What better way to manage the high expectations for the 2014 season than by bringing back one of the best players in DePaul history as an assistant coach?

Lindsay Chouinard, former three-time, All-American pitcher for the Blue Demons, has returned to DePaul as an assistant coach after five seasons as head coach of Northern Illinois.

“DePaul is like a second home to me, I feel like I grew up here,” Chouinard said. “When Eug (Head Coach Eugene Lenti) called me there were no doubts that I was going to come back. This place is very special to me.”

Chouinard played for the Blue Demons from 2000-2003, helping deliver them to the 2000 College World Series and breaking the DePaul career records for runs allowed, earned-run average and shutouts, among others. She was an assistant coach previously for the Blue Demons from 2005- 2007, before taking the headcoaching job at Northern Illinois in 2008.

Head coach Eugene Lenti is very pleased that Chouinard is back as an assistant head coach.

“The nice thing about having Lindsay around is that she and I have the same philosophy when it comes to pitching and defense,” Lenti said. “”Lindsay and I believe in the same things about making pitching and defense the priority.” According to Chouinard, she and Lenti will work together on pitch calling and everything that has to do with setting up the defense.

“We’re a very ‘pitch-to-contact’ type of program,” she said. “We want the defense to be involved. It’s something I did when I was a player and a coach here so it was easy to get back on the same page.”

Since being hired back in July 2013, Chouinard has already started to work with the team during the offseason. She says that one of the things she hopes to bring to the team is an understanding of the history of DePaul and how the program has been built from a softball standpoint.

“We really wanted to get back to the roots of what made us great in the first place,” she said. “The kids have been amazing and they’ve really bought in to how it translates.”

Chouinard also said that being hired so early in the offseason has given her time to mesh with the team and to work with them.

“It was great that I was able to come back right away and that I was able to go with them overseas when they took their trip in August,” she said. “I got to bond with the upperclassmen early on and I’ve been able to get to know them too and figure out what’s going to make them successful.”

Senior pitcher Kirsten Verdun has been working with Chouinard this offseason and said that she has done a great job of fitting in with the team.

“She’s done a really good job of stepping in,” Verdun said. “She’s been great with all of the pitchers and we love her.”

After working with her the entire offseason, Verdun said that everyone is on the same page now. “We only had a week this summer when we were in Europe to really get to know her, but now we’re on the same page and we know how she calls pitches and her game plan,” Verdun noted.