Janet Lloyd reaches 700 career wins in 29 years of head coaching

From Chapman softball player to head coach, the game has followed Lloyd her entire life. Photo courtesy of Steven Olveda

Seven hundred wins is another milestone for Chapman softball head coach Janet Lloyd, the coach with the most wins of all time in Chapman athletics. But for her there is much more to the game than racking up wins.

Lloyd played softball at California State University, Fullerton for three years, and after tearing her ACL she transferred during her senior year to Chapman, where her father Lisle Lloyd was a head coach. 

Like many college students, Lloyd was unsure about what she wanted to do for her career after college, so right after graduating she picked up an assistant coaching job to work alongside her father.

“I did (softball) my whole life and that’s what got me through college,” Lloyd said. “I felt like I owed the game something back. Chapman’s a great place, and I’m glad that I hit 700 wins and I could do it (here). A lot of coaches go from school to school trying to find the right home, and I fell right into (coaching at Chapman).”

Chapman truly became a home for Lloyd. Next year will be her 40th year contributing to the school’s softball program. 

Lloyd was an assistant coach from 1985 to 1993, and in 1994 the team transitioned from Division II to Division III softball. She became co-head coach with her father in 1994.

“(Head) coaching with my dad was a little different — (I told him) you do the paperwork and let me do the field stuff,” Lloyd said. “I didn’t want to do all the paperwork (or) scheduling. I just wanted to go play softball.”

In 1995 the team went 43-5, winning the national championship against Trenton State College.

Just because the team went down to Division III didn’t mean that winning a title was a cakewalk. Due to eligibility requirements, Division II players coming into the 1995 season could not compete, so many players that were close to graduation decided to keep their scholarship, focus on their degree and leave the team.

“We went out and recruited basically a whole new brand team to come in (in 1995). And we won the championship with almost all freshmen starters with the exception of maybe a couple of players,” Lloyd said.

Notable players on that championship roster include freshmen players Christy Guidorizzi and Jessamine Maiben and junior transfers Kathy Donovan and Lisa Cancilla, who all earned First Team All-American honors.

Lloyd’s enthusiasm for softball never died from the time she stepped onto the field as a Chapman softball player until the present day. 

As a player, she said that going from a Division I program at Fullerton to a Division II program at Chapman was not effortless. Chapman had different standards for its education compared to Fullerton, and personally Lloyd had to learn how to prioritize her education more.

“(Going to Chapman) taught me what student athlete meant,” Lloyd said. “Where I feel as a Division I athlete I was an athlete-student at the most, ‘What do I have to do to stay eligible’ type (of) person.”

This shift in perspective continued affecting her decision-making after college. Following the 1995 championship, Lloyd received the offer of a lifetime to coach Division I softball at the University of Washington, but chose to stick with Chapman.

“I thought, ‘Wow! (Coaching) Division I, how exciting would that be?” Lloyd said. “And I sat back for a minute and I thought, ‘You know, I played (Division I), and now I’ve coached (Division III), and I want to stay here because the athletes that I coach, they know what they want to do with their lives (after college) so to speak, and if they don’t, they’re close to (knowing).” 

Lloyd said her father played a big role in her softball journey. As a player at Tustin High School, she went from playing against teams he coached at Foothill High School and Fullerton State College to coaching under him and eventually assuming the head coaching role that her father had.

“It was cool that he kept stepping (into new coaching roles) and, I don’t know if he was just trying to enjoy the sport that he loved or if he was just trying to pain in my butt or what, but it was funny that he followed me (throughout my softball career),” Lloyd said. 

Lloyd appreciated all the work her father did as co-head coaches, especially with behind the scenes activities like paperwork and scheduling, which allowed her to concentrate on on-field play. She learned from her father for 15 years.

“I’m what they call a small-ball coach — I will bunt and I will squeeze and I will do anything to get a runner in, and that is totally the way my dad used to coach,” Lloyd said. “So I know that (he) was a huge influence on me as far as the things I do when I’m out on the field.”

If there’s one thing that Lloyd wants players to take away from her coaching, it is being able to give back to the game. Softball has allowed players to travel, find jobs and find a family on campus. 

Former players carry on this message by showing up to alumni softball games.

“I love the fact that I get to see at alumni games, we had 40 to 50 (players) back with their families, and it’s so awesome to see somebody that graduated 10 years ago married and having two little kids and understanding what it’s all about,” Lloyd said. “That’s a happy-camper day for me when I see all the past players and where they are now in their lives.”

Lloyd gets to see this joy and experience it too. She has kept in touch with several of her teammates during her college years, and wouldn’t trade this for anything.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s been five years, as soon as we get together (it feels like it has) only been two minutes (since we saw each other),” Lloyd said.

Sophomore integrated education studies major Jillian Kelly is a pitcher for the Panthers, and she describes Lloyd’s personality as humorous, caring and understanding. Kelly says that Lloyd gets athletes to “feel like a kid again” and thrilled to play the sport.

“I think for a lot of players it’s really hard to have fun, especially at (the Division III) level,” Kelly said. “I think people take softball and sports so seriously, and Janet just really makes it a point to let us have fun, and that we do so much better when we’re cheering super loud in the dugout and when we’re having fun throwing signs to each other.”

Lloyd treasures all that the players bring to Chapman’s softball program, and they do the same for her. She likens her experience working with college athletes to something that one of her assistant coaches Greg Crandall once said.

“(Greg) has been a volunteer coach for me for 21 years,” Lloyd said. “Hasn’t been paid a penny, in fact he donates things all the time, but he tells people, and he’s a retired police officer, he goes, ‘I worked with the bad people my whole life, and then after retirement I went and watched a couple of softball games and now I’m connected with this team and they make me feel like a kid again.’ 

“I laugh with them, we joke with them, and you can look at them funny and they’ll start cracking up, and just little things like that, they keep me on my toes (and) we have fun.”