Legendary Bloomsburg field hockey and softball coach Jan Hutchinson has announced she will retire from coaching at the end of the 2010 softball season.

Hutchinson, now in her 32nd season at Bloomsburg, has amassed 1,747 combined wins as head coach of both field hockey and softball. Her field hockey teams have won 15 national championships and 16 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference titles in the past 28 years. As softball coach, she is the all-time Division II leader in career wins and has made an NCAA-record 27 consecutive trips to the Division II tournament.

“We have been fortunate to have had so many wonderful players…great athletes, great students, tremendous individuals,” Hutchinson said. “Day in and day out, by far the most fun part of coaching is being with the athletes.

“I never know my win-loss record, but I do know how many titles the teams have won, since that is always our highest goal. We have worked hard to make sure all of our players and teams experience the thrill of success.”

Hutchinson’s field hockey teams won NCAA championships in 1981, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Her teams have also registered nine national runner-up finishes.

Her softball team won a title in 1982 when the championship was under the auspices of the AIAW. The 1981-82 academic year in fact remains Hutchinson’s fondest memory.

“All the championships are special, but the 1981-82 academic year (her fourth at Bloomsburg) saw us win both the field hockey and softball championships in the same year,” she said. “It was incredible and certainly was the springboard to our success and our ability to recruit outstanding student-athletes to Bloomsburg throughout the years.”   

Bloomsburg Athletics Director Mary Gardner called Hutchinson “the cornerstone” of the Bloomsburg athletics program throughout her tenure.

“She has been an outstanding role model whom athletes and coaches have emulated throughout the years,” Gardner said. “She has established a winning tradition in both field hockey and softball that will go down in Bloomsburg history. Throughout the years it has been my good fortune to work with Jan as a colleague and friend. I will always appreciate that relationship.”

Hutchinson’s field hockey squads have posted winning records in 30 of her 31 seasons and have amassed an overall record of 583-75-20 for a winning percentage of .874. She is the winningest coach in any division of NCAA field hockey and is the only collegiate coach with more than 500 victories.

She also is the most successful coach in Division II softball history. Hutchinson’s record on the diamond is 1,165-280-2 (.805). She has the most wins of any Division II coach and is sixth in all divisions. Bloomsburg named its softball field after her in 2000.

Bloomsburg has been to the championship round in softball nine times, twice finishing as the national runner-up with losses each time in extra innings in the national title game.

A 1971 graduate of East Stroudsburg, Hutchinson also earned a master’s degree in education from the school in 1979. Before coming to Bloomsburg, she initiated the women’s physical education program at Blair Academy and served as head coach for field hockey, basketball and softball.