Softball Early Years: Guiding the Program off the Runway and Into the Sky

By Mike Pearson

FightingIllini.com

In 1998, when Illinois Athletic Director Ron Guenther announced that women’s softball was being added to the University of Illinois athletics’ menu, it became the last program among the Big Ten’s longtime members to join the party.

Two years after the Illini introduced soccer to its fans, softball became Illinois’ 10^th women’s varsity program, filling a void in a state long known for its girls’ fastpitch excellence.

“Illinois is a great softball state,” Guenther told the Decatur Herald & Review. “It’s in the city, in the suburbs, downstate … it’s everywhere.”

The Illini AD’s next step was to identify the sport’s first Illini coach. Interest in heading up UI’s program was significant, but youthful UIC assistant coach Terri Sullivan had been planting seeds about her interest for a while with Guenther.

“I had heard rumors that the University of Illinois would possibly be starting a softball program,” Sullivan said. “I began sending letters and Ron was forwarding them on to Karol Kahrs, just letting them know who I was. They always got back to me and always had something positive to say.”

Finally, Guenther set up an in-person meeting with Sullivan. 

“We were hosting regionals at UIC at the time and I met with Ron in Chicago about the position,” Sullivan said. “We talked about what it would take to build a program from the ground up and he mentioned that he wanted a person with a lot of energy to get it off and running. I could tell that he was a coach’s coach. And, lo and behold, I got the position. It was exactly the challenge I was looking for. I was just 29, but they had a lot of faith in me.”

Sullivan was introduced at a mid-July press conference in 1998, then immediately hit the recruiting trail. 

“I remember telling Ron that I had to leave the next day to recruit,” she said. “One of the biggest recruiting tournaments for college coaches was taking place in Colorado. Nearly every coach was going to be there. Rick (Raven), our equipment manager, gave me (Illini) polos to wear that were down to my elbows. I remember those first recruiting letters included (the phrase) ‘building something from the ground up … and being the first team to make history’. Our pitch was that you could go somewhere where things are…