The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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70 THE WOLVERINE MAY 2018 BY JOHN BORTON J enny Allard harbored no thoughts of coaching, even after an All-America softball career at Michigan. More than 600 victories and a half-dozen Ivy League titles later, Allard can look back and smile at life's twists and turns. She's where she's always been at her best, with more than athletics at play. The Harvard head coach has, for years, served as a proctor (academic advisor) and counselor. An excellent student herself — with two master 's degrees from Har- vard in addition to her under- grad parchment from Michi- gan — she sets to the tone for winning on and off the field. "I've been blessed to have a really balanced career," Allard said. "It hasn't just all been softball, softball, softball — but softball has been the passion of it. I've been able to supplement with a lot of other opportunities, which has been a very rewarding total ex- perience for me." The 1990 Michigan graduate pumped plenty of softball into her prep years in California, including performing on high-caliber travel squads. She could have gone to school on scholarship at any of the big universities on the West Coast. But her family had roots in Michi- gan, and a young coach named Carol Hutchins was planting the seeds of a dynasty. A California recruit helped those seeds to grow, even through the snow. "I visited Michigan in February," Allard recalled. "It was zero degrees. For a kid from Southern California, it was really a difference experience, and I liked that. "I really liked the coaching staff. I was really drawn to Hutch, and the team was filled with girls who were really genuine and good athletes, played hard." Those were thrilling days at Michi- gan, Allard recalled. "It was exciting to be part of the early years," she said. "It was exciting to be there when Bo Schembechler was the coach, and he transitioned as the AD, and Jack Weidenbach was the deputy AD. He really pushed for women's athletics." Softball was just beginning its push, and staking a recruiting claim in California proved a very big deal. "I was the first player from South- ern California to go to Michigan," Al- lard pointed out. "Since then, Hutch has had a lot of success recruiting top players from that area of the coun- try, where you can play softball year round. "The Big Ten was competitive. Hutch was at the start of bringing in players to elevate the program. She's a competitive coach, she cares about her players, and there was a lot of development in her program." Allard's arrival certainly didn't hurt that development. She earned All-Big Ten honors all four years in the program, including Big Ten Player of the Year notice in 1989. She eventually garnered the Big Ten Medal of Honor, given to the highest-achieving student- athlete at the conference schools. Two years after she graduated, she made the league's All-Decade team. Allard didn't need a year or two to adjust to another level of softball. She stepped onto the field as a freshman and earned first-team All-Big Ten honors, hitting .331 with 26 RBI. College ready as she was, Allard insists Hutchins helped shape her success. "I didn't feel my skills needed to be elevated, but my athleticism did," Allard recalled. "Hutch does a re- ally good job of training the total athlete. I was known as a strong hitter. I had really fast hands, so I could step in and compete at the college level in that area." That she did, hitting .300 as a sophomore. Then Hutchins issued a real challenge. Allard had already met one, coming in as a designated player and first baseman and wind- ing up performing at third base her first two years. Now Hutchins wanted her to dust off her pitching arm, which had al- ways been unnecessary in her travel squad days, given the guns on the roster. Allard sought training help to ready herself as a pitcher for her ju- nior season. She needed technique retraining, but mostly she needed to dig in and give an offseason effort she'd never forget. "I spent a lot of time on my own, training and working," she recalled. "I just grinded it out. I just worked." It paid off, in dramatic fashion. Allard stepped up to fashion a 19-9 record in the pitching circle in '89. She posted a 0.75 earned-run aver- age that, nearly three decades later, represents the sixth-best in Michigan softball history for a single season. She also struck out 64 hitters. She continued blasting the ball at the plate, hitting .351 with 29 RBI on WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Jenny Allard Carried Michigan Lessons To Harvard Allard is in her 24th season as the head coach at Harvard. In addi- tion to being the Ivy League's longest-tenured head coach, she is one of its most successful. PHOTO COURTESY HARVARD