Jim Gasso is not the father of JT Gasso
Jim Gasso is not JT Gasso’s biological father, as Patty Gasso has admitted.
When the one person he couldn’t refuse called, JT Gasso had his entire future planned out.
Gasso was prepared to take on what he saw as his long-term position after finishing his first season as an assistant coach at Michigan State in 2015. There, he worked with his now-wife, Andrea, who was a volunteer assistant for the Spartans at the time.
“I had assumed I would be there for a long time,” Gasso remarked. “I truly intended to create the program there, start a family, and build it.”
He had planned to stay for a while, but his mother and Oklahoma head coach, Patty Gasso, called to beg him to return home and take over as hitting coach at the program where he was raised.
JT remarked, “That was the only place I would return to.” “It’s among the best choices we’ve made for our family—almost like an offer you can’t refuse.”
Entering his eighth season at OU—his first as an associate head coach—JT has transformed OU’s offensive into a force to be reckoned with. He has also witnessed the development of college softball firsthand by seeing the program his mother created.
Though it would be simple for him to anticipate Patty’s unavoidable exit from the show and the potential consequences of his elevation, he believes the sport has a bright future, and JT stays put.
JT remarked, “I discovered pretty early on that you’re not where you’re at as soon as you start looking beyond where you’re at.” “To be where we are now is something we owe to the program and to our players.” I’m just trying to be the best version of myself today; I’m not counting down or looking forward to anything.
As a child, JT witnessed his mother assume the helm of the squad that played at the time at the City of Norman’s Reaves Park, a public park.
While Patty advanced up the college softball coaching ranks, JT got to know a number of trailblazing figures in the sport, such as the all-time winningest coach in NCAA history at Michigan, Carol Hutchins, and iconic UCLA coach Sue Enquist.
When considering the impact his family has had on collegiate softball, he recalls those discussions and the values he learned from them. He and Patty see themselves as merely carrying out the actions of any previous pioneers, namely, doing whatever is most effective in advancing the game.
In order to maintain perspective on where we are right now, one of the things Gasso has attempted to hold onto is knowledge of the past. I’m just not settling and getting comfy because I know exactly how things used to function and how things were.
“We appreciate the university’s dedication to advancing women’s sports, our program, and just making progress in those areas.” While we are grateful for our accomplishments thus far, we also know that we should just keep improving as a team, as a style, and as softball players in general.
Patty has continuously pushed for players to start at more advantageous times in competitions like the Women’s College World Series and has contributed to raising awareness of the sport.
With 1,460 career victories and counting, along with seven national titles, the third-winningest coach in NCAA softball history is a force to be reckoned with. She is a cornerstone of the sport and will soon be immortalized with a statue outside of Love’s Field, which has a capacity of 4,200.
For JT, softball was an integral part of his life, and as he witnessed his mother transform the game, it shaped who he was and what he was meant to achieve.
JT remarked, “You’re fighting for what’s right, fighting for what you believe in.” “We were raised with her strong-willed, combative attitude from an early age.”
While there have been other father-son coaching teams on sports broadcasts, JT and Patty’s bond was special both on and off the field. Respect was eventually the foundation upon which the Gasso family and the OU coaching dynasty were established, as JT observed and examined his mother’s coaching methods.
JT remarked, “I’ve always believed she was the best coach in the game.” “I assumed that many people would expect OU to be lively when I first arrived, but these days I kind of take a back seat. She basically said, “Okay, we’re going to run the offense where you’re going to teach them; we’re going to make it work; we’re going to mesh together.” She truly relied on me for advice.
There was never any awkward relationship where Patty made decisions for her son; in fact, from the start of JT’s OU stay, the reverse was true.
When JT left Michigan State in 2014, Patty witnessed the impact he had on the team’s batters, who went from having a.217 batting average and 20 home runs to a.277 team average and 38 home runs in his one and only season with the Spartans.
She had faith in him to carry out the offense as they both desired.
My upbringing was influenced by the OU softball style, which emphasizes multitasking. JT stated. Thus, I believe that from the beginning, we have always agreed on what we want offensive players to accomplish, what the goal is, and how to integrate it into the culture.