OU Softball: Arkansas' DJ Gasso Excited About 'Really Cool' Opportunity to Battle Oklahoma and Family

The Arkansas assistant will take on his mom, Patty Gasso, and brother, JT Gasso, this weekend in SEC play.

Arkansas assistant DJ Gasso helped take Utah to the 2023 WCWS. / SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

This weekend’s series between No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 12 Arkansas will be a family affair. 

Patty Gasso and her son, associate head coach and hitting coach JT Gasso will lead the Sooners on their first SEC road trip against a Razorbacks offense shaped by DJ Gasso.

DJ, JT’s younger brother, has faced off against his mom and brother previously at Utah — a 2-1 OU win at the 2022 Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic and a 10-3 win by the Sooners at the 2023 Mary Nutter. 

The series, as with every SEC battle, will be massive, but DJ said he’s looking forward to the rare mid-season Gasso family reunion. 

“This weekend will be fun. I know that it’ll be nice just to see the family,” he said on Tuesday. “You don’t really get to see them a ton during the season. It’s usually at holidays or maybe the World Series or recruiting in the summer, so it will be really cool to have everyone be able to see each other in March.”

Arkansas’ offense fired on all cylinders last year in DJ Gasso’s first season in Fayetteville. 

He excelled at Utah, and was able to carry his skills to the SEC. 

His work ethic was engrained in him at a young age by watching his mom attack everything in life with all she had — whether that meant coaching the Sooners or knocking out chores around the house. 

“She’s always been an extremely hard worker, a hustler,” Gasso said. “Just finding ways to be better. When she would do the garden herself, she was grinding. And I know that because I would have to pick up all the trash and I’m just like — it was so much stuff. And that’s just a little example. It’s something you do around the house and she just loves that hard work. And so whether you’re at the field, the recruiting trail, she’s going to work hard.

“… I think she does a great job of putting others first. Understanding the bigger picture. Softball’s not who we are, it’s what we do. And as hard working and completive as we are and wanting to win, I think at the end of the day she does a great job of being able to separate the two and understand that life is so much bigger than wins and losses… I think when the program truly changed is when she put that at the forefront instead of the wins a losses.”

Before joining Arkansas' staff in 2024, DJ Gasso helped take Utah to the 2023 Women's College World Series. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

DJ also has great respect for his brother, who helped him through his coaching career and who DJ backs as the best hitting coach in the country. 

“They’ve been through a lot and you’d never know,” DJ said about JT. “Still funny, charismatic, really smart and find ways to be the best at his job. And I truly think that he is. So hopefully they can have an off weekend this weekend.”

Plenty of attention this weekend will be paid to the coaching staffs in each respective dugout. 

And while DJ said he’ll be fully focused on helping Arkansas battle come first pitch, he said it’s unlikely he’ll avoid his mom and his brother all game. 

“Me and my brother, when I played them at Utah… we didn’t chirp at each other but we kind of did some stuff at each other. So that was about it,” DJ said. “… We were on the first base dugout when we played them. We’ll be on the third base dugout this time so knowing myself I might have to say something to my mom every now and then just to be annoying to her. That’s usually what I do is just try and nag at her and annoy her and try to get her to smile, and she’ll just, ‘Stop DJ!’ So knowing myself I’ll have to do something like that potentially.

“But it’s about the players, it’s not necessarily about us… The game is for the players. We can prep them all we want throughout the week but when game time happens its their time to shine.”

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