Oklahoma’s Patty Gasso Selected as USA Softball Women’s National Team Head Coach
By OU Media Relations
NORMAN — University of Oklahoma head softball coach Patty Gasso was named USA Softball Women’s National Team (WNT) head coach, USA Softball announced Monday. Gasso was selected by the USA Softball Selection Review panel and will lead the U.S. Olympic Team through the 2025-28 quadrennial cycle, which includes the LA28 Olympic Games.
“It is truly a remarkable moment in my career and a dream come true to be asked to coach Team USA,” said Gasso, who becomes the seventh female head coach of the WNT. “This is the highest honor I could ever receive, and I’m humbled by and thankful for the confidence USA Softball has in me. I have an intense passion to make Team USA the best it can be to help win the gold medal in 2028.”
Gasso has been involved with the USA Softball Women’s National Team program since 2018, coaching the U.S. Women’s Elite Team during the World Cup of Softball. She also contributed to numerous USA Softball training camps and selection trials, further demonstrating her commitment to fostering excellence within the sport and contributing to the development of aspiring athletes.
A National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee, Gasso starts her 31st season as the head coach of the OU softball program this week. In 2024 she led the Sooners to a record-setting fourth straight national championship, which served as OU’s eighth under her direction in 17 trips to the Women’s College World Series. Gasso owns a 1,515-352-2 record at Oklahoma and is the Big 12 Conference’s all-time winningest coach in any sport. Her OU teams have won 15 regular season and nine postseason league titles.
“USA Softball is proud to announce that Coach Gasso will lead our Women’s National Team for the 2025-2028 quad,” said Craig Cress, Chief Executive Officer of USA Softball. “Throughout her career, Coach Gasso has made a significant impact on the softball community and has greatly contributed to the development of the sport. We are confident that her skills, knowledge, and experience will enhance our program and we look forward to supporting Coach Gasso and the Women’s National Team as they strive to represent the U.S. with pride on the highest stage in the coming years.”
At OU, Gasso has produced 84 All-Americans, 153 all-region honorees and 201 all-conference picks, as well as 16 Big 12 Player of the Year honorees and nine Big 12 Pitcher of the Year selections. The on-field success has translated to the classroom under Gasso, as the Sooners have been honored with 180 academic all-conference and 23 Academic All-America selections under her direction.
Gasso’s Sooners opens the 2025 season this Thursday when they play against CSUN in San Diego, Calif., at 5:30 p.m. CT.
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John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers.
During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more.
In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide.
John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools.
Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national “Beat Writer of the Year” from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma’s “Best Sports Column” from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two “Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting” Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association.
John holds a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK.
Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.
