Colton Sulley | OU Daily
Since being hired as OU’s executive associate athletics director for external engagement on April 21, 2022, Leah Beasley and her team have been trying to keep up with the records being broken by the Sooners’ women’s athletics teams.
They’ve tried many marketing tools, including newspaper ads, mass emails and social media videos to properly highlight the growth and successes the various sports teams have garnered this season.
A November 2022 report from Samba TV found the fastest-growing audiences are for women’s sports compared to men’s as the WNBA, NWSL and NCAA women’s basketball grew more than the NBA, MLS and NCAA men’s basketball in 2022.
Beasley says OU women’s athletics has grown, especially since its major programs led by Patty Gasso (softball), K.J. Kindler (women’s gymnastics) and Jennie Baranczyk (women’s basketball) have won more than their male counterparts the last few seasons.
“I think it’s on an upward trajectory and I think it has been,” Beasley told the OU Daily. “And now the national awareness of it has grown so much.”
The Women’s College World Series will be on a national stage when it begins Thursday as all four contests will be broadcasted live on ESPN.
Gasso, who is known to speak her mind when it comes to women’s sports equality issues, credits the rise of social media for the increased interest in women’s college softball and the awareness of the history of inequalities female college athletes have endured.
“People are speaking and being heard and I think social media has been a really good thing in that way,” Gasso, who will lead No. 1 OU in its quest for a third consecutive national title over the next week in Oklahoma City, told the Daily. “People are showing comparisons of what men are getting and what women are getting and there’s an outrage now.”
When asked if she thinks OU is leading the charge for women’s college athletics, Beasley, who arrived in Norman from Mississippi State, said: “a hundred percent.”
“It obviously starts at the top,” Beasley said. “It starts with (athletic director Joe Castiglione) and just his vision of making sure that we are pouring into our student-athletes, but that we’re giving them the tools to then help out OU in return.”
Stacey Dales, a former two-time All-American basketball player at OU and current NFL Network reporter, has watched and marveled from afar at not only the success of the Sooners’ women’s athletics programs, but the access and the engagement.
The key to interest both fans and recruits who end up attending OU is the longevity of the women’s staff. Sherri Coale, who coached Dales, was in Norman for 25 seasons. Gasso is in her 29th season, while Kindler just coached her 17th with the Sooners.
“A lot of (the) time, you look at the men’s game,” Dales told the Daily. “And sometimes the coaches in the men’s world don’t have as long of a time to develop necessarily and … I love the fact that (Coale) was there for as long as she was. I know (Baranczyk) will be a staple for a very long time and Patty is another example of sustained success over time and when you have success, players want to come and play for you.
“It’s a commitment from the university to not only invest in the programs, but to make sure that the best coaches are in a position to lead and guide and I think that’s why you have sustained success.”
Coming from Mississippi State, Beasley was excited by the prospects of working at a school with great success in athletics, especially in women’s sports.
Beasley frequently travels to as many away games as she can and sees unlimited potential for the Sooners as they enter the SEC, a conference she’s familiar with, in 2024.
“It’s a dream come true. … It’s been an amazing year,” Beasley said. “And all I can see is a higher trajectory in the future. We’re not stopping. And it’s amazing. It’s because our coaches won’t either and our coaches want the best, and we want the best for our coaches and their teams.”
Maggie Nichols, a two-time medalist at the World Championships and Pan American Championships and former Sooners gymnast who’s considered one of the greatest athletes in OU history, sees the increased media attention women’s sports are getting as the reason for the growth and success of both collegiate women’s gymnastics and softball.
“I think OU women’s sports is just very energetic and has a lot of talent,” Nichols told the Daily. “Which really makes the media come to us. But I think us continuing to be so successful in both gymnastics and softball really helps with that. Especially with all that media attention and I know softball gets so many viewers during their national championships so that always helps as well.”
Women’s athletics being accessible on TV is relatively new. Growing up, Nichols said she hardly stumbled across a women’s sporting event on national TV and is impressed with how many contests ESPN and ABC broadcast today.
The 2023 NCAA women’s basketball national championship game between LSU and Iowa averaged 9.9 million viewers, more than the 2023 Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl, and was the most-watched women’s college basketball game ever.
Similarly, Beasley, who played collegiate softball at Louisiana Tech, competed in boy’s sports leagues growing up, including basketball, soccer and baseball instead of softball. She now finds joy in watching her nieces play in leagues for young girls.
“We place a huge emphasis on women’s sports and just the idea of inclusivity in general,” Beasley said. “That also lends itself to this because women’s sports historically haven’t been as represented. And so here at OU, they are and there’s an emphasis placed on women’s sports across the board in every avenue, and of course winning helps, but you can’t win without the support.”
Speaking out on behalf of improvements to the way female collegiate athletics is run is not new, however. Gasso was inspired by pioneers such as former Tennessee basketball coach Pat Summitt, who frequently drew large crowds and was outspoken about issues facing the sport.
Five years before Gasso arrived at OU, the school cut its women’s basketball program, calling it a “failed venture.” The Norman community was in an uproar, protested, and the program was reinstated eight days after it was cut.
Gasso says Marita Hynes, then an administrator at OU, was a crucial part of keeping the team and has been a critical voice at the forefront of women’s athletics and even inspired her to speak out.
“I think Marita Hynes has been instrumental in fighting for women’s athletics and taught me,” Gasso said. “Sherri Coale would fight, I mean, we were kind of in it together.
“And now I think (Kindler) and (OU women’s tennis coach Audra Cohen) and some of these coaches who are a little bit younger have been trained to speak their mind and fight for what is equal, I’m talking about all of them. They’re in it to make the sport better than when they come into it, there’s a commitment there.”
While television numbers have been eye-popping, women’s athletics have broken various attendance records lately. Every softball super regional sold out in minutes.
The Sooners broke the NCAA softball regular season attendance record with a crowd of 8,930 fans during its 8-1 win over Texas on March 31 at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium. Castiglione even said OU has looked into playing a softball game at a football stadium.
OU is also one of the only schools in the nation with a Women of Championship Excellence fund, which was started in 2021 and aims to “formalize direct giving avenues for those who are passionate about supporting women’s programs.”
Beasley says the initiative goes back to Castiglione’s “student-athlete first” mindset. With the Sooners’ women’s teams’ recent surge in national titles over the last several years, Beasley also admits OU has shifted its focus more on women’s athletics. Since 2010, OU has won 10 national titles in women’s gymnastics and softball combined, while OU men’s gymnastics has taken home four national titles and men’s golf has won one.
“And let’s be real, here recently especially there’s been a heavier emphasis placed on women’s sports,” Beasley said. “Because we know that we need to prop that area up. It hasn’t been boosted across the board and of course, the 50th anniversary of Title IX has definitely provided awareness around this topic, around women’s sports and so I think a lot of universities are discussing that and trying to have more awareness around their women’s sports.”
‘Young kids are pretending that they’re those people’
The popularity of collegiate women’s athletics and its athletes has only been boosted by name, image and likeness.
According to On3’s NIL 100 rankings, LSU women’s gymnast Livvy Dunne’s NIL valuation is $3.4 million, second only to USC basketball signee Bronny James. The Tigers’ basketball standout Angel Reese is valued at $1.4 million.
Nichols would’ve undoubtedly garnered various NIL deals during her time at OU if NIL was around. Even though she’s out of college, she still tries to promote the sport as much as she can by attending meets and posting about them on her social media platforms.
Baranczyk sees NIL as a positive in helping female athletes build their brand but also engaging audiences and encouraging them to watch women’s basketball.
“I think what’s really cool, especially in our sport right now … with names like Angel Reese or Caitlin Clark, young kids are pretending that they’re those people and I think that’s just really special,” Baranczyk told the Daily. “And I think with NIL, with all the things that are not good with that; I think there’s some really great things that are coming out of it, especially from a women’s sports standpoint.”
Beasley often sits in on recruiting visits with Baranczyk and says most times there is a dialogue between the two parties about brand building.
“I love to talk about how our student-athletes can be themselves,” Beasley said. “They’re not expected to be put in a box. They can be themselves and that’s what you’re seeing whenever you’re on social media, or you’re watching the WNBA or you are watching the women’s Final Four.”
“They are asking those questions, they want to know. It’s not transactional, it’s not at all but they want to know how we can promote them and how we can help build their brand. So we always talk about promoting them but then always wrap it up into the umbrella of you’re still part of a bigger brand of OU and OU can help you. There’s nothing greater in my opinion.”
Nichols sees gymnasts such as Dunne sign endorsement deals and only sees positives. While the athlete is benefitting, the sport as a whole as well as people interested in brands will now see athletes and be more likely to tune into or attend a contest.
“I think they’re just gonna keep making strides like they are now,” Nichols said. “I think with social media being such a huge thing nowadays, I think that will really help and it’ll get more media attention for women’s sports for sure.
“But I think just people actually using their voices like (Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark) and things like that, I think it’s really helping women’s athletics all around. But I think that hopefully, women’s sports will be right up there with men’s sports, and especially with being like on ESPN and things like that, that’d be nice to see.”
As a youngster growing up in Canada, there weren’t many opportunities to attend college on an athletic scholarship for Dales. She remembers researching schools and barely finding any women’s athletic programs offering scholarships.
As someone who works in media, the increase in access is also the sticking point Dales sees for the future. She watched the first WNBA game on her phone, when before you’d rarely find a women’s sporting event anywhere on TV. She also catches Gasso and Co. on TV every chance she gets.
“When I studied things, I never saw women’s sports because of the lack of access,” Dales said. “Women’s sports (were) so difficult, everything I watched was the NFL, NHL and the NBA specifically. I mean, I used to watch the NBA tripleheader on NBC and go out to my driveway in Canada and play basketball and try to be (Hakeem Olajuwon) and (Magic Johnson) and (Michael Jordan).
“Publicly, they’re leaps and bounds ahead. And I say ‘publicly’ because there are so many more avenues and launching pads, if you will, in which people can see women’s sports because of the commitment to women’s sports. So they’re far ahead of when I was in college or even played in the WNBA because of the visual, the ability to visually see the game, whatever that game may be, or individual sport.
“I would say sports are more accessible. There’s always been great female athletes in an array of obviously different athletic platforms. That’s more visual now, when I played the game it was as good as I can remember it being and played against some of the best to ever play the game. So in terms of hoops, it’s just that you can see everything more.”
‘It’s just that you’re seeing it now because you tuned in’
M.A.G.I.C.
The five-letter acronym OU’s athletic department preaches daily. Masterful, accountable, gracious, inclusive and competitive are the five pillars making up the Sooners’ mission.
Inclusivity stands out to Beasley when she’s constantly searching for marketing techniques to show off the Sooners’ sports teams. Marketing plays a huge role in the success and growth of women’s sports and Nichols has seen tremendous improvement even in the three years she’s been out of the sport.
“I think we’ve made huge strides in the right direction,” Nichols said. “I know for sure with gymnastics, they’ve gotten a lot more media time. I know at the NCAA’s this year, we were on ABC, which I think was the first time and there were millions and millions of viewers so that’s super exciting and I know women’s sports deserve it. So it’s incredible to see the improvement there.”
OU softball’s contest against UCLA earlier this year became the first softball game to air on MLB Network.
During the Tigers and Hawkeyes’ national championship bout, two of the teams’ stars found themselves wrapped up in a ‘controversy.’ Throughout the game, Reese and Clark participated in celebrating after plays and trash talking one another, a common element found in athletics today.
“I got a kick out of the championship game with all the controversy surrounding trash talking about, ‘How can women do this?’” Dales said. “Well, women have been doing that for a long time. It’s just that you’re seeing it now because you tuned in.”
While OU wasn’t competing in the Final Four or national title game, staff members took notice of what was happening.
Beasley didn’t view the attention as anything negative, but rather as an opportunity for two female athletes to continue to grow their brand.
“What is expected, what is not, like there was a lot of controversy there,” Beasley said. “But at the end of the day, they are individuals who are a part of a bigger brand. And it is our job to promote both. We cannot get away with (like) when I first started and in sports marketing, gosh 17 years ago, you didn’t really didn’t talk much at all about individual brand management of student-athletes like you just didn’t. I never even knew what that meant.”
What does Beasley tell recruits she visits with?
“We want you to be who you are and we will promote that so that you feel like we are bought into you and then you as a student-athlete are bought into us,” Beasley said. “I think that’s where a lot of our success at OU lies.”
Baranczyk, who caught the action in person as she was supporting her hometown Hawkeyes, also marveled at the attendance and viewership the event got. She acknowledged Reese and Clark’s positive impact on the sport.
Both Baranczyk and Beasley have used that game as examples of how to help their players succeed at OU on and off the court. Beasley goes to work every day with three main goals in mind:
1) student-athlete/fan experience, 2) brand affinity/exposure and 3) revenue generating.
While OU might not have the biggest attendance numbers in the country by any means, Beasley believes the Sooners have seen the most growth of any school in the country, even in sports that don’t make a profit.
During most of her two seasons so far coaching the Sooners, Baranczyk has focused on the second part of Beasley’s first goal.
“We’re grassroots,” Baranczyk said. “These people want to watch these young people grow, and our program, we want to be the best for this community that we can possibly be and so we don’t want people just to come by a ticket and we don’t want just what they say ‘butts in seats,’ like we don’t want that. We want people to be engaged and a part of this program.”
Beasley says in sports that don’t make money, OU is seeing improvement in No. 1 and No. 2 on her goals list.
“It’s been so fun from a digital standpoint,” Baranczyk said. “There’s a lot more data than there’s ever been, and there’s a lot more opportunity for women’s sports to have viewership.”
‘We will fight to win’
The future of both collegiate and professional women’s athletics has never been brighter.
The NWSL has seen a rise in popularity in recent years and the WNBA plans to expand, something Baranczyk sees as essential for the league to continue to reach younger fans.
“It’s headed in the right direction No. 1 and No. 2 it should be,” Dales said. “It’s only right that it continues to be showcased and available and accessible and put on a platform and be making money because it’s a really good product.”
What needs to be done to ensure the most eyes as possible are viewing that product? Gasso is full of ideas for softball and she’s not going to stop sharing them anytime soon.
“I think stadiums are gonna need more seating,” Gasso said. “I know that women’s sports has always been blamed in history for costing universities a lot of money and almost the attitude of ‘What a waste for women’s athletics.’ And now the effort on my side K.J., all of us are not only winning, but we’re here to try to make our university money. We want to be a profitable sport, whatever that looks like. We’ll fight for it.
“We will fight to win. We don’t want to drain our athletic department. We want not only to win, but we want to make you money. Nine thousand people at the Hall of Fame stadium showed they’ll come out and do it. That was monumental for our sport and something I will never forget is seeing the fans come out for a regular season conference game. So the message is being heard and people are responding and that’s big.”
OU broke ground on Love’s Field, its new 3,000-seat, $42 million softball stadium which will replace Marita Hynes Field in 2024, at a ceremony on Sept. 23.
OU’s Board of Regents also approved a $47.5 million softball facility expansion and improvements in March.
Such a stadium wouldn’t exist anywhere around the country if coaches like Gasso didn’t speak about what they believe.
“I just have been a little more bold, a little more brave in saying what I feel is the right thing and fighting for it,” Gasso said. “Sometimes I’ve been at the World Series and I’ve said something out loud in hopes that people would hear it and would make changes.
“So I think I’ve been more outspoken which is really not my personality, but I’ve made a commitment to my team when I tell them to fight for what is right. I need to fight for what is right. And I think more than anything, besides needing it for women’s athletics, if I’m gonna say it to the team, then I have to do it. And I want them to see me as that example and something they won’t be afraid (to say), whether they’re going into the corporate world or their coaching.”
On Wednesday, Gasso made clear her wish for the NCAA to do away with postseason doubleheaders. The NCAA extended the WCWS to nine days in 2022, however, the MCWS still provides more rest to its participants as it is held over 11 days.
Oklahoma State coach Kenny Gajewski was also asked about what he’d change if anything during media day Wednesday and his answer echoed Nichols’ and Beasley’s views on athletes building their brands.
“I think just continuing to showcase these kids, the female athletes, I think that’s something that’s really caught on here (at the World Series),” Gajewski said. “And I don’t necessarily think it’s caught on in every sport, but it’s caught on here. So we’ve got to capture that and be the leaders in what that looks like and how we can help other sports and draw more young girls to our sport.”
Nichols has seen a similar trend in gymnastics, especially at OU with Kindler at the helm.
“K.J. is so amazing at what she does,” Nichols said. “She’s the best collegiate coach that there is in the country that I think of and her being a woman, she is so empowering, and she stands up for herself. She stands up for her team and does anything that she needs to do to help her team be successful and I think that really shows a lot with the media and draws people to our team.”
While there is still a long way to go, women’s athletics’ rapid increase in interest is encouraging. TV ratings and attendance numbers are up, which means more money for schools and women’s sports programs.
There’s never been a better time for a female athlete to build a brand and OU, helped by its historic success on the field, is leading the charge for women’s sports across the country.
“I never thought I would say that men are going into Buffalo Wild Wings and turning on women’s softball,” Gasso said. “So I just think people now have a new respect for women athletes, their athleticism, their style of play and their intensity in what they’re doing. And they’re passionate about it which makes it fun to watch.”