LANCASTER – As a head coach of field hockey and softball at Lancaster, Allie Kinniard has had ultra-success, especially with the Lady Gales’ softball team.
In three years, she has compiled an overall record of 75-12, including this past season when she led Lancaster to a 28-4 mark, a third straight Ohio Capital Conference title, and the Gales won the Central District Division I district championship for the second time in the last three years. She also led the Fairfield Union softball team to a Final Four berth in 2018.
Kinniard coaches her players hard, but she also understands building a solid relationship with her players is a big part of the success her teams have enjoyed.
Kinniard was an outstanding three-sport athlete who graduated from Sheridan High School in 1998, and her wonderful high school experience led her into coaching.
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Here is our conversation:
Question: Where did you go to high school, did you play sports, and what was that experience like?
Allison Kinniard: I went to Sheridan High School, and I played volleyball, basketball and softball. I was lucky enough to have great coaches like Sue Harrison. She was my coach in volleyball and softball during my freshman year. She was a tough coach, but she prepared us, and we had successful seasons. In my freshman year in volleyball and softball, we went to the final four in both sports. It was a great experience in my first year in high school. She was a coach that expected the best out of us and we knew we would have to work hard, but we also saw results, so it was good. I just think It prepared me a lot for how I wanted to be coached, be a coach, and just what I wanted to get out of it.
Q: What positions did you play in sports and were you an outstanding athlete or someone who had to grind?
Kinniard: I was an average athlete. Most of the people who played volleyball played basketball and softball. We were a close-knit group. We excelled because a lot of us who were average athletes worked really hard. I played club volleyball, played AAU basketball and did travel softball, but it wasn’t to the point like it is now. We played close to home in Indiana, Michigan.
Q: Did you play sports in college?
Kinniard: I played softball at Ohio University, and I was a middle infielder. In high school, I played catcher, third base, shortstop, and pretty much whatever they needed me to do. College is a different animal. You might be a good athlete in high school, but in college, everybody is a good athlete. I was an eye-opening transition for me. I was back and forth on whether I wanted to play in college.
Q: What are some of the lessons you learned playing sports?
Kinniard: Definitely, learning how to get along with different groups of people learning to cooperate with different groups of people, and knowing that it is okay to fail sometimes. To get better, you have to fail to see how you can grow and learn, not only as an athlete but as a person. I also think a lot of times in sports, it prepared me for being responsible and being good at time management. I coach two varsity sports, so I have to be organized and good at managing my time. Accountability, time management, and responsibility, all those things were huge growing up playing sports.
Q: Did you always want to be a coach?
Kinniard: When I got my job at Lancaster to teach, I was coaching junior high volleyball and assistant varsity softball coach. It was never a situation where I thought I wanted to be a head coach. It kind of grew when I decided that I liked it. I enjoy being around the girls, and it’s sad when they leave, but it is cool to see them grow into young adults.
Q: Who were some of the biggest influences on you growing up that have made you the person you are today?
Kinniard: Coaching-wise, Miss Harrison was a huge factor. After she left, Mark Paxton was my coach in basketball and softball, and I think a lot of me being tough-nosed, and not letting a lot of things get under my skin, came from him. He coached us hard, and if we made a mistake, he called us out and he let us know that we were going to fix it and get better, so that was a big influence. Sheridan football coach Paul Culver had a big influence on me. I was good friends with one of his sons so I was around his program and just seeing the relationship he had with a lot of the players and his students, made me think maybe I want to be a coach and a teacher.
Q: Being an assistant coach is one thing, but being a head coach is a whole different deal because there is so much more responsibility. What do you think you have learned the most from when you first became a head coach to now?
Kinniard: I learn things every day, whether it be from my assistants, other coaches, or different generations of girls we have. Our athletes are changing. They are not the same athletes they were when I started at all. Just adapting and being able to see them for who they are today is a big part of evolving as a coach. You can’t coach kids the same way you did 10 years ago. Kids are changing, and a lot of my athletes play multiple sports, so I have to be flexible. I am constantly taking things from other coaches in field hockey and softball.
Q: As a head coach, how big is it in today’s world building relationships with your players, and by that, I mean showing them how much you care about them more than just players?
Kinniard: I honestly think that is, besides having good leaders in your program, I think that is the most important thing to having a successful program because if the kids do not like being around you and they don’t enjoy being there, they will only show up when it is mandatory. They won’t come to extra things and they won’t have a very good team chemistry. You have to have players who truly like being around each other, and that starts at the top. I just think it is important that players know that we see them as a person before we see them as a players. If they don’t trust us and they don’t feel comfortable coming to us if there is a problem, then you have a disconnect.
Q: You took Fairfield Union to the final four in 2018, your success at Lancaster is as good as it gets, you have won four straight Ohio Capital Conference championships and two regional runner-up finishes. You have been so close. What do you feel you need to do to take that next step?
Kinniard: Honestly, when it comes to getting over that jump and reaching the state tournament, I think it is more of a mental barrier than it is a physical thing. I thought we matched up physicality with Watkins Memorial. It is more of a thing where can I get that clutch hit at a critical moment. I think Watkins has had our number the last four years, and I think it is just finding a way to gain the confidence of getting over that barrier and hopefully getting it done in the next couple of years. Talent-wide, we are capable of taking the next step, and we have to know that we belong there.
Q: Last thing, I ask everyone this question. Tell me something about yourself that people may not know about you.
Kinniard: Something a lot of people may not know is that I love to travel in my spare time. We have a bucket list of all these places we want to go, and we try to visit so many different places around the world, whether it be snow skiing or going to the Caribbean. We try to travel as much as we can when we have some downtime in the summer and winter. I just love going on trips and seeing different parts of the world.
Tom Wilson is a sports reporter for the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. Contact him at 740-689-5150 or via email at twilson@gannett.com for comments or story tips. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @twil2323.
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