TU softball undergoes a complete coaching overhaul.
While attention on campus is focused on the incredible start for Tulsa football, another new-look University of Tulsa team is preparing to make its debut this September. A rebranded hurricane softball team welcomes in 10 transfers, four of which come from power four conferences, and five of which are freshmen. Exciting as that may be, there are bound to be challenges with such a large class of newcomers, something first year head coach DJ Gasso knows well. “At the end of the day, when we continue to build the connection with the team and coaching staff, you will not see those uncertainties. You will see love, compassion and fight for each other,” he said. While acknowledging that so much newness brings uncertainty, coach Gasso is confident in his team’s ability to play this game as a family.
Hurricane softball has not only an almost entirely new roster, but a new coaching staff as well, which includes Ryan Wondrasek, Amber Fiser and Mat Nelson. Pitching coach Amber Fiser has an impressive background, playing in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League, or AUSL, with the Chicago Bandits. She played college softball at the University of Minnesota and has previous coaching experience as a University of North Florida assistant coach.
Coach Nelson, described as “probably the most decorated college baseball player to ever coach Division 1 softball,” by coach Gasso, comes from a similar background. In 2021, Nelson won the Buster Posey Award as the nation’s top collegiate catcher, was a unanimous first team All American and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Player of the Year. He has an incredible record, though it contributed only in part to his hiring. Gasso points to his belief in helping people, taking his experience in the world of collegiate athletics and pouring it into the next generation, as a huge factor in adding him to the staff.
Finally, coach Wondrasek and Gasso have a history that extends beyond the softball field, all the way back to high school baseball. Wondrasek, commonly known as “Coach Dub” by his players, coached a young Gasso and later coached under one of his mother’s (decorated Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso) former players at Saint Gregory’s. He has experience at the division one level at Nebraska-Omaha, was a head coach at the junior college and NCAA division two levels and also worked with the Gasso family at the University of Oklahoma in player development. Trust is an important value for coach Gasso, and he clearly believes there is no one he could trust more to work alongside than Wondrasek.
To Gasso, this is not just an opportunity for his players to play softball, but to be the best. His goal for the season is nothing short of an appearance in Tulsa’s first ever super regional next spring, and hopefully advancing to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City. There are big dreams and high hopes for his team, with the staff and players working in lockstep to achieve them.
A great opportunity to get to know the team a little more is coming up during their exhibition fall season, which starts Sept. 19, where they will take on the MACU Evangels. This will be the first of seven exhibition games, six of which will be at home this season for the Golden Hurricanes. Get ready to follow this team as they aspire to take Tulsa softball to places it has never been before.
