By Staff
Coaching Management, 8.7, October 2000, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/cm/cm0807/qagirouard.htm
The eighth-winningest active NCAA Division I softball coach, Yvette Girouard amassed 758 wins in 20 seasons at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette (formerly known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana). The program’s founding coach, Girouard built the Ragin’ Cajuns into a perennial powerhouse. That’s why, this summer, Girouard surpassed the softball community when she left Lafayette to take over the relatively new, but very successful, program at Louisiana State University.
Girouard inherits a program that finished first in the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) last year with a 59-13 record. LSU has won the SEC Western Division title in each of the four years since softball was reinstated at the school.
In this interview, Girouard discusses her success with the Cajuns, her approach to coaching, and her concern about safety issues in women’s softball.
CM: Talk about the early days at Louisiana-Lafayette. What was it like starting a team from scratch?
Girouard: They hired me in October 1980, and said, “Here’s $3,000 to run the team. We expect you to win, and, oh, you’re Division I.” It was wild. That first year we played in five different city parks because we didn’t have a set home field. No one knew when or where we were playing. Of course, we didn’t play that many games—I think we played about 22 games total.
Then, the second year, we constructed a makeshift field and shared the surrounding area with intramurals. A ball would come on our field and intramural players would just step over the fence, which was basically chicken wire. My dad’s truck was my office and I worked out of there.
It was extremely challenging, and I actually quit after the first year because I thought, “This is way too much of a project.” I was a part-time coach, there was no money, and I had previously started a softball program at Lafayette High School and was still coaching there. I didn’t know if I wanted to go through all of that building again. So I quit over the summer, but our women’s athletic director talked me into staying.
Another factor was my mom, who told me that this was really what I was born to do. I was in the family restaurant business and she said I definitely didn’t belong in the restaurant. I wasn’t cutting it with them. The rest is history.
The only losing season I ever had as a coach was that very first year when there were no scholarships. The second year, I had one scholarship. In year 10, we were ranked seventh in the country, my pitcher was a first-team All-American, and I was the national coach of the year—and I was still just a part-time coach. It’s a real rags-to-riches story.
Why did you move from your long-time home at UL-Lafayette to LSU?
I think professionally and personally at this time, it was a great move for me. The University of Louisiana-Lafayette has outstanding traditions. There are things in place there that money can’t buy—like the love of a town for its softball program. But there are serious financial matters that have to be addressed every day, and that becomes a little taxing and tiring. This was an opportunity for me to operate day-to-day on a much higher level and affords me the opportunity to devote a lot of my time strictly to coaching.
You are taking your assistant coach, James DeFeo, with you to LSU. Why did you choose to bring one of your assistants with you rather than search for all new coaches?
I think, as a head coach, your first consideration is loyalty. I think that far outweighs any knowledge of the sport. Obviously, knowledge of the sport and expertise in handling different assignments are next. But to me, loyalty is the number-one aspect because lack of loyalty can truly destroy an organization faster than a lack of knowledge. A lack of knowledge, you can make up for—you can learn, go to clinics and camps, use videos, and improve yourself. And we try to do that every year. But loyalty has to come from within, and if you don’t have that among your staff, you will not succeed on any level.
At UL-Lafayette, you produced 28 All-Americans and 13 Academic All-Americans. How do you encourage your players to successfully combine athletics and academics?
Self-discipline is the number-one trait I look for in all individuals, because good time management is extremely necessary when you’re an athlete at the Division I level. From the first time we talk to the players, we stress that their degree is the most important thing—that, yes, there is professional softball now, but it barely pays the bills. When they graduate, we want them to: 1) say they made the absolute right decision in coming to school here; and 2) feel that their softball experience was a great one on and off the field.
You had an outstanding catcher in Kelli Bruce at Lafayette. Are there particular coaching techniques for nurturing catchers?
Actually, I think when you’re recruiting that position you always want to look for a person who is a giver and not a taker. Fast-pitch softball is so pitcher-dominated that the person on the mound probably dictates about 80 percent of what goes on in our game. A catcher’s ability to handle that is vital and crucial; therefore, a catcher has to realize that the pitcher comes first.
It means you have to look for that unique quality besides the talent level. As the coach, you sometimes have to push a lot of different buttons to get catchers to the realization that supporting the pitcher is their role.
While at Lafayette, attendance at your home games was phenomenal, averaging 800 spectators a game. Is there a strategy for drawing in the fans?
The main reason for our fan support was because our team had tremendous involvement with the community. We would read in the elementary schools. We participated in Special Olympics. We gave free clinics. After a hurricane, we volunteered our services to clean up people’s yards. We were just very visible, and of course I was a product of that community, so they embraced us.
Also, because we had to fund-raise extensively, people were willing to help us out. That made them tie into the program even more because they were giving financially; therefore, they wanted to be associated with the team and help it succeed.
Of course, we were also winning on a national level, and for a long time we were the best athletic team they had. So, we endeared ourselves to the community because everybody loves and wants to support winners.
What is your philosophy of the game?
I’ve always been a defensive-minded coach. I believe in the whole idea of, “if the opposition never scores, we’ll never lose.” We do spend a whole lot more time on hitting than we once did, but I still think of myself as a defensive-minded coach first. I believe in repetitive fundamentals, because when it breaks down, that’s where it always breaks first. I’d like to think that my teams are aggressive and hard-nosed, and that we’ll play the game until the final out. I want to make my players look at every game as if it’s 0-0 in every inning—to always be in attack mode.
What’s your opinion of the bat standards argument? Do the bats need to be tweaked?
I definitely think there needs to be more testing done to make sure that we’re all playing with the same equipment. Everybody wanted more scoring in the game, and that’s obviously what we’ve produced now, but I do think that we have a safety issue.
Our game has changed dramatically. I know that seven years ago my corners were playing in the hitter’s face, and right now, I don’t ethically feel like I can tell a corner to play that close because I’d be really afraid for her—even with the pitching on this LSU team. Whether it’s the ball or the bat, or the combination of the two, I think it’s way too lively.
What are your goals for your first year with the team?
We want to win the division because LSU has done it almost every year. And we’d like the SEC championship, too. We also want to get this program to where it has not been before, and that’s to the College World Series. Because once you’ve been there, and I’ve been three times, that has to ultimately be your goal every year.
My staff and I also want to make this transition as easy as possible for all concerned. We want to make sure that the athletes’ time here, in this program and in this year, is one that they’ll look back on fondly. That, yes, it was a time of change, but it was a good change and it was a positive thing.
In January, 2000, LSU was found guilty of having violated Title IX in the past. Has the climate in the department changed and how will you work to improve the position of female athletes at LSU?
Well, I think any coach worth his or her salt is always working to improve all conditions. Certainly we’d like to see some facilities upgraded and we’ll keep pushing for that. It’s like a nuclear arms race with the stadiums right now, and we want ours to be among the best in college softball, from a playing standpoint and for aesthetic purposes.
But everybody has been very warm and generous and kind in trying to help [me and my staff adjust]. I wasn’t here before, so I don’t know what happened, but obviously we’re always fighting for the female athlete and will continue to do so.