Yvette Healy
Yvette Healy

Position:
Head Coach
Alma Mater:
DePaul (1999)

Since assuming control of the Loyola softball program prior to the 2005 season, Yvette Healy has helped the Ramblers to five 20-win seasons and in 2007 guided the team to the Horizon League regular-season title. Several team and individual school records have been set under Healy's watchful eye and in addition to the success on the field, the Ramblers have been equally accomplished off the field, as the team has been hailed as a National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Academic Team in each of the last three years.

Healy, the 2007 Horizon League Coach of the Year, has put her stamp on the Loyola softball program as the team has taken on the traits she displayed as a standout player at DePaul. Not one to shy away from playing quality competition, Healy has upgraded the Ramblers' schedule in her tenure as the team has faced national and regional powers and boasts wins over DePaul, Northwestern, Notre Dame, San Diego State, UNLV, Minnesota, Indiana, Michigan State, Texas Tech, Illinois State, UC Santa Barbara, Connecticut and Pittsburgh, among others.

Despite being a head coach for only six seasons, Healy has helped four Ramblers reach All-Mideast Region status, has twice produced Loyola's Female Athlete of the Year and has coached players that currently rank as Loyola's career leaders in at-bats, runs, home runs and RBI.

During the 2010 season, Loyola established a single-season school record with a .292 team batting average, while it also matched the standard for runs scored with 202. Three Ramblers earned All-Horizon League accolades, with freshman shortstop Brooke Andresen collecting First Team and All-Newcomer recognition. Under Healy's watch, Andresen enjoyed one of the finest seasons ever by a Loyola freshman as she batted .384, which ranks as the third-highest, single-season average in school history. Catcher Jenna Grim equaled the single-season school record with 11 home runs and needs only eight more roundtrippers to share the career lead in that category as well.

Last spring, Healy piloted the Ramblers to their largest margin of victory over a nationally ranked opponent when they rolled past No. 24 Notre Dame, 8-0 on March 30 and Loyola also earned its first win at Northwestern since 1998 when it toppled the Wildcats, 3-2, on April 22. For the eighth time in the last nine seasons, Loyola also had a softball student-athlete earn ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V accolades with Stephanie Cihlar (first team) and Lauren Arceneaux (second team) racking up the honors. Senior Amy Solava was the recipient of Loyola's Director's Award, which is presented annually to both the male and female student-athlete with the highest grade-point average at the university.

In 2009, Healy steered the Ramblers to a record-breaking season in which they posted 28 total victories, including 14 in League play. Along the way, she became only the second coach in the history of the program to win 100 games as Loyola's skipper, picking up the milestone victory in a 3-0 decision over Green Bay on April 8, 2009. The Ramblers established new single-season team records for home runs (37) and stolen bases (116), and picked up wins over Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Bradley, Central Florida and Western Michigan.

Off the field, pitcher Amy Solava was selected Second Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V, while as a team, the softball program was one of six Loyola squads to earn a NCAA Public Recognition Award for its outstanding Academic Progress Rate score.

In 2008, outfielder Ellen Kresl became the first Rambler to ever earn First Team All-Mideast Region honors (four others had previously been selected to the second team), after batting .374, which led the team and ranks fourth on Loyola's single-season chart. Five Ramblers earned All-Horizon League accolades, including Solava, who earned First Team status for the second time in as many seasons. Off the field, Kat Krause was named ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V for the second straight year and Nora Schober was the recipient of the prestigious Bud Gorman Award, which is presented annually to a Loyola student-athlete for outstanding service and citizenship. Loyola was also named a NFCA All-Academic Team with a 3.401 team grade-point average to rank 11th among NCAA Division I schools. Nine Ramblers were tabbed National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-America Scholar-Athletes for having GPAs of 3.50 or higher for the academic year.

The 2007 season was a memorable one for Healy and the program for a handful of reasons. In addition to claiming the Horizon League regular-season crown with a 14-5 ledger, the Ramblers posted 21 total victories. Loyola posted three wins over nationally ranked teams, with all of those wins coming against in-state rivals. A March 14 victory over No. 17 Illinois State was the program's first over a Top 25 squad since 2000, a triumph over No. 7 Northwestern on April 17 was the Ramblers' first-ever over a top-ten team and a late-season win versus No. 14 DePaul was Loyola's first victory over its crosstown rival since 1995. Under Healy's guidance, Loyola won 17 of its final 26 games of the year, including those contests over Women's College World Series participants Northwestern and DePaul.

Healy helped mold a pair of players, Krause and Solava, into Second Team All-Mideast Region performers. Krause turned in one of the best all-around offensive seasons in recent Loyola history, batting .336 with nine doubles, 11 home runs and 28 RBI, while Solava won 12 games and struck out 161 batters in 164.2 innings. For the first time since 2004, Loyola placed four players on the All-Horizon League First Team and Solava became the first Loyola freshman ever to earn League Pitcher of the Year accolades.

Off the field, the Ramblers enjoyed equal success as the team was hailed with the Horizon League's Community Service Award for its work in and around the Rogers Park community. Krause earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V honors while the team compiled a cumulative grade-point average of 3.432 to earn NFCA All-Academic Team distinction, ranking ninth among all NCAA Division I institutions.

In 2006, Healy's squad set a school record with 202 runs scored and under her tutelage, Tara Miller blossomed into one of the top players in the region as she earned All-Mideast Region accolades. Miller set new Loyola single-campaign standards in stolen bases (34) and runs (50) and Krause set Loyola single-season and career records for home runs. Five Ramblers earned All-Horizon League honors, highlighted by Miller's first-team selection and senior Trish Oberhaus posted the highest grade-point average of any female student-athlete at the Loyola.

Despite playing with a roster that featured 10 freshmen in 2006, Healy was able to get the most out of a team that improved as the season progressed. She mentored her squad to 20 victories, while Loyola played its best softball at the end of the year, as it posted a 9-6 mark over the final 15 games of the season. Healy led Loyola to a pair of monumental victories in 2006 as the Ramblers earned a 3-0 victory over Michigan State, their first-ever against the Spartans, and a 6-4 decision at Notre Dame, their first versus the Irish since 1999.

In 2005, her first season at Loyola, Healy helped the Ramblers to a fourth-place finish in the Horizon League and under her guidance, three players earned All-Horizon League honors - catcher Raven Gengler, first baseman Allison Scanlin and pitcher Mia Pangere. Scanlin also excelled off the field, and in addition to earning Loyola Female Athlete of the Year accolades, was hailed as a member of the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team.

In two seasons as an assistant at her alma mater, DePaul, Healy worked primarily with infielders and hitters, helping the Blue Demons to a pair of Conference USA Championships and NCAA Regional appearances. The seasons were highlighted with wins over UCLA, Fresno State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, South Florida, Louisville and Illinois. In 2004, she tutored her hitters to the third-highest batting average in the nation (.320). In 2003 and 2004, Healy's work was influential as five players earned All-America accolades.

A three-time Academic All-American, and two-time Athletic All-American honoree as a player, Healy ranks second on the DePaul single-season chart with a .424 batting average and is the school's all-time leader with 102 stolen bases. In her senior campaign in 1999, Healy led the Blue Demons to a school-record 54 victories, an NCAA Regional Championship and the College World Series as the team wrapped up the year ranked third in the nation. She earned All-Mideast Region honors on three occasions as well.

Healy was a standout three-sport athlete and salutatorian at Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox, Ill., and graduated Cum Laude from DePaul with a double major in marketing and communications. She worked as the director of marketing for the Chicago Bulls and White Sox Academy before joining the coaching ranks at her alma mater.

During the summer of 2005, Healy was chosen to attend the prestigious NCAA Women's Coaches Academy in Denver. She earned a master's degree in secondary education with an endorsement in English from DePaul in 2008.

Healy and her husband, Shawn, reside in Chicago with their daughter, Grace, and two dogs, Wrigley and Blue.