I find the dynamic of softball pitcher usage interesting in this.

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/40633634/ex-stanford-softball-ace-nijaree-canady-commits-texas-tech

the dollar amount isnt whats strange to me. its that its texas tech. ive never heard a single thing about the softball program, until now.

Serious Lee said:

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the dollar amount isnt whats strange to me. its that its texas tech. ive never heard a single thing about the softball program, until now.

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OU and tu are gone, so Tech's only competition is Okie Lt. tech was 8-16 in conference last year, but the whole rest of the conference was bad outside of the top 3. Tech could compete with Okie Lt for the Big 12 title next year.

Moving from Stanford to Tech. More money and easy-as-pie education. She couldn't turn that down. At the same time, if she had not grown up in Kansas she probably would not have been open to living in Lubbock. But it still took a million dollars to get her to move there.

I've stated this many times. Pay a stud pitcher and basically punch your ticket to Oklahoma City.

Hill08 said:

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I've stated this many times. Pay a stud pitcher and basically punch your ticket to Oklahoma City.

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We will see. I don't see that working for Tech this season.

The donors are paying for wins. The strategy is clear and understandable. The NCAA is helpless to fix it due to the recent settlement and repeat rulings against them plus shifts in state law.

It will be interesting if she is able to do enough by herself. I don't think it is an unreasonable thing to attempt but given OU there are no guarantees it works.

Softball pitcher dad here...

What y'all are saying is somewhat true, but softball pitches cannot pitch every game. Just like in baseball, they typically will pitch one game out of a weekend three game series. The mechanics if done correctly do not stress the arm as much, but fatigue is a real factor. That being said, playoffs are playoffs so you will see girls pitch on pretty short rest, and sometimes yes, even back to back games.

My girl is excited to get to see Nijaree in person. She was a lot of fun to watch last year.

To be clear I said start. I'll note that the fatigue is real but the physical stress is moderated by the underhand motion so the baseball model doesn't directly apply. And this a truly unusual fast pitch pitcher who can handle the mental burden as well as the physical stress add fatigue. We have had a couple of those in the past. Not sure about Tech.

Ive wondered what a professional baseball pitcher could do with a soft ball delivery. It's so much better for shoulder and arm mechanics. If a pitcher could adopt that deliver, get movement on the ball, and do so in the upper 80's... Dunno. Seeing so many arm injuries anymore, the guys are going past the point of maximal biomechanics.

AggieBill005 said:

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Ive wondered what a professional baseball pitcher could do with a soft ball delivery. It's so much better for shoulder and arm mechanics. If a pitcher could adopt that deliver, get movement on the ball, and do so in the upper 80's... Dunno. Seeing so many arm injuries anymore, the guys are going past the point of maximal biomechanics.

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There has definitely been a movement to having more pitchers sharing the load than there was two decades ago. The top two teams, OU and t.u., had their most used pitchers throwing only 38% and 32% of their innings. Neither of those teams had a pitcher with an ERA in the top 50 in the nation, but their team ERAs were 10th & 12th because they had multiple good pitchers. Even for us last year, there were times where it really felt like we needed another top pitcher in additional to Kennedy to give her some rest.

There are still those pitchers that do carry the load for their team. Rothrock for Florida pitched 60% of their innings. Canady pitched 51%. Kennedy pitched 53% for us. 1 elite pitcher will still get you quite a ways in softball, but the two teams in the championship game also scored the 2nd and 3rd most runs in the nation. It isn't as pitcher dominated of a game as it was back when Cat was playing.


I would image her workload at Tech will be similar to how much she was throwing at Stanford. It might be enough to get Tech to the WCWS, but it isn't as much of a sure thing as it used to be.

Cat Osterman was a rare talent. Like I said, fatigue is the issue. Most of the season, your top pitchers will pitch one game in the series. You will see sometimes they'll pitch game 1 and 3, but coaches in softball manage how much they pitch, but again, fatigue is the issue. If you have a rare kid who just can keep it going, it is not going to hurt them like it would in baseball.

Serious Lee said:

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the dollar amount isnt whats strange to me. its that its texas tech. ive never heard a single thing about the softball program, until now.

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def is to me when you consider it's over double the annual revenue of most softball programs

Get the cash good for her

Imagine a player making more money in college than pro.

the Lubbock animal shelter didn't need a $1 MM donation?

There is something perverse about a system where a sport at the school where the school/athletic department is losing $1 million a year, yet a booster is paying a single player on that team $1.2M per season that isn't even considered in that overall loss position of the school. This isn't a Texas Tech issue. The college sports model is just completely corrupted with some costs on the school's books and other cost not on the school's books. Of course, this is "NIL" and not pay to play.

I call BS on this. Liucci said that would be more than the entire baseball team NIL was last year. And he said that was a baseball team with one of the 3 best rosters in college baseball and it didn't cost that much total. This sounds like the softball sliced bread.

Quote:

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Softball generated $1.38 million, but that includes the Sellers' $1 million donation, and after expenses still posted a $1.15 million deficit. (In fiscal year 2022, softball generated just over $340,000 and operated at a deficit of $1.44 million.) Glasco's new coaching contract reportedly will pay him $1.33 million over five years, including $250,000 next season.

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Also, crazy numbers to see here. A softball program, 2 years in a row, outside of donations, generates $300K.

And you are paying a player 4x what her coach makes, which is like 3x the revenue the entire program has earned the past couple years.

That's wild.

I mean, I know it happens in pro sports at all levels. And we all know that plenty of coaches make more than their "boss" AD. But that's bonkers.

20ag07 said:

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Quote:

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Softball generated $1.38 million, but that includes the Sellers' $1 million donation, and after expenses still posted a $1.15 million deficit. (In fiscal year 2022, softball generated just over $340,000 and operated at a deficit of $1.44 million.) Glasco's new coaching contract reportedly will pay him $1.33 million over five years, including $250,000 next season.

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Also, crazy numbers to see here. A softball program, 2 years in a row, outside of donations, generates $300K.

And you are paying a player 4x what her coach makes, which is like 3x the revenue the entire program has earned the past couple years.

That's wild.

I mean, I know it happens in pro sports at all levels. And we all know that plenty of coaches make more than their "boss" AD. But that's bonkers.

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The school is not paying her. John and Tracy Sellers are. People over pay for crap all the time just because they want something and they have the money to blow. Even before the new coach, Tech was paying their players $10k each. A sport like softball only needs one super wealthy benefactor who is willing to turn it into their personal pet project. Oklahoma has Judy Love (worth $11 billion) bankrolling their whole operation and clearly it shows what an impact that can have.

Great for her. Get the bag

Tracy played softball for Tech, and she and John started the Matador NIL collective for Tech. As strange as it sounds, making this deal is proof of commitment for the collective. If you're a billionaire and have a chance to sign the top softball pitcher in the nation for a million and you're the head of your school collective, you have to make the deal.