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OU Board of Regents Approve Massive Raise For Oklahoma Coach Patty Gasso

Baseball coach Skip Johnson got a raise and extension, several assistants were approved, and the new rowing coach was officially brought on as well.

John E. Hoover

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Back to back national championships and the largest private donation to a women’s college sport has earned Patty Gasso a queen’s ransom.

The University of Oklahoma announced Thursday at the OU Board of Regents meeting in Tulsa that Gasso’s contract has been extended through 2028 and her salary has been raised to $1.625 million a year.

Gasso, whose teams won the national title in 2021 and 2022 to raise her career total to six, is the nation’s highest-paid softball coach.

Gasso’s base salary, to be paid by the university, is $300,000, up from $280,000. Her new deal also includes $825,000 a year from private funds (up $130,000 and increasing every year by $50,000), an annual stay bonus of $200,000 (paid each February 1) and a supplemental retirement fund of $300,000. She also gets a $150,000 performance bonus if the Sooners win the national championship.

“She’s the queen,” OU athletic director Joe Castiglione told Eric Bailey of the Tulsa World. “Not just for softball. She is one of the remarkable coaches of our time.”

OU baseball coach Skip Johnson, coming off a trip to the College World Series championship series, got a contract extension through 2024 and a $220,000 pay increase to $750,000 this year.

Johnson’s hiring of former Sooner Reggie Willits from volunteer assistant to full-time assistant, was approved at a base salary of $250,000 a year plus another $100,000 in private funds.

OU basketball coach Porter Moser’s hire of former Sooner Ryan Humphrey was approved at a base salary of $250,000 a year, plus another $150,000 in private funds.

OU regents also approved the hiring of new head rowing coach Sarah Trowbridge at a rate of $180,000 a year through 2026, plus $10,000 from private funds.

Oklahoma softball has won six national titles since 2000 and has 10 consecutive Big 12 regular-season titles under Gasso. She's guided the Sooners to 15 Women’s College World Series, and she's been inducted into the NFCA Hall of Fame as well as the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.

Gasso's career record is 1,395-344-2 (.801) at OU.

Gasso's success opened the door for a $9 million donation from Love's to build Love's Field. Purported to be the new standard for collegiate softball facilities, Love's Field will break ground on Sept. 23.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

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.

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