After finishing the season with a loss to Texas in the women’s college world series, the Texas Tech softball team has decided to go all-in on building a roster for another run next season for a title. But, it’s how they’re doing it that is causing folks within the softball community to lose their minds. 

When news broke just hours before the Red Raiders were set to play for a national championship that star pitcher NiJareee Canady had signed a $1.2 million deal to return for another season in Lubbock, there wasn’t much backlash from sports fans. 

But, it did not take long for coaches and fans across the country to start railing at Texas Tech for their business practices when it came to putting together a roster for next season. 

Why were folks upset with the Texas Tech softball program? Well, it had to do with how they were actually piecing together a lineup that should surely be contending for a national championship in 2026. 

Texas Tech Was Tampering? Signing Players On Current Rosters? Welcome To College Sports

Is there any other accusation that is thrown around in college athletics without penalties more than ‘tampering’? For the Red Raiders, they are certainly taking hits on the national level after a well-written piece from ‘Softball on SI’ regarding how third-parties were helping piece together this roster filled with high-dollar deals that are creating quite the commotion around college campuses. 

Who is helping fund this roster filled with superstars from opposing teams? That would be ‘The Matador Club’, which is the NIL collective that supports Texas Tech athletics. The problem is that third-parties are not prohibited from reaching out to athletes at other schools, gauging their interest in potentially transferring. 

While there are plenty of people who want to rail against schools for ‘tampering’, there is rarely a case where schools are actually being named, while coaches want to dance around the actual school that is doing the ‘tampering’. But, the allegations are pretty damning, with reports of Texas Tech using a travel-ball organization to also make contact with players that were still on opposing rosters. 

But here’s where this whole situation has gotten pretty messy. According to the report, Texas Tech was actually signing players to deals while they were still playing for other teams. Yep, that will cause some problems within the softball community, especially if they are getting these deals front-loaded, which means the transfers were going to get a majority of their money before the House settlement was approved. 

Then, Tennessee’s Taylor Pannell entered the transfer portal on a Thursday morning, and was committed to play for the Red Raiders by Thursday night. This seemed to upset head coach Karen Weekly, who took to social media, mentioning that money wasn’t the problem, but the tampering had to stop. 

Sure, I’ll agree with her on one aspect of this post. Signing an NIL deal with another team, while still competing for a national championship with your current team, is a little shady. 

For that reason alone, coaches across the sport have a reason to be upset. 

But save me with the negotiating part of this whole ordeal. Right now, schools across the country are having to make tough decisions on which sports will receive funding through the House settlement, and a good number of programs are not going to be splitting the pie with the softball program. 

Some Aren’t Using House Money On Softball, Red Raiders Found A Workaround 

So, for Texas Tech’s collective to decide on spending a large amount of money on softball, through third-party deals, that means a number of boosters have made the decision that they are going to dominate this one particular sport. Don’t get things confused, the Red Raiders spent a large chunk of money on building a football team through the transfer portal this past offseason. 

But what you are seeing play out with the softball program is one team trying to plant a flag in the ground, spending a lot of money to make sure they are competing for titles on a yearly basis in at least one sport that will not get a large piece of the revenue-sharing that is coming on July 1st. 

Guess what? I have no problem with the Red Raiders doing this, and neither should you. Obviously, you can be upset with how they’ve gone about putting a roster together, with what seems like a well-orchestrated tampering effort to make sure they got each player they wanted.

And while that might be the case, let’s make sure to bring that same energy when a player enters the portal with a ‘do not contact’ tag. 

Texas Tech Uses NIL Collective To Put Together ‘Super-Team’ For 2026

But, do you blame head coach Gerry Glasco for using the funds provided by the third-party collective to hopefully win a championship? 

Are you saying the same thing about Ohio State spending over $30 million last season on their quest to win a national championship? Will you go after some of these basketball teams that are spending upwards of $20 million to make a Final Four next season? 

No, because this is what we now expect in college athletics. 

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA – JUNE 06: Brittany and Patrick Mahomes watch game three of the Division I Women’s Softball Championship series between the Texas Longhorns and the Texas Tech Red Raiders at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium on June 06, 2025 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Photo by Ian Maule/Getty Images)

The reason why folks are so up in arms about Texas Tech is that they are spending money on softball. While other programs across the country try to find change under the couches of their athletic facility, the Red Raiders are spending millions, thanks to a number of boosters and the school, deciding softball would be a priority. 

And please, don’t act as if your favorite school is not tampering with players on opposing rosters. If you do believe that, I’ve got some oceanfront property in Kentucky that I would love to sell you. 

We are in a new era of college athletics, and schools are making decisions on which sports they will inject with cash so that they can compete yearly for titles. 

Once again, welcome to the new era of collegiate sports.