Patty Gasso has already claimed two of the three trophies an SEC softball coach can win, and it's only her first season in the conference.
The SEC on Friday announced yearly award winners, and Gasso was named 2025 SEC Coach of the Year near the end of the Sooners' first season in the SEC after conquering the Big 12 for decades. Although it's Gasso's first time earning the honor in the SEC, it was the 16th time she's been named coach of the year in a conference.
Sooners' Gasso named SEC Coach of the Year
Gasso was already immediately the greatest softball coach in the SEC based her resume alone, but if she for some reason needed to prove herself within the conference, she provided all the needed proof before the first year was even over.
Even before 2025, though, Gasso had won eight national titles and was recently named the head coach for Team USA Softball. She was also named College Coach of the Year by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee last week.
The Sooners won the SEC regular-season championship after going 17-7 in conference play during their inaugural season in the vaunted SEC. They not only accomplished that Year 1, but in a season the Sooners were supposed to be vulnerable while enduring the toughest conference in college softball.
OU had to replace nearly its entire roster after winning a fourth straight national championship last year. With the rebuild and entering a new league, the Sooners were picked to finish third in the SEC Preseason Poll. Yet, Gasso reloaded and led the Sooners to another conference title with new faces and in new places.
That regular-season crown also got OU the 1-seed in its first SEC Softball Tournament. The Sooners beat LSU 4-1 on Thursday in their tournament debut. OU will play No. 5 Arkansas in the semifinals on Friday. The Sooners swept the Razorbacks earlier this season.
Wins Friday and Saturday would sweep the SEC for the Sooners, also giving Gasso all three possible recognitions for an SEC coach before she leads OU into the NCAA Softball Championship while after its fifth national title in a row.
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