Timing is right for Patty Gasso, Team USA

OKLAHOMA CITY – As she’s gotten older, OU softball head coach Patty Gasso has freely admitted she has been able to soak things in a lot more.

She has been able to appreciate the moment, appreciate how far the sport of softball has come at OU and across the country.

Tuesday’s event at Devon Park, though, is that next level. Nothing can ever compare or go beyond Team USA and the Olympics.

It was announced last week Gasso will be the head coach for Team USA during this next four-year stint, including the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

For a sport that wasn’t included in that last Olympics, perfect set of events for Gasso to bring it back and try to bring the gold medal back to the USA.

“I kind of felt that, but I never, I just don’t know that I ever envision myself as being that coach back then,” said Gasso about thinking she might miss out on the chance. “Just because I had a family and I just didn’t think it was the right time. It was really heartbreaking for a lot of athletes, a lot of coaches. The goal is to make sure that never happens again. I don’t know how that works, but however I can help, I will.”

It’s time to bring a little OU flavor to the national stage. There will be some tweaks, obviously, but you don’t fix what’s not broken. And OU softball is far, far from broken. Gasso has led the Sooners to eight national championships, and of course, are the four-time defending national champions right now.

No doubt there were a lot of candidates, qualified coaches. However, it kept coming back to Gasso, and USA was ready to make the call.

“Our Athletes Advisory Committee put together a list of potential candidates that they wanted us to talk to… And we reached out and had extensive interviews with several of them,” Team USA CEO Craig Cress said. “Coach Gasso did an amazing job of making me believe that she really wanted to do this. And I think that’s what it came down to, besides her amazing track record, it’s just the enthusiasm and the passion she has to do this.”

There is a lot of time, like a lot of time to start going through potential Olympians. Start wondering about the coaching staff, and Gasso knows she needs the elite of the elite. And she’s going to get the elite of the elite.

But Tuesday afternoon? Hey, just soak it all in. It is well-deserved. And the honors continue with Gasso now the first woman national head coach for Team USA.

“Another phenomenal honor to be the first woman to lead Team USA softball onto the field,” Gasso said. “I feel a little bit of pressure in that, but I want pressure, so it doesn’t bother me one bit. To be walking not in front of but behind these athletes when they walk through this these gates and onto the field is going to be probably the highlight of my career and my life in softball, which has been a long time, so I’m honored to represent women coaches who sometimes get overlooked. So this is a great honor for me, and I will do everything in my power to win that gold medal.”

It won’t be an easy process to get it down to 15 women to represent the stars and stripes. To attempt to bring back the gold medal and maybe even do it in Oklahoma City.

It has been proposed and feels like it might be probable at this point that the softball portion of the 2028 Olympics will happen at Devon Park and Oklahoma City.

Nobody is doubting that Gasso is the right call.

“This is so surreal, but she deserves it,” said former OU star Tiare Jennings, who was in attendance. “If anybody can get the job done, it’s Coach Gasso.”

Gasso remembers attending some events at 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. She was there in Atlanta in 1996 when softball entered the Olympics. A young head coach for the Sooners.

All these years later, she’s made it. The quest for the gold medal begins, with Gasso leading the way.

“Never in a million years would I tell you that I thought that I would be sitting here right now,” Gasso said. “This is a wow moment right here right now…. This moment is truly special in my career and it feels like a dream come true.

There’s a lot of responsibly to that and I honor all the coaches of the past and watched their work from afar. Being chosen for this role is the highest honor a coach could ever receive,” Gasso said. “I am both humbled and grateful for the confidence that USA Softball has in me.”