Shortly after his Texas Tech softball team lost to Texas 10-4 in game three of the championship series of the 2025 Women’s College World Series, Gerry Glasco was asked about a familiar subject.

Throughout the Red Raiders’ run in the NCAA tournament and WCWS, there was a significant amount of attention paid to NiJaree Canady, the Stanford transfer whose pitching excellence helped Texas Tech improve from an eighth-place finish in the Big 12 in 2024 to the precipice of a national title the following year.

Most any conversation around Canady inevitably turned to her name, image and likeness deal with the school’s collective, which reportedly paid her more than $1 million.

REQUIRED READING: Texas softball vs Texas Tech score: Longhorns dominate Game 3 for WCWS title

When Canady and her NIL payments were mentioned in a question during Glasco’s post-game news conference, the first-year Texas Tech coach pushed back.

“Why is it different for a female athlete to be paid a million dollars than a male football player getting three million or four million for a male basketball player?” Glasco asked rhetorically. “I think that’s an interesting question because the value of NiJa Canady to our program is, I think, unbelievable. I’m not an expert. Somebody could really do an in-depth study. But I have no doubt it would exceed a million dollars of value. I think it was of great value for our school.”

Canady sent shockwaves through the sport after the 2024 season, when the reigning national player of the year left Stanford and got a seven-figure deal from the Red Raiders, who had never even made the super regional round of the NCAA tournament and were coming off a season in which they went 8-16 in Big 12 play.

Along with Glasco and a handful of players he brought with him from Louisiana, Canady immediately improved the program’s fortunes, leading it to Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles, a school-record 54 wins and its first-ever WCWS appearance. This season, Canady went 34-7 with a 1.11 ERA and was one of three finalists for USA Softball player of the year honors. She was also one of the Red Raiders’ best power hitters, with a team-high 11 home runs. Until she was pulled early in Friday’s loss, she had thrown every pitch for Texas Tech since the beginning of the super regional round, a run of seven consecutive games.

WATCH: Texas Tech’s Gerry Glasco speaks about the NIL landscape including how often Nija Canady’s deal is talked about. pic.twitter.com/3ziJGtO2o3

— KCBD NewsChannel11 (@KCBD11) June 7, 2025

While her NIL deal was the largest ever for a college softball player, Glasco said he believed the rate at which it was brought up during broadcasts of Texas Tech games was “almost insulting” to Canady. Canady’s NIL arrangement with the school was cited constantly by television crews throughout the WCWS.

It highlights what Glasco believes is a double standard between how highly-paid female college athletes are treated versus their male counterparts.

“I think it’s interesting, you watch Ohio State in the men’s football game, national championship game, you don’t hear any announcers talking about NIL,” he said. “They just don’t talk about it. And yet, you know Ohio State had one of the highest two or three NIL payrolls last year in college football. I wonder why we talk about it for a female athlete.”

REQUIRED READING: Come back better: How Texas Tech softball can capitalize on WCWS run in Gerry Glasco’s first year

Glasco added that the exposure she brought to a previously overlooked program was invaluable. When Canady transferred to the Red Raiders, he was told there were 700,000 stories that mentioned Canady, Texas Tech and Stanford. He estimated that after Friday, the team had played 10 or 11 games on national television.

Though Canady struggled in her final game of an otherwise stellar season, giving up five earned runs in one inning while pitching her third game in as many days, she has one more season of eligibility remaining and is well-positioned to keep the Red Raiders in national title contention. In the hours before the first pitch of the final WCWS game, ESPN reported that Canady had signed another seven-figure deal to stay at Texas Tech.

If her coach has his way, it might not be the same kind of talking point next season that it was throughout this one.

“Personally, I’m thrilled for NiJa,” Glasco said. “I found it almost insulting to her at times when I listened to broadcasts, how much they talked about it because, like I said, I don’t hear it when we watch a men’s basketball game or a men’s football game. And to me that’s not right. That shouldn’t be that way.”

ESPN’s Pete Thamel broke down the latest with the NCAA House Settlement following an agreement this week. Most would want to know with a new allotment of money per school, if it would finally level the playing field around college athletics.

This is especially questioned in football where it’s the big boys and everyone else. Not necessarily a sport for underdogs, mostly, at the collegiate level.

Now that the House Settlement has passed, to the tune of nearly $3 billion, Thamel explained how this is going to work exactly. But it won’t stop the big boys from being the big boys.

“That’s a fascinating question, and there are so many variables between what’s being structured and what’s going to actually happen that I’m hesitant to predict an ideal situation,” Thamel said on SportsCenter. “I think the reality for a lot of this is the schools, the big box brands, the ones whose logos you recognize, have always had a competitive advantage for those brands, and how the NIL system is going to be set up, meaning schools can give $20.5 million for their athletes. 

“So in theory, that is going to be evenly spread. But where the competitive advantages go, they used to be about grey areas are now going to be how much outside NIL is going to be available to those athletes.”

With this House Settlement, schools can now directly pay athletes. Prior to this, the NCAA never did nor allowed payments directly to athletes over the last century-plus. As you can see, things have drastically changed in the era of NIL and the transfer portal.

Beginning July 1, schools will be able to share $20.5 million with athletes, with football expected to receive 75%, followed by men’s basketball (15%), women’s basketball (5%) and the remainder of sports (5%),’ as On3’s Pete Nakos pointed out. The amount shared in revenue will increase annually due to this House Settlement.

“You’re not supposed to promise it up front, but look, Texas is going to have more outside NIL available than Louisiana-Monroe as it goes,” Thamel said. “So how those deals are accepted through this NIL clearing house, look, they named a CEO of the College Sports Commission last night, like by midnight, there were a flurry of tweets, and it was like, ‘Hi, I’m your new commission, and this is your new commissioner, and we’re going to run college sports now.’ 

“The old NCAA enforcement model as we knew it is primarily dead. NCAA enforcement still exists for academic cases and fairness of the game cases, as the (Connor) Stalions case in Indianapolis this weekend is going on, but there is a whole new sheriff in town. His name is Brian Seeley, and he comes over for Major League Baseball, and he was hired formally within three hours of the settlement coming. His job and the role of his organization is ultimately going to determine your question of whether this evens the playing field or those advantages still exist.”

The newly formed agency in charge of policing rules in the remade college sports system picked Major League Baseball executive Bryan Seeley as its new CEO.

The College Sports Commission announced Seeley as its new leader Friday, shortly after U.S. Judge Claudia Wilken granted final approval of the $2.8 billion House v. NCAA settlement.

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The settlement allows schools to directly pay players for using their name, image and likeness in endorsement deals. It also allows players to receive NIL payments from third parties.

The new commission will be in charge of making sure schools adhere to the rules, which call for a $20.5 million cap on all payments. It is also setting up a clearinghouse to evaluate third-party deals worth $600 or more.

“I look forward to implementing a system that prioritizes fairness, integrity, and opportunity, while preserving the values that make college sports unique,” Seeley said in a statement announcing his appointment. “I am energized by the work ahead and excited to begin building out our team.”

As executive vice president of legal and operations, Seeley oversaw MLB investigations, compliance, state government relations, sports betting and other areas. He played a key role in MLB’s sign-stealing investigation into the Houston Astros in 2020.

The CSC will begin operation on July 1 when the settlement officially takes effect.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State Softball alumnae Lexi Kilfoyl and Samantha Show, along with manager Josh Eurich, will begin the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) on Saturday.
 
Kilfoyl, the No. 1 pick from the inaugural AUSL draft, will play for the Bandits, while Show is set to compete for the Volts. Eurich is an assistant coach for the Volts, as well.
 
The Talons and Bandits open the season today at 2 p.m. CT at The Stadium at Parkway Bank Sports Complex in Rosemont, Ill., on the MLB Network. The Volts and Blaze follow them with a 6:30 p.m. CT first pitch at Wilkins Stadium in Wichita, Kan., also broadcast on the MLB Network.
 
The AUSL will travel to 10 different cities this year before each team having a home city in 2026. Each team will play 24 games during the season, with the top two teams facing off in a best-of-three championship series at the end of July. Following the AUSL Championship, 60 players will compete to be crowned as the individual champion in the AUSL All-Star Cup, a 21-game competition in August featuring the signature Athletes Unlimited scoring system. For the full schedule and more information, visit theausl.com.
 
Earlier this month, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced it will be investing in the AUSL and softball at all levels, Along with MLB’s investment, 16 games – including the Championship Series from July 22-23 – will be aired on ESPN2 or ESPNU. Five games will be aired exclusively on the MLB Network with over 30 games available to stream for free on MLB.com and MLB TV.
 
Pro Pokes in the AUSL
 
Bandits
Lexi Kilfoyl
 
Volts
Samantha Show
Josh Eurich (assistant coach)