During Jill Hutchisons distinguished basketball coaching career at Illinois State, she valued court leadership from her point guard as one of the cornerstones of team success. Current Redbird coach Robin Pingeton has a healthy respect for Hutchisons beliefs as well as her record, and that figured into the selection of point guard Taren OBrien as the 2003 Jill Hutchison Endowed Scholar.
The Jill Hutchison Endowed Scholarship was established in 1999 with the retirement of the Redbird coaching legend who led Illinois State womens basketball teams to 461 wins in 28 seasons. Hutchison also is revered as a pioneer, not only for womens basketball, but for women in athletics.
"When I think about the words that describe coach Jill Hutchison and what she has done for this program, this university, and this community, I think of words such as leader, driven, committed, compassionate, caring, disciplined, said Pingeton. Those are all words that could describe Taren O'Brien. There is no doubt in my mind that she is going to rally the troops and put this team on her shoulders. Taren is going to play an integral part in our turnaround."
OBrien is the third player to be recognized as the Jill Hutchison scholar, joining former teammates Kristi Larson and Steph Reichle. She appreciates the honor of being identified with Hutchison.
I feel very honored, said OBrien. She is such a respected person at Illinois State and in college basketball, its really an honor to be selected for this. Its a challenge to live up to high standards, but Ive been challenged ever since I came to Illinois State. I think this is another opportunity for me and I appreciate being selected.
As a sophomore, the communications studies major joined Redbird legends Cathy Boswell and Jenny Schmidt as just the third player in Illinois State history to lead her team in scoring and assists in the same season. OBrien again led the Birds in assists as a junior in 2002-03.
The Jill Hutchison Endowed Scholarship is one of 12 endowed scholarships available to Illinois State student-athletes funded by private donors. Six of them are already fully-funded, including the Jill Hutchison Endowed Scholarship.
For information about supporting Illinois State University endowments for student-athletes, call The Redbird Club office at (309) 438-3803.
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Jill Hutchison
Endowed Scholars
Illinois State University Basketball
2003 - Taren OBrien
2002 - Steph Reichle
2001 - Kristi Larson
