There's more to how Gerry Glasco turned Texas Tech into a softball power than NIL

New York Times

5 days ago

Editor's note: This article is part of the Program Builders series, focusing on the behind-the-scenes executives and people fueling the future growth of their sports.
When Gerry Glasco got to Texas Tech, the 66-year-old softball coach realized quickly that some of the hype he'd been hearing didn't match reality.
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Glasco came from Louisiana after seven seasons building the Rajin' Cajuns into a perennial Top 25 team out of the Sun Belt Conference. He arrived late in June 2024 in Lubbock hearing whispers about how the Red Raiders were on the upswing, he recalled to The Athletic. Then he checked the numbers.
'They had no pitching coming back but really, they had no pitching anyway,' Glasco said, referencing Tech's conference-worst 6.13 ERA in 2024. 'In 2024, the three big teams in Big 12 conference play were Texas, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma — Tech had gotten outscored a combined 133-21 by those teams over 10 games. I was like, 'This program isn't on the upswing, this program is bad.' I knew right off the bat, we'd have to make major changes.'
He decided if he was going to build a winner, the most important piece was transparency. As in, he was going to tell players the truth — about what they were good at and what they weren't, about how their skills fit into his program (or didn't) and what he expected out of them.
He told them another truth, too: They could win here, he said, and win a lot.
In fact, they could be a Top 25 program. And it started in practice.
'I record everything, and everything is documented,' Glasco said. 'There's a winner and a loser in every batting practice, we keep stats in scrimmages. If we're working on throwing from the outfield to home, I've got a radar gun out and I know who has the strongest arm, the second strongest arm. The kids that win those contests, they're in the starting lineup.'
The Red Raiders scored a transfer portal coup just one month into Glasco's tenure when NiJaree Canady, one of the top pitchers in the country, left Stanford for Texas Tech.
When Glasco was interviewing for the job, the school dangled the prospect of big-time booster money for softball via The Matador Club, Tech's loaded NIL collective,'if Tech hired the right person.' The so-called 'million dollar arm,' Canady's staggering NIL deal generated buzz in and outside of college sports.
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'I really believe that if we hadn't signed NiJa, we could still have been a Top 25 team by the end of the year,' Glasco said. 'But with NiJa, I knew we'd elevate beyond that. She's a difference-maker — but you still have to have a team to win. And one of the biggest things was, we couldn't hit, we didn't know how to put the ball in play.'
Glasco described the first few weeks of roster building as 'a mad scramble.' Because he was hired so late in the softball cycle, many of the athletes who'd entered the transfer portal, athletes he'd have been interested in pursuing, had already committed to other schools. But with his departure and the ensuing coaching change at Louisiana, athletes there were granted a 30-day window outside the typical transfer timeline to explore switching schools.
Tech players also had the option to leave. Glasco got on the phone to every Red Raiders player who had eligibility left 'to try to get an idea of who wants to come back, tell them what the program will look like and what I'd try to turn it into. I painted a very black and white picture. I wanted to make sure everybody understood to expect wholesale changes, because I wanna win, and Tech wasn't doing that.'
In the end, five Louisiana players followed Glasco to Tech, while 12 he inherited opted to leave Lubbock. When the Red Raiders opened the 2025 season, they had only three returners.
'That was probably a big advantage,' Glasco said, 'because we got to build from the ground up exactly how we wanted.'
It worked, too. Behind Canady, Tech won a program-best 54 games, won its first-ever Big 12 title, hosted its first NCAA regional, won its first Super Regional and competed in its first-ever Women's College World Series, where the Red Raiders lost to Texas in the championship series, 2-1.
They accomplished all that partially because they learned how to hit. In Tech's second game of the season, the Red Raiders lost 3-1 to Mississippi State. By the end of the season, when they met the Rebels in a Regional rematch, their offense was humming. Tech piled up 19 runs over two games, eliminating MSU on its way to the Super Regional.
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And while Tech's pitching with Canady got most the headlines, it was the gutsy decision to steal home against UCLA in the Red Raiders' second WCWS game that was maybe the best play of the softball postseason, more proof that they're not merely a contender because of who's in the circle.
Glasco is adamant that all the success Tech experienced in 2025 came from his foundation of transparency.
He's honest with players about if they can help the team win. But he's also honest when he tells them that he welcomes feisty competitors who might push back on his decisions.
'My attitude is, if you think you're missing in the lineup, come tell me and we'll have a hitting contest. I'll see who can hit off NiJa,' he said with a laugh. 'If you think you should start at third base over someone else, we'll battle it out at practice. I like when kids challenge it.
'The only thing I care about is winning, and the players have to know that. If they're not playing, it's not 'cause 'he doesn't like me or my personality' or 'he only likes left-handed hitters.' You make sure your players know, on a weekly basis, where they stand.'
He also has no issue with players who want more opportunities leaving to find them. Part of building a program, he acknowledged, is knowing when the right pieces aren't in the room. After Tech returned from the WCWS in Oklahoma City, five players immediately decided to transfer.
'But they were the best teammates, phenomenal teammates,' Glasco said. 'They knew they weren't going to play, and that was before we added seven kids out of the portal. I like my practices to be hard. When you go through a 100-day season, you're exhausted at the end, and you don't want to go through that if you're not a starter. They want to go somewhere and play and have fun — I don't blame them.'
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Interestingly, even with significant roster turnover, Glasco didn't spend much time last summer stressing about how to build camaraderie. He won't this summer, either.
'I try to create a culture of competitiveness, and those kids that win our contests, they're in the starting lineup. The way we run our practices, that chemistry takes care of itself — it's hard to rally around someone getting beat all the time.'
Glasco said he'll carry that same attitude into 2026 and beyond. The Red Raiders return Canady and offseason additions include All-American third baseman Taylor Pannell, who spent her first two years at Tennessee.
Canady said after losing the championship series to Texas that she was confident the Red Raiders' run in 2025 was 'just going to make us better,' adding that so many players getting major postseason experience is 'just setting us up for next year.'
Though there is new oversight that has at least temporarily changed how collectives can entice athletes financially, Tech has made it clear it intends to compete in softball.
Some wonder if Tech's magical run to the title could get other schools interested in building programs, too.
'NiJa going to that school changed the trajectory of that softball program forever,' said retired UCLA coach Sue Enquist, who led the Bruins to 11 NCAA championships as a player and coach. 'The question now is, is it sustainable? I'm hoping that not only donors at Texas Tech, but donors at every school are saying, 'Dang, maybe we better do a double take and look at women's sports, because they're a good investment.''
Program Builders is part of a partnership with Range Rover Sport. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
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