Lindsay Chouinard Position: Head Coach Experience: 3rd Year Alma Mater: DePaul (2003)

Building a successful program is a challenge any coach relishes. It is a process that contains many steps. Developing a philosophy, finding the right personnel, getting your players to buy into that philosophy and time to pull it all together are all key components. Northern Illinois' third-year head coach Lindsay Chouinard spent her first season laying the foundation for the future of Huskie softball and it paid dividends last season.

Last year, Northern Illinois advanced to the semifinals of the 2009 Mid-American Conference Tournament and posted its best conference record since 2003. The Huskies' success on the field did not go unnoticed as three players earned All-MAC honors in 2009. Seniors Bailey Ouellette and Emily Gooding ended their careers garnering first team honors, while freshman pitcher Morgan Bittner earned second team accolades and a spot on the MAC's All-Freshman Team.

Bittner flourished under Chouinard's tutelage in her first season of collegiate softball. She led Huskies in ERA (3.26) and led the league in complete games with 29. She has already made her mark on the NIU record books as her 166 strikeouts rank fourth on the Huskies' all-time list. Bittner is just one of the outstanding pitchers Chouinard has influenced.

As DePaul's pitching coach from 2004-07, Chouinard produced two NCAA All-America pitchers in 2007 in Tracie Adix and Becca Heteniak. Her expertise helped the Blue Demon pitching staff finish in the top 50 in team ERA every year of her tenure. Her 2007 pitching staff recorded an earned run average of 1.32 to rank sixth in the nation. The National Fastpitch Coaches Association honored the coaching staff as the Mideast Coaching Staff of the Year in 2005 and 2007 after leading DePaul to the Women's College World Series in both seasons. In 2007, the Blue Demons went 47-13 and finished fifth in the country, the second-best finish in school history.

As a student-athlete at DePaul, Chouinard was a four-year starting pitcher for one of the top teams in the nation. A two-year team captain, she led the Blue Demons to four Conference USA championships, four NCAA regional tournaments and a Women's College World Series appearance in 2000. The Blue Demons finished among the nation's top 20 from 2000-2003 with Chouinard on the mound, ranking seventh, 19th, 11th and ninth. In 2003, the Blue Demon pitching staff had the third lowest ERA (0.83) in the nation and in 2002, Chouinard ranked second individually in ERA with a 0.47 mark.

Chouinard, a native of Fresno, Calif., was honored nationally as a three-time NCAA All-American, two-time NCAA Regional MVP and two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American for her efforts on the field and in the classroom. She was a finalist for the National Player of the Year honor in 2003. In Conference USA, Chouinard was a four-time first-team all-conference honoree, Player of the Year in 2003 and Pitcher of the Year in 2002 and 2003. Chouinard holds 10 of the 13 DePaul pitching records, including career marks for wins with 108 and strikeouts with 858.

After Chouinard finished her collegiate career, she was the second overall pick by the Texas Thunder in the National Pro Fastpitch Softball League (NPFSL) 2003 draft. After helping the Thunder win the regular season championship in her first year, Chouinard signed with the Chicago Bandits in 2005 where she was named to the league's all-star team after notching a 9-1 record for the regular season champions. Chouinard graduated from DePaul in 2003 with a degree in finance and completed her MBA at DePaul with a finance concentration in May 2007.