Hall finding ‘overwhelming’ support as new Illinois softball coach – The News-Gazette

CHAMPAIGN — A single text message from Jenna Hall to a group chat of some of her former Illinois softball teammates set off a flurry of responses early Tuesday morning.

Flurry might not be a strong enough word. Deluge could be closer.

A seemingly never-ending stream of notifications.

Hall’s message was a heads up for her former teammates.

Roughly 10 minutes from the moment she hit send, news would break that Illini athletic director Josh Whitman had named Hall as the third coach in Illinois softball history.

“We have been celebrating since the moment it hit,” former Illinois infielder Lindsey Hamma told The News-Gazette on Tuesday. “Our former pitcher Sherri Taylor, I think she captured it pretty good because she was a little late to it. She was busy (Tuesday) morning. She said, ‘Just noticed 99 messages, and it was the absolute best update ever.’”

That’s the consensus response in the Illinois softball community following Tuesday’s news. Hall’s former teammates couldn’t be happier that she’s returning to campus to run the program she helped build.

“I just think there’s a certain pride and tradition that we, as kind of the founding members of the program, feel,” Hamma said. “She’s done everything along the way to show just how qualified and talented she is. When it comes down to it, for us, it’s that personal connection of knowing she absolutely will put every last drop of who she is into that program.”

Count former Illinois softball coach Terri Sullivan as equally excited that one of her players will now be in charge of the program she first led. Sullivan was the first-ever Illini softball coach when the program started in 2000 and spent 16 seasons in the dugout at Eichelberger Field.

“So thrilled,” Sullivan said. “It was so funny. I think I was as excited about her being named the coach as when I was another lifetime ago — or maybe just about as excited. Just wonderful news that Josh Whitman believed in her and got to know her beyond what’s in the record books. I’m thrilled that he sees she can continue to take this program to all kinds of new heights and do it the right way, surrounding herself with great players and great people.”

Hall’s phone showed just shy of 300 notifications at one point on Tuesday. A third of that was from the “Originals” group chat, but support poured in from all corners of the Illinois softball world. Hall is in several other group chats, and they were nearly as active.

“It’s why this place is so special,” Hall said. “I’ve had this connection with these people for 20 years. It’s been 20 years since I played my last season. All these people have meant so much to me in my life. We’ve been in each others’ lives since we were all together in Champaign.

“Their support means so much. They’ve known me since I was 18 years old and running around on the softball field. Later in life, we’re not teammates, but we still have each others’ backs in different ways. It just gives an extra layer of support and an extra layer of confidence to know I have them in my corner.”

Setting the events in motion

The path back to Illinois for Hall developed when Whitman fired now-former Illini coach Tyra Perry on May 4 following the conclusion of the 2026 season. Perry’s 11th year with the program saw the Illini go 15-39 overall and 3-20 in the Big Ten — a third straight sub-.500 season overall and fourth straight below .500 in league play.

Illinois reached out to Hall, who has spent the past four seasons as the Ohio coach, during the Mid-American Conference tournament. Hall spoke first with chief sports officer and senior woman administrator Sara Burton and then Whitman on consecutive days. It was simply initial contact to express their interest while Hall finished her season with the Bobcats.

An on-campus interview followed, as Hall spent two days back in Champaign before the Memorial Day weekend speaking both with administrators and current Illinois coaches. Whitman reached out again Sunday — Hall’s birthday — to offer her the job. She accepted it Monday night, and it was officially announced Tuesday, which was also her anniversary with her wife, Cristina.

“It’s been extremely overwhelming in the best way possible,” Hall said. “Just really grateful about the support and the amount of people who have reached out and touched base. A lot of emotions. I’m sad I’m leaving where I’m at because I love Ohio, but I’m also, at the same time, extremely excited to come back to Champaign and be back in the orange and blue.”

That Hall would replace Perry and become the third softball coach at Illinois was seen as perhaps the only way forward from the alumni base. Her connection to the program as a four-time All-Big Ten First Team first baseman, a 2006 First Team All-American and, as of 2019, a member of the Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame, was only part of the equation. Her coaching history, with stops as an assistant at Illinois, Ohio, Ohio State and Pittsburgh before landing back in Athens, Ohio, to lead the Bobcats, was also a factor.

Hall won at least 30 games in all four seasons at Ohio. She was named MAC Coach of the Year twice, in 2023 and 2025, and posted a 138-86 overall record with a 73-35 mark in MAC action.

“I coached for a while, too, at that level, and it’s a grind,” said former Illinois infielder Katie O’Connell, who worked as an assistant coach at Illinois, University of Illinois-Chicago and IU Indianapolis.

“She’s stuck with it, moved up and has succeeded,” O’Connell continued. “There’s no one more deserving of this job than her.”

“We were talking about, do we need to go to Champaign and march? What can we do to get her back?” Hamma quipped about the support the alumni base threw behind Hall when the job came open. “She’s done so well for herself, and she’s just the best representative of Illinois softball. For us to think anyone else was more qualified was not even in the books.”

Pursuing her path

Hall was one of the first — and remains one of the most decorated — Illinois softball players. The Channahon native and Minooka graduate finished her Illini career as the school record holder in essentially every offensive statistic related to her powerful left-handed swing. She still holds single-season batting average record of .481 she set in 2006.

It was during Hall’s four seasons at Illinois, though, where it became clear to her teammates and to Sullivan that the standout first baseman would make a good coach.

“It’s kind of overused when you say the IQ of a player and that translates into being a coach, but she did have tremendous softball IQ and an ability to think and react three plays ahead of everybody else,” Sullivan said. “She just loved the game. I think it’s so important for all coaches. You have to really love it and love the people part of it, and she was so beloved — and still is — by her teammates. When you have that love of the game and continue to play and study it and just want to surround yourself with everybody else who loves it, too, I really thought there would be no question she’d want to follow that path.”

Hall’s coaching career began in 2007 as a student assistant for Sullivan while she finished her degree at Illinois. She played three seasons in the National Pro Fastpitch League while also working as an assistant coach at Ohio. While coaching was her path — and she had further stints on staff at Ohio State and Pittsburgh — Hall said she didn’t think she’d ever become a head coach.

Returning to Athens, Ohio, to take the Ohio job gave new life to one day landing her dream job at Illinois.

“I would always like to think I was manifesting it, but a lot of really good things happened to fall my way at the right time with the opportunities that came,” Hall said. “You never know when opportunities are going to come, and the timing is always so outside of your control. It just landed in a really good way timing-wise.”

Plenty of work to do

Hall wasted little time in jumping into her new job. She met via Zoom with the current Illinois team on Tuesday. Wednesday will be a travel day covering the 375 miles from Athens, Ohio, to Champaign. With the softball transfer portal opening Monday and a new recruiting period starting in exactly one week, hiring a staff is her top priority.

Then the real work begins in rebuilding the Illinois softball program after 11 seasons of inconsistent success. Perry led the Illini to four NCAA tournament appearances, but just one in her final six seasons as coach.

“She knows you’ve got to hit Illinois hard,” O’Connell said, noting the number of players from the state on other top programs, including those in the Women’s College World Series. Five of the eight teams that made it to Oklahoma City this year had at least one Illinois native on their roster.

“It’s always going to happen that way — you see it in other sports,” O’Connell continued. “If you could own your state, and I think Jenna will, that could be a huge thing.”

Hamma said Hall’s experience in the Big Ten, as a player and assistant coach, and her ties throughout the Midwest would only help Illinois. So would four years of playing for the Illini at the very beginning of the program.

“We know she can start bringing in the players that stand for what Illinois softball is all about and start to build back that kind of gritty tradition of what it means to be an Illini softball player,” Hamma added. “I’ve followed her career to some degree through all of her moves, and she’s always added such value to the staff as that recruiter and the person that’s looking for the whole person who will be all-in to be a part of a program and improve the program.”

The allure of returning to Illinois was certainly part of Hall’s decision to accept the job.

It was her belief, however, in what was possible with the Illini that helped make that decision a “no-brainer.”

“College athletics is in a very interesting place right now, but the Big Ten is the strongest conference out there from a full-package standpoint,” Hall said. “There’s a lot of amazing things going on (at Illinois) as far as the facilities, what the university offers academically and being in the Big Ten. I think the full package is there. I think with my background and connection to the program, I can bring that passion and pride. I think it’s set up to take off in a really good direction.”