When they graduated from Providence and entered the softball coaching ranks in 1995, identical twin sisters Kate and Caryl Drohan knew they’d never coach together – unless Kate was a head coach and Caryl her assistant.
Now, just six years later, when Kate takes the field in her first season as Northwestern’s head softball coach, it should be no surprise that Caryl will be at her side as an assistant.
“We used to say to each other, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could coach together?'” recalled Kate, who officially took over for longtime NU coach Sharon Drysdale on June 1. “Now that Caryl is my assistant, the family joke is that I’ve always bossed her around, but at least now she’ll get paid for it.”
Caryl, an assistant at Hofstra for the past five years, agreed wholeheartedly with Kate’s characterization of their relationship. But that doesn’t mean the two are your typical twins.
“Kate likes to be in charge,” said Caryl, who is 23 minutes younger. “That’s how it was when we were growing up, because I’m more laid back.
“Our parents very consciously raised us to be unique individuals. We grew up in the same house and have the same values, but our personalities are very different.”
Once the fall season gets going, those differences should allow the Wildcats to make the distinction between the sisters without trouble.
“The players will be able to tell us apart because we are really different people,” Kate said. “Beyond physical appearance, we have contrasting personalities. Caryl is more outgoing and more of a risk taker than I am.”
But for now, the Drohans will have the squad and fans seeing double. After recently stopping by the softball office to see Caryl while Kate was on a recruiting trip, senior catcher and infielder Gretchen Barnes said she was startled by their physical similarities.
“When I first walked into the office, I wouldn’t have been able to tell them apart,” Barnes said. “They have many of the same mannerisms and talk the same. I had to remind myself that Kate was on the other side of the country.”
Barnes isn’t the only one that has had trouble. At the NU softball summer camp this week, junior pitcher Lauren Schwendimann had similar difficulties but noted that the two are different enough to lend the coaching staff diversified points of view.
“They have the same mannerisms and sound the same, but with time everyone will recognize the differences,” Schwendimann said. “Caryl has a slightly different perspective from her experience (with Hofstra) in New York, and they’ve been apart for five years. They’ve been working with different players.”
Kate said a few people have been concerned with her staff’s perceived homogeneous makeup, but argued that the criticism is unwarranted.
These twins, she said, won’t have many sisterly squabbles.
“People look at if from their own perspective and say, ‘What if I were coaching with my brother or sister? Boy, that would be terrible,'” Kate said. “But that’s not the way we are, and I’ve addressed this with the team. If Caryl and I fight, five minutes later we’ve already forgotten we even fought.”
Whenever family connections are involved in a hiring within the sports world or any other field, questions of favoritism are inevitably raised. Both women were quick to defend the integrity of the hiring process, but Caryl also made light of any suspicions.
“The position was opened up to the public, and we followed all the normal NU hiring procedures,” Caryl explained. “I guess you could say I had the right connections.”
Kate said she had Caryl at the top of her list the whole time – the younger sister was pegged for a job as early as May. But first, Kate wanted to see what kind of other applicants she would get.
In the end, however, there was no doubt who would make her ideal assistant.
“There were lots of candidates, but Caryl was by far the most qualified,” Kate said. “Hofstra has an excellent program, and she was recently promoted to associate head coach with the intention becoming head coach. I think they really wanted her to stick around.”
As for the upcoming season, the Drohans can barely contain their excitement. They relish the chance to take NU softball to the next level, especially after a disappointing season that saw the Cats miss the Big Ten tournament.
The bottom line, according to Kate, is that choosing Caryl was a beneficial hiring for everyone concerned.
“The advantage for NU softball lies in how we understand each other,” Kate said. “We share similar core values about the importance of loyalty and high standards of work ethic, but most of all we have a common vision for the future of NU softball.”
