Stoddard steps in to coach at Schaumburg
Ellen Stoddard, who ranks among the all-time top pitchers and hitters in Mid-Suburban League softball, is returning to the conference as a head coach.
The former four-time all-area Fremd standout has been named the Schaumburg varsity head coach.
Stoddard spent the last two seasons in Kirkland as the varsity softball coach for Hiawatha High School, a Class 1A school near Rockford.
She taught physical education and health at the high school and junior high.
At Schaumburg, Stoddard will work in the physical education department and will also coach freshman girls basketball.
"In my mind, my goal was always to come back to the suburbs to a bigger school with a bigger program," Stoddard said. "Back when I was playing, I didn't think much about coaching. You're just in the moment when you're playing in high school and trying to do well for your team."
Stoddard did quite well.
She is Fremd's all-time hits leader with 185 and No. 2 in pitching wins with 67. She is the school's all-time leader in assists with 331 in her career as a pitcher.
She had a career 0.85 ERA with 501 strikeouts, 34 shutouts and one perfect game.
Stoddard led Fremd to three trips to the state finals, including a fourth-place finish in 2000.
She was Fremd's Female Athlete of the Year in 2002 as a senior.
At Northern Illinois, Stoddard was elected MAC Player Of the Week in 2005 going 4-for-7 in a two-game sweep of Akron, including a 3-for-4, 5-RBI effort in a 7-1 Huskies victory. In 2006, she started 45 games for the Huskies. She was second on the team in batting average, hitting .280 and fourth for the Huskies in hits (35) including eight doubles.
While in DeKalb, Stoddard majored in physical education and health.
"P.E. is where I was most comfortable and it's where I saw my personality seemed to fit best," she said.
Stoddard has been running a camp for incoming Schaumburg freshmen and had a chance to meet some of her returning varsity players.
"I got a chance to talk to them and introduce myself," she said. "I kind of let them know where I'm coming from."
Pitching and defense are high priorities for Stoddard.
"Even on a day when your pitcher is not having her best day, the defense can back her up and you can still be successful," Stoddard said. "And fundamentals are important. Hitting-wise, you must make solid contact. You want hard-hit balls vs. pop-ups. We want to teach them to be line-drive hitters.
"Overall, it's having fun with the team and having knowledge of the game."
Stoddard said she has found players have more success when they know why they are doing something rather than just being told to do it.
"In my experience, the results are not as good if you just tell them to do something as opposed to telling them why they are doing it," she said. "That's what I want to go on. And I tell the kids not to be afraid to ask questions if they don't understand something."
Stoddard was a student teacher at Palatine in physical education and volunteer coach for its junior varsity softball team before getting the position at Hiawatha.
Former Schaumburg coach Erin Malinowski resigned her post last spring to become a counselor at Fremd.
Stoddard was officially hired for the Saxons job on June 17.
Her father, Tim, was a member of the North Carolina State basketball team that won the NCAA Championship in 1974 and he also pitched for the 1983 World Champion Baltimore Orioles. He has been the pitching coach for Northwestern University for the past 17 years.
Ellen credits her dad and mom Diane and Fremd varsity coaches (Rob Harris, Jim Weaver and Curt Pinley) as inspirations to her becoming a coach.
Stoddard will take over a 24-11 Schaumburg team that graduated only four players and finished third in a very competitive MSL West.
And now the Saxons will be led by one of the most competitive former players in the MSL West.