to eventual NCAA champion Texas in the Austin Regional. Michigan batted .309 as a team in 2024 -- its highest combined batting average since 2019 (.315) and belted its most home runs (67) since registering 86 in 2016. Five of eight returning starters tallied career-high offensive numbers.
Tholl led the Wolverines to a 43-18 record in 2024 -- the program's most wins in five seasons -- behind a remarkable second-half turnaround, which featured wins in 33 over their final 42 games. Michigan captured the Big Ten Tournament title after taking second in the conference's regular-season standings and led all teams with four All-Big Ten first team honorees. U-M also returned to the NCAA Tournament, reaching the regional championship against No. 5-seeded and eventual WCWS participant Oklahoma State. Tholl and her assistants, Jennifer Brundage, Amanda Chidester and Faith Canfield, were named the NFCA's 2024 Great Lakes Region Coaching Staff of the Year.
Entering her 33rd overall season on the Michigan coaching staff, Tholl has contributed to nearly all of the program's postseason success, including 22 Big Ten regular-season titles since 1995, 11 Big Ten Tournament crowns, 29 NCAA Tournament appearances and 12 NCAA Women's College World Series appearances.
In 2005, Tholl, Hutchins and Brundage were named the Speedline/NFCA National Coaching Staff of the Year honor after Michigan became the first program east of the Mississippi River to capture the national title, capping a memorable 65-7 season with a dramatic 10-inning win over UCLA in game three of the WCWS championship series.
In all, the trio of Hutchins, Tholl and Brundage earned 14 NFCA Great Lakes Region Coaching Staff of the Year awards from 1999-2021, while Tholl added a 15th citation as a part of the region's best coaching staff in 1998.
The Wolverines returned to the WCWS championship series in 2015, ultimately settling for NCAA runner-up honors after falling to Florida in the series rubber game. The 2015 Wolverines boasted a 60-8 record, led the nation with 118 home runs, also set program records in runs scored (540) and RBI (504), and boasted a program-best five NFCA All-Americans.
As the program's longtime recruiting coordinator, Tholl has been instrumental in bringing in players that account for 64 of Michigan's 70 All-America honors, most recently 2025 third-team honoree Jenissa Conway, and 15 Big Ten Player of the Year and 12 Big Ten Pitcher of the Year awards.
Prior to her return to Michigan, Tholl served as an assistant coach and graduate assistant for two seasons (1992-93) at Indiana University, where she earned a master’s degree in athletic administration.
As a Wolverine student-athlete (1988-91), Tholl was a four-year starter at shortstop and was the first player in the history of the conference to earn four All-Big Ten first team honors. She was selected to the All-Mideast Regional team three times -- twice as a first-team honoree and once on the second team – and was one of four Wolverines named to the Big Ten All-Decade (1982-92) softball team.
Tholl ranked among the Wolverines' offensive leaders in each of her collegiate seasons, including a team best in runs scored and walks over three consecutive years. She shares the Big Ten record for fewest strikeouts in a conference season (zero in 1991), ranking top 10 among the national leaders that season, and is the U-M record holder for most steals in a game with four against Florida A&M in 1990. A former U-M captain, Tholl was the recipient of the program's 1991 Michigan Maize and Blue award.
She also participated in the 1993 Olympic Sports Festival and played with numerous Amateur Softball Association squads, earning ASA All-America second team honors in 1992. She was invited to the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team tryout after a successful showing as a member of the U.S. Pan American Games Qualifying Team that advanced to the 1995 Pan American Games.
A native of Tinley Park, Ill., Tholl graduated from the University of Michigan in 1991 with a degree in sports management and communications.
