What’s going on in the Big 12 and beyond? I expand and explain every Sunday in Postscripts at Heartland College Sports, your home for independent Big 12 coverage.
This week, we’re talking big money and softball players, coaches are traveling and talking while the Big 12 is prepping for basketball.
The Canady Experiment
Name, Image and Likeness money flows through college athletics like blood through arteries these days. It’s reached the point where it’s hard to shock me.
Earlier this week, Texas Tech had a “hold my beer” moment in NIL.
NiJaree Canady is the USA Softball Player of the Year. When she announced her intention to transfer it was seismic. Stanford is a great program on its own merit. When a player like her hits the market one expects her to end up at Oklahoma or Oklahoma State or Texas.
Then the earth moved again. Canady’s decision to go to Lubbock was driven in part by a reported $1.2 million NIL agreement. We hear about those deals in football and basketball. But in softball? It’s earth-shattering.
Here’s why:
The Sporting News reported that the previous NIL high for a softball pitcher was $175,000.
Texas Tech’s new coach, Gerry Glasco, is one of the best in the business. His five-year contract is worth $1.33 million.
Softball’s highest-paid coach, rightly so, is Oklahoma’s Patty Gasso at a reported $1.625 million per year, according to Front Office Sports. She’s the only softball coach who will make more money than Canady this season. The second-highest-paid softball coach per year is Texas coach Mike White, who makes $625,000.
Stanford reportedly wanted to give her $350,000 in NIL earnings. That deal would have been the biggest in Stanford’s history.
It’s an incredible moment in NIL and in college softball. It’s an incredible moment for Canady. It’s an incredible moment for Texas Tech, which has been one of the best schools in the NIL space since it started. But this is its most indelible moment yet.
So what is Tech getting? A pitcher who went 24-7 with a 0.69 ERA and struck out 337 in 230 innings last season. She’s a game-changer. As the kids like to say, she is her.
And, now, Tech has her. It’s another example of the new era of college sports, one that is only going to get more expensive when revenue sharing hits, as expected, next year.
You Get on a Plane …
… and you meet a West Virginia fan from Wheeling. Here’s West Virginia women’s basketball coach Mark Kellogg talking about a recent recruiting trip back to Texas. Wouldn’t you know it? He runs into a WVU fan.
Eilert on the Big 12
Former WVU men’s basketball coach Josh Eilert got on camera to talk about the Big 12 with Utah athletics, where he is now an assistant coach.
Savvy hire by Utah, even if Eilert didn’t have much success at WVU as head coach. He knows the league, understands it and can help the Utes’ transition.
The Hornet’s Nest
Someone asked Penn State coach James Franklin about the season opener at West Virginia. Here’s what he said.
Can you imagine of WVU comes out of that non-conference stretch at 3-0? Man, that would be something. By the way, I just about have myself talked into going to the Backyard Brawl.
Counting to 16
Earlier this week CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein reported that the Big 12 and the SEC would invite all 16 teams to their respective basketball tournaments.
That’s news to me for the SEC. But not for the Big 12. The conference actually announced all 16 teams would be coming to Kansas City for the tournament in March. Yep, like four months ago. I was there when the league announced it. I actually wrote about it in this space around that time. Heck, the league even announced it under-the-radar in February.
We don’t have a bracket yet. But I would expect to see three days of quadruple headers, followed by a fourth day of semifinal games and a fifth day with the championship game. I would also expect to see the top four seeds get double byes and the next four seeds get single byes. I imagine the same would hold true for the women.
So, welcome to the party, SEC. Happy to have you.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
