Texas Tech softball’s NiJaree Canady may win it all, lose despite $1 million NIL | Opinion
Amid Texas Tech’s run to the NCAA Women’s College World Series finals, there are some details that will be easily lost amid the parties, and coronations of the Red Raiders’ $1 million pitcher.
No. 1. Even in a tax-friendly state, like Texas, $1 million is not $1 million.
No. 2 In limited examples within power college conference athletics, where you earn your degree from may be worth the trade. Or maybe it no longer is.
No. 3 What Texas Tech is doing behind All-American pitcher NiJaree Canady cannot be translated to all sports.
On Monday night in Oklahoma City in the NCAA Women’s College World Series, Texas Tech upset the Michael Jordan Dynasty Bulls, one game ahead of the finals. The Red Raiders ending Oklahoma’s streak of four consecutive national titles is an achievement worthy of a banner that you can’t print.
OU softball under coach Patty Gasso is on a dynasty period like UCLA men’s basketball under John Wooden, and UConn women’s basketball under Geno Auriemma. Since 2013, OU has won seven national titles.
“I haven’t felt this in a while,” Gasso said in the press conference after her season ended. “No one is feeling sorry for me about that, I’m sure.
Correct.
The Red Raiders will face Texas in the final series, thanks primarily to a risky investment made by a pair of Tech alums who had the money to pay the sport’s most dominant player. By playing on ESPN in the World Series, and reaching the final series, this is the rare instance when return will exceed the investment in an Olympic sport.
Was it worth it all, for the school and the player?
No. 1. NiJaree Canady took a risk by taking the cash
When Canady put her name in the transfer portal last year, even football and men’s basketball coaches noticed. This was not some point guard looking to cash in, but a softball player at Stanford.
Texas Tech won the recruiting, primarily because it reportedly offered her $1 million in an NIL contract. She reportedly wanted to play for new coach, Gerry Glasco, who promised her she could also hit.
Stanford was ready to up its NIL offer, but the Tech package was too much to reject.
Texas is famous for not having a state tax, but she can’t escape the federal tax. That cool mil will be closer to $650K. That is still life-changing money, provided it’s managed right.
And any adult will tell you, it just goes so fast.
No. 2. Stanford’s degree may have been better than the money
Canady played for two years at Stanford, and while she was a first-team Academic All American, she did not earn a degree from the “West Coast Ivy.” Stanford is one of the few schools in power conference athletics where its name can make it competitive in recruiting, particularly in non-revenue sports.
College today increasingly is less about education. College today is more about the “experience.” College today is more about “the network.” College today is about a membership to a community. Few schools in the world offer the community like Stanford.
Stanford is one of the few undergraduate degrees that may open a door, whereas the rest require multiple knocks. That carrot has allowed Stanford to be competitive in all sports.
Canady’s leaving Palo Alto for Lubbock suggests the power of that “Stanford degree” may no longer have that appeal. But giving up a free degree from Stanford is still an enormous trade.
No. 3 This sort of risk should be repeated in limited instances
After the Supreme Court gelded the NCAA in 2021, wealthy people now unabashedly shower young athletes with money in the hopes of them leading their school to a national title. They had been doing it for years under the table in football and men’s basketball, and now it’s all “legal.”
When Tech paid Canady $1 million, the offer said there are people who will pay six and seven figures to win the sport of their choice, even a niche one typically played in front of small crowds.
This is the instance of a team sport that can be won by one. No other team sport can be won on the strength of one player like softball. A hockey goalie needs some help in front of him. A quarterback needs a lot of help. A great scorer in basketball must have a buddy or two.
Canady has pitched in 43 of her teams 65 games this season. As a starter, she is 33-5 with a 0.90 ERA.
In the NCAA Tournament, Tech is 8-0. Canady is 7-0, and has started every game but one, the first NCAA regional game against over-matched Brown. She has pitched a complete game in the last five games.
You can only get this sort of ROI in softball.
Had Tech missed reaching the College World Series, it would not have been worth it. The only way it was worth this was if the Red Raiders reached the tier of exposure that exists only in late May and early June when the games are on ESPN.
The NCAA Women’s College Softball World Series remains one of the ESPN’s best bang-for-buck productions, and the teams in it enjoy the exposure schools covet.
All it took was a million dollars to entice a player to give up earning her college degree from Stanford University.
This story was originally published June 3, 2025 at 4:27 PM.
