Being named Team USA, Olympic head coach another 'wow' moment for OU's Patty Gasso

OKLAHOMA CITY – OU softball head coach Patty Gasso and her program have had plenty of incredible moments at Devon Park.

But Tuesday? That definitely felt different. Because now we’re going beyond OU, beyond college softball. Gasso, the coach of the eight-time national champions and four-time defending champs, was named the Team USA head coach last week for the next four years. Yes, that includes the 2028 Olympics.

The Olympics are in Los Angeles, but it’s been proposed that softball is contested in OKC right at Devon Park.

Gasso finally had a chance to address what all of this means Tuesday afternoon in Oklahoma City.

OU, Team USA Head Coach Patty Gasso

A wow moment right here, right now. A lot of familiar faces. Thank you all for coming out. This moment is truly special in my career, and it feels like a dream come true to be appointed as a coach of Team USA. There’s a lot of responsibility to that, and I honor all the coaches in the past and watched their work from afar, and to be handed the baton means a lot to me.

Being chosen for this role is the highest honor a coach could ever receive, and I am both humbled and grateful for the confidence that USA softball has in me. My goal is to make Team USA the best it can be during my tenure, and I firmly believe that we will put in – I don’t firmly believe, I know we will put in the hard work necessary to earn a gold medal in L.A. 28 and that has been the goal for since the Olympics has been a part of softball.

I was able to attend the first USA Olympic Games in Atlanta, and I was just a very young coach at OU and I watched that, and watched Dot Richardson just celebrating like crazy, and it was some really amazing moments, and I felt so honored to be there. But never in a million years would I tell you that I thought that I would be sitting here right now.

I just always kind of stayed in the background until I thought it might be the right time for me. So I’m really excited to get started, especially with the Pan American championships in Colombia and the World Games in China. We hope to take our first steps in that journey. The style that I have at OU is going to be tweaked a little bit, because these are seasoned veterans and women. So it’s going to be a collaboration together of how we’re going to work.

Some things are going to be introduced that I think a lot of the athletes have not been able to work with, and that is the analytic side and body tendencies and things that they have not maybe seen before is going to change their approach towards what we’re doing. So I’m really excited about that. So there’s so much to accomplish between now and our first event, including coordinating schedules and selecting the coaches who are going to be part of the program over the next four years. So I look forward to getting to know the athletes.

And what’s really, really important for me is to create a culture where we all can exist. And I know everyone is fighting in America to be one of 15, and the process is going to be tough, but it’s going to be fair, the culture is going to be elite. And if the culture is not elite, then changes are going to be made, but you’ve got to have 15. I really think that when we have a group of 32, the culture will feel and look different, and that is that we are going to applaud each other. We’re going to connect with each other.

I’m going to be watching them like sisters, yet I’m the older sister. They’re the younger sisters that stand out. I’m also passionate about generating finances for these athletes. They give up their career to celebrate the United States, and the goal and dream of every little girl is to be an Olympian and to think about the millions of softball players and travel ball kids around the around the nation. And narrowing that to 15 seems like an impossible feat, but we will find the right 15 that fit that can get the job done.

But financial support for our athletes and creating a program that enables fans to contribute to the success over the last four years is really important. And so not only do I want to really push these athletes to the point of excellence, but I want to do everything I can to help them financially, not feel like they’re giving up their world and struggling. They deserve this, and I’ll fight for that, and we can get it done.

It really does mean a lot that you’re here and ready to support this. And the idea that potentially – is that the right word – proposed opportunity for Oklahoma City to be hosting two Olympic events is off the charts, and that alone gives me goosebumps to know.

I know a lot of the athletes wanted it in LA, and I understand that completely, but this is going to be a first-class event all the way around it is going to change the city and hopefully change the state, and ultimately change the way USA is looked at in softball.