Jill Hutchison, M.S. '69

Distinguished Alumni Award Winner

• Retired women’s basketball coach, Illinois State University, Bloomington

• Major: Health Physcial Education & Recreation

Jill Hutchison completed her bachelor’s degree in 1967 at the University of New Mexico, her master’s degree in 1969 at Illinois State University, and her Ed.D. at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro in 1976.

She spent 34 years employed in the Illinois State University Athletic Department from 1968 to 2002. Here she served as head women’s basketball coach for 28 years, head softball coach for 10 years, interim athletic director for two years, assistant to the athletic director for three years, and as a member of the physical education faculty for 10 years.

Hutchison's career blossomed after directing the first AIAW National Basketball Championship at Illinois State in 1972. She remained on the AIAW Basketball Committee for 10 years until it was dissolved in 1981. She was also actively involved on the rules committee, including moving from six-player to five-player rules in 1970, to adopting the smaller ball in 1981. She served on the Women’s Basketball Selection Committee for USA Basketball through two Olympiads (1980 and 1984). To add to her impressive active career, she coached the 1978 Junior National Team to a silver medal in the Pan American Games and the 1983 National Select Team to a gold medal in the World University Games. 

Hutchison served as the first president of the Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association (IBCA) in 1981 and was elected to additional terms in 1986 and 1991. She has spoken to the Knight Commission and lobbied in Congress concerning gender equity in college athletics. She was a member of the NCAA Recruiting Committee for six years, representing women’s basketball on a national level.  

In 2009, Hutchison was inducted into the National Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, and a year earlier, Illinois State hung a banner at CEFCU Arena honoring her coaching career. She is also a member of the Illinois State Percy Family Athletics Hall of Fame, the New Mexico Hall of Honor, the Missouri Valley Conference Athletics Hall of Fame, and was recognized with the IBCA’s most prestigious Buzzy O’Connor Award. Hutchison has continued to advocate for women’s athletics as a sports broadcaster on TV and radio.

 After retiring from coaching in 1999, she directed her efforts to “give back” to the Bloomington-Normal community where she briefly served as the director of the Bloomington-Normal Convention and Visitors Bureau and as a member of the Normal Planning Commission. She is an active member of the Bloomington Kiwanis Club and co-chaired its Mother’s Day Flower Sale for 10 years.  In 2009, she was named the Normal Citizen of the Year, and in 2016, she was selected as a History Maker by the McLean County Museum of History.