Texas Tech bought a softball superpower — and doesn’t care who hates them for it

Every sport needs a villain and Texas Tech softball is more than happy to assume the role.

After falling short in the program’s first national championship series last season, Texas Tech head coach Gerry Glasco used an infusion of NIL money to assemble the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation around ace NiJaree Canady, the first softball player to sign a seven-figure deal. The reloaded Red Raiders are back into the Women’s College World Series finals with a roster made up of 15 transfers.

Glasco's approach to roster-building has proved successful, but has not come without controversy.

"If softball needs me to be the villain, I'm all about it. Let's go. It's fun. I embrace that role," Glasco said on Wednesday. "It's confusing because we're doing things that maybe never been done before or at least not been done in a similar fashion."

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The Gerry Glasco effect

When Glasco interviewed for the Texas Tech job two years ago, the university's athletic program stressed it wanted to become a national power. But Glasco said Texas Tech "backed it up from the day I got on campus" and provided resources to build a championship contender overnight.

Armed by the Matador Club, a nonprofit NIL collective for Texas Tech athletes, Glasco brought in top transfer after top transfer in his two seasons including Kaitlyn Terry, Mia Williams, Taylor Pannell and Jackie Lis this season alone.

"I feel like everyone talks about wanting to grow softball and wanting more eyes on softball, wanting people to watch softball and wanting just female sports to be as big as male sports," Canady said. "At the end of the day, transfers happen in male and female sports, so if you want the game to grow, this comes with it."

Transfers are part of the evolving NIL landscape in college, but some of the Texas Tech's recruiting methods have been called into question. Less than one day after Pannell announced her decision to transfer from Tennessee to Texas Tech last June, Lady Vols head coach Karen Weekly responded on social media.

"I think we can all agree on (two) things: 1) women making money in sports is awesome and long overdue; 2) contacting players (directly or indirectly) before their season ends and signing them to NIL deals before they enter the portal is wrong. Money isn’t the issue — tampering is!" Weekly wrote on X on June 13, 2025.

Glasco doesn't concern himself with the opinions outside opinions. He stays off social media and instead focuses on his team because that's "the only thing that matters," he said. It's a mentality that's trickled down.

"The town of Lubbock has embraced our program, and it's crazy the support we're getting," Glasco said. "I was laughing yesterday, like we're the villains of America. I'm telling you, we're the Cinderella of Lubbock, Texas. They love us in Lubbock, Texas. We're right there with Buddy Holly right now."

Canady added, "Sometimes it feels like it's us against the world, and (the fans) always have our back. So it just makes us want to win for them."

'We can't control what people say about us'

Texas Tech's path to its second-consecutive run to the WCWs finals has featured several run-ins between its transfers and their former squads, which has generated headlines off the field.

Florida didn't shake hands with Texas Tech after the 2026 NCAA Softball Gainesville Super Regional after Mia Williams was hit five times by her former team across three games. Taylor Pannell was allegedly involved in a verbal spat with former head coach Karen Weekly following Texas Tech's loss to Tennessee in the WCWS.

"We were walking through the (handshake) line just saying 'good game,' and (Weekly) said that I made a mistake instead of saying 'good game,' which is kind of crazy," Pannell said after Texas Tech's 2-1 loss to Tennessee on May 30. "Like celebrate with your team. I just think it's funny she's still thinking about it. It's old news. Whatever."

Weekly's recollection of events countered Pannell, saying she told her former player, "Good game, like I say to every player." Video footage provided by ESPN appeared to back up Weekly's account, although Pannell did appear to react to something after the handshake line dispersed.

Terry said the mischaracterizations and narratives surrounding their team don't "define us." Instead, it fuels them. After dropping into the losers' bracket following the loss to Tennessee, Texas Tech rattled off a 8-7 win over UCLA (Terry's former team) in extra innings and defeated Alabama twice in a double-header to advance.

"Looking at us as like villains, it's just something ... I kind of also figured walking into Texas Tech," Terry said. "Like the way we play or what does happen, we're all playing softball at the end of the day. It doesn't matter what team you're on or anything that happens outside of that."

Jackie Lis added, "We can't control what people are going to say about us. They don't know our journeys like I do and the rest of the team does. We know why we're here, what we're supposed to do here, so we try to control that side of things and not really focus on what everybody else might think of us."

Rivalries, bad blood and lore are paramount to growing any sport. Think Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and women's basketball, for example. The 2026 WCWS, which begins with Game 1 Wednesday in Oklahoma City, has had a similar effect for softball as the Texas Tech-Texas rivalry braces for another installment.

"I just feel like it gets more eyes on softball, and at the end of the day, I feel like that's what everyone wants," Canady said. "I feel like the best way to go out as a senior ... is to win national championship in general, no matter who we're playing."

Williams called transferring to Texas Tech "one of the best decisions" she made. Terry added, "Coach Glasco has been the best coach that I've ever played for. ... This is a big reason why we all came here. Like we said, job's not finished."

Reach USA TODAY National Women’s Sports Reporter Cydney Henderson at [email protected] and follow her on X at@CydHenderson.

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