The Morning Commute for Wednesday, June 4th
Welcome to the Morning Commute
Today we’re talking about softball and NIL.
Last week in this space, I opined about the intrigue us college sports fans were getting from the 2025 NCAA Softball Championship. Mainly due to the fact that Texas Tech – a perennial afterthought of a program – spent over $1 million in NIL packaging to bring the nation’s best pitcher and possibly overall player to their team from Stanford last offseason.
Surely, a school couldn’t simply buy their way into an NCAA title, could they?
Don’t look now, but Texas Tech is about to show it can be done, indeed.
As I detailed last week, the investment paid off handsomely as the Red Raiders not only advanced out of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history, they also reached their first-ever Women’s College World Series.
The feat has been achieved largely on the arm of their star purchase – er, I mean, transfer – pitcher NiJaree Canady, who has pitched virtually every out the entire tournament and has the Red Raiders into the championship series against Texas. The best of three series begins tonight, and you can rest assured Canady will be in the circle until her arm falls off. Or, until the Longhorns pound her into submission – which is about as likely as me winning the PowerBall.
Personally, I think I’m okay with Tech winning it all. Why not? It gives programs like Mizzou hope. Programs that have had to grind forever with the mere hope of catching fire in a magical season. Now, we know that if you can attract the right impact player, it can make that much of a difference.
I recognize this is likely an outlier, and we’re not going to see lower-tier programs suddenly winning natties right and left just because they spent some free agent money. But if Tech wins this, it’s undoubtedly a watershed moment that will provide a non-traditional blueprint for how it can be done.
You can bet there will be tons of coaches tuning in tonight with just as much curiosity as us fans.
Yesterday at Rock M and Rock M+
- Nate Edwards offered up an extensive pre-season look at annoying rival South Carolina…
Beamer can recruit stars but his talent evals always felt wrong…until last year, of course! If he’s finally turned the road and started making better additions, and finally has a quarterback that can unshackle the restraints, then maybe we finally have a rival who is able to trade blows in the win/loss column…
The “annoying” was my interjection, is there a more annoying opposing coach to watch stomp around and act like a buffoon than Carolina’s Shane Beamer? That’s a rhetorical question, by the way…
Tim Fuller is back with the Mizzou Men’s Basketball program. After serving as an assistant coach for the Tigers from 2011-2015, he returns as the program’s first general manager…
Fuller can recruit. Remember a dude named Jordan Clarkson?…
- The summer SBN Reacts fan poll asks for your confidence level on both sides of the football for Mizzou in 2025. Be sure to vote and come back for the results!
Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Missouri Tigers fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
- Over at Rock M+, We’ve got discussions on football, basketball, and Olympic Sports. Join in!
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