The Morning Commute for Wednesday, May 28th
Welcome to the Morning Commute
Today we’re talking about my weekly observation around the topic of NIL.
For this one, we move to the sport of – softball?
Yes, it just so happens that NIL can take front and center in just about any sport now, and college softball saw a very interesting development take place recently, as Texas Tech reached its first-ever Women’s College World Series after breezing undefeated through both regionals and super regionals, outscoring opponents by a 30-8 margin over five total games.
So, why is this scenario interesting and how does it relate to NIL, you ask?
Well, the Red Raiders are a litmus test of the theory that you can buy a championship now at the college level, thanks to the advent of NIL.
You see, Texas Tech has perennially been a mid-to-meh program. Prior to 2025, they had only reached the NCAA Tournament six times in their history. Not the WCWS, the actual 64-team tournament. They’d never even advanced to Super Regionals prior to this year. So what was the difference?
They brought the bag, man.
This offseason, Texas Tech convinced standout pitcher NiJaree Canady (considered by many to be the best player in the game) to transfer from Stanford and pitch in Lubbock. They paid her a $1.05 million NIL package to leave Stanford, where each of the past two seasons, she had led the Cardinal to the Women’s College World Series.
In 2025, all Canady did was amass a 30-5 record with a nation’s best 0.89 ERA, with two saves added in for good measure. Oh, by the way, she also hits, and managed a solid .312 batting average with a team-best 11 home runs. Tech went 50-12 this season.
This is a program that didn’t even have a softball team until 1996 when the school joined the Big 12 Conference. Naturally, they were building from the ground up and were awful for quite some time, but the truth of the matter is, this program has always been an afterthought at best. In the 29 previous years of Big 12 play, their overall record was 782-804-1 overall (.493 winning percentage) and just 155-346 (.309) in Big 12 play. They went 20-4 this year in league play and won their first-ever conference title.
In last weekend’s Super Regionals, where Tech played at longtime powerhouse Florida State, Canady was brilliant. She made every pitch of the two games (won by Texas Tech 3-0 and 2-1), holding FSU hitters to a measly .102 average (5-of-49). She also homered at the plate once to give a little bit of self love in the process.
We’ll see how the Red Raiders react to the biggest stage of all this week in Oklahoma City, where they will face off Thursday night against Ole Miss in their first-ever WCWS game. Their stud pitcher won’t be new to the surroundings, of course, and that’s exactly what Texas Tech gambled on.
So far, it’s a gamble that’s paid off handsomely.
Whether you like the concept or not, the Red Raiders have played the NIL game and played it well. It will be interesting to see if other programs follow suit in this manner.
Yesterday at Rock M and Rock M+
On paper, Missouri should beat this team 8 or 9 times out of 10. Especially at home. But when does this game fall on the schedule? Oh… right after historical arch rival kansas and right before actual real current rival South Carolina? Oh…
So while Nate won’t go quite so far as to call this one a “trap game” he is right to raise the warning flag that if the Tigers aren’t dialed in, they could get all they want from ULL, who did win 10 games last season…
After an impressive performance at the NBA Draft combine, Bates is rising up on the mock draft projections…
Bates gave a ton of high praise to Dennis Gates and his coaching staff at Mizzou for getting him prepared to show out like he has in the lead-up to the draft…
- Over at Rock M+: Join in on our football, basketball, and Olympic Sports content and discussion…
Rock M Radio: Dive Cuts Evaluates the Men’s Hoops Roster
Subscribe to Rock M Radio on Apple Podcasts. Or stream episodes through Megaphone or Spotify. Have a question for us? Leave a 5-star review with your question and that show just might answer it in an upcoming episode!
If you like Rock M Radio drop us a Review and be sure to subscribe on your preferred podcasting platform. Follow @RockMRadio on Twitter and if you heaven’t already head over to our YouTube channel and click that subscribe button!
(** RockMNation has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though RockMNation may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.**)