Sharon Drysdale Resigns as Softball Coach
2/13/2001 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 12, 2001
EVANSTON, Ill. - Sharon Drysdale, head coach of the women's softball team at Northwestern for the past 23 years, announced today she will resign from her post at season's end.
Following this season, Drysdale will work to begin a coaching certification school for the National Fastpitch Coaches Associaton (NFPCA). The door is also open to coaching a team in the Women's Professional Softball League (WPSL) in the future.
"My career at NU has been especially rewarding, demanding and challenging," said Drysdale. "Through it all, I have had the opportunity to experience life's ups and downs with so many quality people -- administrators, colleagues, staff and athletes. I am thankful for that. It will be very hard to leave a very special team at season's end. I know in my heart, however, that it is time for some change in my life and in the NU softball program. It is a program that is in good shape and will be left in good hands."
Drysdale's Wildcat teams have captured five league titles and compiled a 259-183 (.586) mark against Big Ten opponents. Named the Big Ten Coach of the Year three times (1984, '87, and '95), Drysdale has reached personal milestones in the latter half of the 1990s. She recorded her 500th victory as NU's head coach on April 10, 1996 with a 4-0 victory over Loyola-Chicago and tallied her 600th career win with a 4-3 decision over Santa Clara on March 7, 1998.
Northwestern has posted scores of wins on the national scene during Drysdale's tenure. The Wildcats made three consecutive College World Series (CWS) appearances from 1984-86 and reached the regional playoffs in 1987 and 2000. NU took third place at the CWS in 1984, fifth in 1985 and seventh in 1986. Under her tutelage, the Wildcats have put together 13 30-win seasons, including six in a row.
The winningest coach in school history, Drysdale came to NU from Kansas, where she compiled a 64-17 record and directed the Jayhawks to a Top 10 finish in the AIAW Softball World Series in each season of her four-year tenure.
Drysdale was chairperson of the NAGWS Softball Committee from 1981-83 and a contributing writer to the NAGWS Softball Guide. She is the author of The Complete Handbook of Winning Softball (Allyn & Bacon, 1982) and four softball skill booklets. In addition, Drysdale is chair of the NCAA Softball Rules Committee and a member of the NFCA Bylaws Committee and the All-American Committee. Drysdale was inducted into the NFCA Hall of Fame in 1994 and the University of Kansas Hall of Fame in 1999.
