Ohio State football fans take aim at Texas Tech head coach over NIL claim

Not long after the Texas Tech softball team concluded one of the most successful runs in program history, head coach Gerry Glasco met with the media to reflect on the season and his team. One of the topics turned to NIL, and Glasco found himself questioning why female athletes get far more attention for their NIL deals when compared to the attention given to men's sports.

For Glasco, the attention that star pitcher NiJaree Canady received for her talent was warranted, but the constant media discussion about her lucrative NIL deals left him puzzled.

"I'm thrilled that a player of the caliber of NiJaree Canady can take advantage of her success and hard work that she's given to the sport and given to the school that she's at," Glasco said. "I think it's interesting that you watch Ohio State in the men's football game... national championship game, you don't hear any announcers talking about NIL. They just don't talk about it. And yet you know that 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."

Glasco seemingly took issue with the fact that so many in the sporting world were caught by surprise when a female softball athlete landed a seven-figure NIL deal.

"Why is it different for a female athlete to be paid a million dollars than a male football player getting three million, or even a male basketball player. I think that's an interesting question. Because the value of Nijaree Canady to our program has been... I think it's unbelievable."

You can listen to his full response below:

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 Glasco's effort to defend female athletes is admirable, I'm not so sure that the overwhelming majority of analysts and fans felt that Canady - or any other female athlete - wasn't worthy of a lucrative NIL deal. But there's no question that Canady's deal set a new standard in college softball, and historic deals are going to receive plenty of attention. Although it's still relatively new, college football players signing lucrative NIL deals has become commonplace these days. Multi-million dollar deals for a college QB are barely newsworthy anymore. But a million dollars for a collegiate softball pitcher? That's new territory, and it's worthy of the attention it received. Canady's lucrative deal now opens the door for other softball players to capitalize on the new era of college athletics.

But Ohio State fans also heard Glasco's comments and took issue with his assessment, firing back at the Texas Tech head coach on social media.

This guy clearly didn’t watch college football this year. I don’t think a game went by without someone mentioning Ohio State’s NIL pic.twitter.com/NffTuEpalO
— Woody (@woodyVSworld) June 8, 2025

Must be allergic to watching football, that’s all they talked about https://t.co/yG0TvS6H2Q
— Leo (@CLEV_Buckeye) June 9, 2025

So the Texas tech head coach is an idiot lol https://t.co/JVAkmq014B
— Rece Messmer (@rece_messmer) June 9, 2025

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