September 28, 2025 • 46 mins
Head Women's softball coach at the University of Oklahoma
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nine
twenty in your iHeart radio app. I'm Mike McGivern. Look
who's back. My co host is back in the chair,
and I'm excited to have him back. Pastor Ken Keltner
from Brookside Baptist Church. We are coming from the Donovan
and Jorgensen Heating and Cooling Studios. Any issues you have
with your HVAC system go to Donovan Jorgensen dot com. Man,
(00:24):
I'm excited about today's I'm not half as excited as
you are, but you know what I Before we get going,
I have to thank Lea and Miko. She introduced and
got us a phone number for one of our special
guests today. We have two of them, and Pastor, there's
been two names for the last eight to ten years
that you've been saying to me, we gotta get, we
gotta find, we got to track. One has been Tim
(00:46):
Tebow and we're still tracking. Well, we'll get him one day.
The other one was Patty Gasso, the head coach for
the women's softball team at University Oklahoma. And you've been
talking about Patty Gaso for a long time and they
won a national championship a couple of years ago, and
their theme music for that year was Nobody from Casting Crowds,
(01:07):
which is the theme song for this this show. And
I said, Okay, we need to find her, and you've
been chasing her. And I want to thank Leah and
Miko for introducing you to Jim and getting us a
phone number for Jim and Patty Gaso. And I know
you're excited about today's show.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Sure, am, And we're so glad to have Jim and
Patty with us today. And yeah, I'm kind of starstruck really,
you know, to be on the phone visiting. And you know,
I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, so I was always
a big Oklahoma fan.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
And I know they'll they'll kind of laugh at this.
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Back in the seventies, the school I went to didn't
have a baseball team, so I played fast pitch softball
with our men's team at the church. And Patty you
would have probably you and Jim would have probably been
on my case because I tried stealing one time and
the catcher was so powerful with his rocket arm that
(02:05):
the second basement had the ball in his glove as
I went into the slide.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
I think you would have said.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
No stealing pastor. Hey, Jim and Patty, how you guys doing.
Let's start with Jim, thank you so much for helping
us set this up.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Sir.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
How you doing today?
Speaker 5 (02:23):
I'm doing good. I've been doing How about you guys.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
We're doing great. We're excited. I can tell you that. Patty,
how are you today?
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I'm good? Getting ready to play our first fall game,
So this is a good way to get started.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, and I know that's a big thing. Every fault
you are. There folks that go to loves Field to
watch watch you all play those fall games.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
They do, but not today because we're playing the USA
national nineteen and underteam that's in town and about to
play the World Games in Oklahoma City. So what's interesting
is there's four players on that team that are future recruits.
So this is going to be I got to get
(03:08):
our team up to say we are not going to
lose to the nineteen.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Practice for.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
This is something completely new, and I'm anxious and nervous
at the same time.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Hey, Patty, I also do a high school sports show.
I was a high school basketball coach for a long
time in this market, and during the summer we'll do
one week of baseball, one week of softball, girls softball.
And every time I have girls come in, we'll have
you know, all conference, off state, whatever they are, I'll
ask them a question. Look at night, before you close
(03:47):
your eyes, if you could, if you could pick any
school in the country to go play softball at the
next level. And they always say the same thing, Well,
other than Oklahoma, right, And I'm like, what do you mean. Well,
Oklahoma is where everybody that every girl that plays softball,
that's where they want to go. It's very difficult to
play there. So other than Oklahoma, maybe I'd want to
(04:08):
go to Wisconsin, or maybe I'd want to go play here.
But it's really funny to be because they all say
the same thing, Well, I'd like to go to Oklahoma,
you know anybody in Oklahoma? And I'm like, I don't.
And it's so funny to me that that you have
built this program to the point that even in the
state of Wisconsin, these girls are dreaming about playing for you.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
That feels really good. It's very difficult to make all
the dreams come true, but the fact that they are dreaming,
whether it's about Oklahoma or any other team, is what
you want at a young age to keep them focused
and fighting and all that good stuff. So that's good
(04:54):
for our sport if they're dreaming about softball right now now.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
And Jim, you really helped Mid America Christian University kind
of take their women's softball to another level. As I
was reading about some of your accomplishments, and so I know,
I know the Gasso family is a big softball family.
Speaker 5 (05:19):
Yeah, you know. I came in and two years ago
and I just all I did was just put them
in the right positions and challenge them and working with
the players in their self confidence about themselves, how they play,
(05:44):
adjustments on just simple little things, but just giving it,
giving it their best no matter what happens.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, and obviously you did a great job connecting with him, Jim.
I can always tell when I'm watching I know your game.
Kathy and I we make it a point. After the
twenty seventeen National Championship against Florida that went seventeen innings,
Kathy and I fell in love with the Oklahoma softball
(06:14):
team and Shade Knight hitting that homer there, I think
it was in the top of the seventeenth. I need
to win but I can always tell you're there, Jim.
You have the greatest whistle.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
I don't know if anybody ever tell you that.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I mean, I always look at Kathy and I go, hey, Jim,
Jim's in the stadium right now.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
But let's ask Patty. Let's ask Patty if she likes
that whistle.
Speaker 5 (06:43):
I know him too.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
I love the fact that, I mean, he knows he's
so connected personally and spiritually.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
Two our players.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Yeah, so he becomes more than just a super fan.
I mean he's very connected. And the players know his whistle.
They see him right above the dugout. They see his excitement.
He can get overly excited sometimes and maybe throw a
word at the umpire every year and there. And that's
when I remember. One time I was walking into the
(07:17):
dugout at the World Series and he was sparking, I think,
at the umpire, and I just looked up and gave
him a.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Look like, yeah, yeah, hey, listen, every husband knows that look,
all right.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
I meant, I didn't marry Milk toast.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
And when I get that look, because I coached for
a long time and she would usually rebuke me for
anything that I might have said to an official. So
I've apologized to several officials in my day. And I
can get pretty excited too, So she kind of will
look at me when we're watching an Oklahoma softball game
(07:54):
and say, you need to settle down right now, And
I said, well, I.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Mean for curn lewd. I mean they've been on that
a strike the whole game.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Hey, Patty, you know what I my wife has given
me the look. My my pastor has given me the look.
My pastor's wife has given me look. I coached pastors
boys in high school, and I coached my son in
high school basketball, and trust me, our spouses, she gives
me a look and she doesn't say much during games
except we got to box out more. But Pastor Ken
(08:25):
when I was coaching his boys, he would be up
in the crowd and thank good as he doesn't know
how to whistle, because he would have been whistling like crazy.
I gotta tell you our special guests for the entire hour,
Patty and Jim Gasso. When you when you think about
the world of softball, they they are, they are, they
are on the top at this point. I gotta be
honest with you. There have been people that we've had
(08:47):
on faith in the zone that have have been at
the top as well, right they they're just have been.
And and Lea Miko's one of them. I mean she is.
She has done some wonderful things in this game. But
when you talk about especially at the clegianal level, we
Patty and Jim Gassho are at the top of the
mountain right now and they're doing things the right way pastor.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah, and Patty, you know, I couldn't help. But you
know I watch j T. Their your your son as
a hitting coach and assistant coach.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
And all right now, and and.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
I couldn't help. Kathy and I have four boys, very
all very competitive, and I couldn't help. But think when
you were playing Arkansas and your other son, j D.
I think he's a hitting coach for Arkansas.
Speaker 5 (09:32):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I got to imagine that there had to be some
talk between j T and j d uh during that
during those games.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Yeah, well my senate Arkansas is DJ.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Just oh, DJ, I am sorry, I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
I will tell you that I probably had more nerves
going into that game or that series. My daughter in
law is there, her parents are my grandkids. From that side.
JT and his wife brought their four kids. So it
was I was nervous a little bit about just you know,
(10:14):
when you have your family together, you know there's just
a little bit of chaos. I felt that. But DJ
is a talker, and I'm over in the third base
coaching box and he's in the dugout to me, mimicking
the way he was as a kid, like mom, mom, mom, mom,
(10:39):
doing a lot of that, and waited for me. He
just was way for me to turn around and look
at him, and I just kept holding my ground till
finally I turned over. I'm like, DJ stopped. He wasn't
even related to stophone kind of. He knows how to
he kept saying the week prior, like I know how to.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
Get to you.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
I know I know how can break you. I know
I can distract you. So it was me worrying about
if DJ could break me or not. But it was
it was a celebration, honestly. Jimmy was there, our whole family,
both DJ and his kids, to Tea, his wife, his kids,
(11:26):
all of us were together playing an Elite Division one
softball game on national television, and I just I just
felt it more like a celebration of look at look
at what's going on right now, and it was. It
was fun. I still want to win, I don't it
(11:53):
was I don't know. I just certainly felt the blessings.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
Yeah, God's given it the family.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, well yeah, I watched that game. I thought you
held your composure very well. And with four boys, we
have a talker to during the break. I'll tell you
a little bit of how they can get in their
mother's head.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
That's for sure, one hundred percent. Our special guest Patty
and Jim Gasso. Hey, Patty, last question before we get
to the break. When you when you were playing softball
at California State University, if I had sent to you
back then, Hey, in the futures, this is what the
future holds for you. You're you're going to be the
all time winningness softball coaching Division one softball history. You're
(12:36):
going to win a number of state championships or national
championships at Oklahoma. When you were a player, what would
you have said to me.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
You're absolutely out of your mind. Just back then, we
played at a park field that was our home field.
We bore no helmets. I was one of those players
that far back we wore no helmets. The bats were
either wooden or aluminum. Pitching mound was at thirty five
(13:11):
thirty six, and pitchers are humming it. I mean, it
was definitely not an offensive game. Games would be over
in an hour and a half because nobody could hit
a pitching game. But no, there was no one that
came to our games. There was no investment financially in
(13:32):
women's softball, let alone women's sports. So the journey is
and Jimmy was there for that as well. We met
in college, so he saw this whole our careers play
out to where now I'm coaching in a forty five
(13:57):
plus million dollars stadium.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
It is a beautiful stadium.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
Thank you. It's just there was a lot of hard
work by Jimmy and I and our family and just
the boldness. And that's something Jimmy has way more than
I do. But he's encouraged me. But really, the Lord
(14:25):
has changed me in a way that I want to
stand up for what is right for our players, for
our program, for our coaches, and I eventually kind of
our program became the model of what every program should
(14:47):
look like. It wasn't me trying to say look at me.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
It was more of.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
How fans are coming out now, fans have no place
to sit. Fans are getting locked down out of the
gates because they can't get in. We need a bigger stadium.
And with the exposure on television at a lot of
fans are able to watch the growth of fans and
(15:16):
their engagement. Like just talking with you both, you're watching,
you're seeing. It's great game, it's very athletic, it's very fast,
it's fun to watch, and the fans want in. And
now wherever we go to play, the opponent's place is
selling out and they're bringing in more bleachers, and we're
(15:38):
trying to go to places. Last year we went back
to where I came from. We played San Diego State,
Long Beach, State, cow State Fullerton, and Loyola Marymount, which
are programs that don't have the money of the power
for And I just thought, if we could make that
road trip and try to sell out those places, at
(16:01):
least we can put some money, hopefully in their pockets,
so they could do something to improve their experience at
their university with more permanent stands, grant stands or whatever
it is. So we are My mind is always trying
to I mean, we've arrived, But my mission now is
(16:22):
just trying to help others arrive as well.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Amen. That's that servant leadership heart that you obviously have
our special guests. Hey, and look if you think about
who would be on the Mount Rushmore of women's softball, right,
We've had Dot Richardson on, We've had Lea Miko on,
and now we have Jim and Patty Gasso on. That's
pretty good, especially the way we hit a softball in
(16:46):
short softball league where Yeah, I got to tell you,
Patty Pastor Ken and I won two in that league. One. No,
maybe not. We both swing and missed underhand softball. Wait,
we can't do it anymore, Patty, at least for me.
I'm not playing more. Our producer can play. He hits
the ball of tone. You're not playing anymore, are you? No?
Speaker 3 (17:05):
My days are done.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
My days are done as well our special guests. For
the entire hour, our Patty and Jim Gasso, We're gonna
get to a break. The other side of the break
will ask them to share their testimony. This is Faith
in the Zone on Fox Sports ninet twenty and your
I Hurt Radio app. Welcome back to Faith in the
Zone on Fox Sports ninet twenty and your iHeart Radio app.
(17:26):
I'm Mike mcgiver alongside the head pastor at Brookside Baptist Church.
He's Pastor Ken Keltner. Coming from the Donavan and Jorian
Sanhiti and Coolian Studios. Our special guests Jim and Patty Gasso.
Patty is the head coach at the University of Oklahoma. Hey, Jim,
before we ask you to share your testimonies, are you
still are you going to be coaching again this year?
Speaker 5 (17:49):
Well, you know, I have a training facility and so
I'm training. I've been training athletes forever. So, but I'm
invested with Patty now with her being with the Olympic
team and everything else, and I'm more like right now
with her, like her orations. Person.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
That's awesome, man, Good for you, Good for you, guys.
The second segment for us, guys, is the one that
we get the most reaction from people. Ask me a
lot about segment two when we ask people to share
their testimony in Jim, I'm gonna start with you, if
you could share your testimony with us?
Speaker 5 (18:30):
Okay, Well, you know I grew up in a family
of eleven and my mother and father were the big
reasons of me getting to know about my Christianity. They
were both very a discipline in the Word and discipline
(18:52):
in the family, and we go to church every Sunday
and then midy week my father would lead a Bible
study for the family and that's how I grew up.
Now what I'm a perfect Christian. I don't think I was,
and ever thought I was. But if it wasn't for
(19:14):
my parents who guided us through teaching us about God.
And I mean it just it's they with me ever since.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
When Hey, Jim and Pastor you always talk about listen
that that God made it so easy that even children
can understand that you have to fully accept Him and
be born again. And I think what Jim is talking about,
and he can correct me if I'm wrong. As a child,
you know, it was something that was in his home
and and and you know he certainly he it guided
(19:52):
him when he said, Look, I wasn't a perfect Christian.
I've never met one, Pastor, and I don't think you
have either, But but what a great way to be
able to build that base.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Yeah and uh yeah, so yeah, Jim, you probably came
to know the Lord Jesus as your Savior early in
life as I did. And I'm thankful for my parents too.
My dad was military. Uh, he and my mom were
not believers, and when they were stationed in South Carolina,
a family invited him over and shared the gospel. And
(20:21):
from that point on, when he and my mom trusted Christ.
Right there I was. I was in church too, and
and really heard that message as you did. It's powerful, uh,
the message of Christ. Uh, even at a young age.
Speaker 5 (20:37):
Yeah, And you know, it didn't it like, it didn't
hit me really really until you know, I got a
little bit older and I was in high school, and
then I was getting ready to go to college, and
and then a lot of things started happening. And then
I would always go back to both my parents and saying, so,
(20:59):
this is what we're teaching me. This is that makes sense?
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (21:04):
Then you know, exploring through through college my life is
it's uh, you know, I was thinking okay about God
and trying to live the way I'm supposed to live
and sharing the gospel and so forth.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
So I love that, Jim, Thank you so much for
sharing that. Patty. If I can turn it over to you,
and if you'd be willing to share your testimony as well.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Yeah, it's quite different. So and when I was young,
my mom was raising three kids on her own. So
when I was like, we were a single parent home,
so I had a lot of I'd come home from
(21:49):
school and my mom would tell us as kids, we
went to Catholic school, so uh, family members helped my
mom get us through that financially. I would come home
from school in my uniform. We lived literally right next to.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
Go to park.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
It opened up, the gate opened up, backyard gate opened
up right into the park. So she would say, when
you get home, I want you to change your clothes,
get in your play clothes, get over to the park.
And she would call our park director and say, do
you see my kids over there somewhere? Are they playing?
(22:31):
To see them? And he would say yes, and she
felt good, like the park was our babysitter. The park
director didn't know he was our babysitter. So we didn't
have the money to babysit three kids, So I just played.
I played every day after school when I was young,
(22:52):
in elementary school, and that's how I learned a lot
about leadership and things like that. When you are one
of the better athletes, everyone wants to come to you
for the rules, and what's first base? What are we
going to use for first base? What a team? So forth.
So that's kind of how we grew up. An interesting
(23:16):
I can remember back being in high school, were still
in those black and white TVs. Maybe I was eighth
grade or something, and I turned on Billy Graham and
I was watching it on TV, and I remember my
siblings coming in and going, oh, are you a Jesus freak? Now?
(23:36):
Like just but it did something to me, like I
felt it in my heart, but it still was not
born again. I met jim Gasho in college as we
knew we were getting closer together and we were engaged.
(23:59):
We were fighting over who's going to whose church? And
thank God that I surrendered and went to his church.
That you know now, I'm not kneeling, I'm not sitting
in hard seats. It's like we're sitting in movies, like
we're at the movie theater almost. So it really took
(24:20):
me a long time to understand what being born again meant.
And Jimmy wanted it so bad for me. I hope
you don't get mad for me saying this. We're praying
one time like the pastors like, let's praying, and my
eyes were open and he looked over and he's like,
(24:41):
you can't pray with your eyes. So it's just him
wanting me to figure it out. And it took me
two years going to his church and watching baptisms and
just nothing. Well, it was very foreign to me, but
(25:03):
I still was looking forward to going every Sunday, and
I was really trying to understand what being born again
meant and how that would feel.
Speaker 5 (25:14):
How do you know?
Speaker 4 (25:15):
How do you know? When that happened? And not by surprise,
The Lord made sure that I was on a soutball
field and we were playing a game out in Fullerton
and the sun was kind of setting and I remember
runner like a player running around second and I'm like
(25:38):
waving her home, and I didn't even look to see
if she was safer out. I was just looking into
the sunset because it was just a wow sunset. And
I felt in that moment God come into my heart
and just you know it when you know it, and
I felt it, and I was kind of trying to
(25:59):
hide because I was crying, but I could not wait
to get home to tell Jimmy what I experienced and
I knew that when that happened, that you want to
shout it from the mountaintops, like it's just a whole
nother level of understanding. God has entered your heart. And
(26:19):
I came home and I couldn't like to tell him
and he's like, oh, okay, great, So it was. It's
just an amazing transformation for me that I have not
looked back on.
Speaker 5 (26:35):
Let me let me add to that a little bit.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Yeah, Jim, you go.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
But here's here is what transpired with me is like
I remember, I remember talking to God and asking God,
you know, I said, God, you know, I'm bringing the
love of my life that you have put in giving
me and you told me that bringing her to you,
(27:04):
and you know things are what would be getting better.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
But all I'm doing is fighting.
Speaker 5 (27:10):
I'm fighting you know what's going on here, you know.
And then that was my prayer. And then I remember
like shortly shortly thereafter, like I felt like someone hit
him in the head and telling me, she knuckle ahead,
that's not your job, that's my.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Job, amen.
Speaker 5 (27:28):
And I said, oh my gosh, but what the biggest
mistake I ever done to do that? But I learned,
But I learned.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yeah, that's phenomenal. How you know, Christ Jesus uh as
our savior as he he works in our lives. I
remember years ago when I was young, back in Tulsa,
we had a little five day club and I walked
one of the boys home afterwards talking to him about
the Lord. And I got home and I told my dad.
I go, hey, Dad, Scott got saved today.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
He goes, he did. How that happened?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
I go, well, he didn't want to, but I jumped
on it. I jumped on him, put him on his back,
and I told him, hy, buddy, you're going to put
your faith and trust in Jesus right now before I
let you up. I remember my dad looked at me
and goes, that is not how it's done. And Jimmy,
we kind of want to, we kind of want to
make people make that decision.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
But you're right, that's the spirit of God's job.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Our special guests Jimmy, Jim and Patty Gasso. Patty, It's
interesting because I too, We went to Catholic schools from
from first grade through twelfth and back then, and I'm
a grandfather of six, so I've been around a long time.
Back then, they would say, hey, well, we'll show you
how to carry the Bible when you go in the church.
(28:43):
Don't worry about what's in it. We'll tell you what's
in it. But this is how you carry it. And
we had somebody on faith in his own give me
this line, and it was perfect. I knew Jesus Christ
the same way I knew Abraham Lincoln. I knew all
the stories, but I had no relationship, and I didn't
understand it. I prayed for me for years, Patty for years.
(29:03):
And one day when I walked into an east Side
Baptist church because I was doing some things that I
shouldn't be doing, the pastor said, I knew you would come.
And I said excuse me, and he said, I didn't
know when you would come, but your wife has been
praying for you for years, so I knew you would come.
One day, Let's go to work, and and that changed
my life. It changed everything about my life, It changed
(29:25):
my family, it changed all of it. And my wife
prayed for me for years, and I know that Jimmy
did that for you as well.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
Most definitely, Yeah, and that's how we I think that's
probably was the turning point of where we knew now
we can be married as one.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Amen, And you look at it now. God's given you
both such a great platform. And I told Jim when
we were talking on the phone, you know, back in July,
I said to you, the thing that stood out to
me was in the Oregon U Super Regional this last year.
And I know you're so close with Melissa Lombardi that
(30:07):
you coached with you for years. And I think Sidney
Romero is over there in the dugout and all I
remember as the players went and circled the pitching mound,
both Oregon and and the OU players, and they're praying.
I saw you, Jimmy come out of the the stands
and get Patty and probably JT and and you went
(30:29):
over and you got all the Oregon coaches, uh. And
they had it on national TV just for a second,
you know, and I was like, look at that, Amen,
and you you, Jim, you gathered everybody together, and it
looked like to me you were you were praying for
for all of them and and and the game, uh
and the safety of everyone after that. But you've had
(30:51):
both of you have had such a great platform of
of of reaching others and teammate you know, those team
players for you, for Christ.
Speaker 5 (31:02):
Yeah, you know, in those moments, I really, you know,
I feel the presence of God and everything that that
we have done the entire seasons and coaches, those the
part of our discipleship. And then it all comes together
(31:24):
even stronger, you know, when we win in those games.
But for us and and and the people that have
been with us, it's the first credit goes to our
Lord and Savior for what he's done for us, what
he's supplied us with. And it's all just thinking him
and putting us where we're where we need to be.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
That is Jim Gasso. We are special guests, Jim and
Patty Gasso. We need to get to a break other
side of the break. I'm gonna ask Patty question that
I get asked a lot about building a program, and
and look what she has done and and what her
and and Jim have done at Oklahoma to build this
program is remarkable and the template that they've used, I'm
(32:07):
going to ask her about building this program. And again
when in the beginning of that first segment, she said, look,
we used to play in parks where nobody could come
and watch his play. And then we had a facility
where people couldn't get in, and now Oklahoma is a
place that again, every softball player I talked to in
the stay of Wisconsin, they're like, well, I'd like to
go to Oklahoma, but if my second choice would be this,
(32:28):
And she has built that program to the point where
everybody is trying to figure out how we can get
to that point, and we'll ask her that question on
the other side of the break. This is Faith in
the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty and your iHeart
Radio App. Welcome back to Faith in the Zone on
Fox Sports nine twenty and your iHeartRadio App. Coming from
the Donovan and Jorgensen Heating and Cooling Studios, our special
(32:52):
guests Patty and Jim Gasso. But when you talk about
the world of softball, these are the two that you
can start with. And for me, Patty, I'm going to
start with you this segment. As a high school basketball coach,
I've had the opportunity to either try to build on
programs or build a program, and starting from the ground
(33:13):
floor kind of it's a very difficult thing to do
to build culture in the locker room and have the
school understand the importance of being a good competitive basketball team.
I'm wondering when you got the job at Oklahoma, you know,
it was obviously not where it is now for sure,
and you have built that program. I'm wondering if when
(33:34):
younger coaches ask you, you know, is there a special
sauce to building a program, what do you tell them?
Speaker 4 (33:42):
That's a good question. I think just my foundation of
where I came from there was just a lot of
blue collar hard work. I had to work for my money.
I had to work, you know, for anything I was
hoping to get. My first job was at Burger Team,
(34:02):
which is probably one of the greatest things that could
have happened to me, because fat food is hard work
but low pay, and I worked my tail off as
many hours as I could to try to make money
because my mom really didn't have a lot of money
for us. So I think I'd look back at how
(34:22):
I grew up and part of the independence that I had.
But really, the blue collar model is what I brought
to Oklahoma. When I got there, the team was in revolt.
They did not want they were hoping to maybe get
a different coach, and they were kind of boycotting when
(34:47):
I got there. When I got there, I was pregnant
with DJ, so I'm trying to find all these players
and get them back. Let me talk to them. So
I just I am very strong willed in knowing what
is needed on the field, and that is a player
(35:10):
that is hungry, that will ball out do anything they
need to do to make a play. And I was
tough back then, probably much tougher than I am now.
I tried. JT wanted me to bring back the old men,
which is a little bit harder to do, but I
(35:33):
put them. And Jimmy was our strength coach as well,
so we were both involved in building this program. But
it was just accountability and that's not good enough, Let's
do it again. That's not good enough. We're going to
do it again. And I didn't always have I mean,
it's impossible to have a locker room of let's say
(35:55):
eighteen females and them all get along because they all
think they should be starting, and if you're starting in
their spot, I don't like you, so forth. So I
really was involved in making sure that the locker room
could get along. And when I'm not in there, I
know some things can happen. But I was always looking
(36:19):
for whatever problems that were happening that I could squash them.
I had a player who was like the mole of
the team, but everyone liked that person enough that they
don't even know that it's the mole. But the mole
would come back and tell me this person's doing this
or we need to change that. And so it was
(36:42):
really effective that I had someone communicating with me but
not afraid to do it. So that was really kind
of how I started. And I'm just gotta say, like,
trophies are great. I don't think I've ever held or
we've held up trophy. I've held up the trophy after,
(37:04):
you know, when all the cameras want you to. But
I don't wear rings. I don't get caught up in
one that meant more than the other. I just my
goal is more than winning games. It speak, it was
more about turning girls into women. But as I've gotten
(37:25):
stronger and more bold in my faith, it's been also
finding a way to if it's not from me, it's
putting them in front of someone that can share the
gospel or open.
Speaker 5 (37:38):
Their mind to it.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
And Jimmy's been great in that way. And I have
to give credit to Sarah Roberts who's one of the
higher ups in the FCA that has been our chaplain
for quite a long time and connected with the girls.
And I'd say right now that probably three fourths of
(38:01):
our team are faith based, very new, though many are
very new. But they when like an athlete, when you
when you want something, you put the work in. And
that's what they're doing right now as young Christians is
they're putting the work in. They're reading, they're going to church,
(38:22):
they're doing things that have been new to them. So
it went from being cut up and winning games and
always being at the World Series and always trying to win,
to that the Lord kind of knocked me, like Jimmy said,
like knock me over the head and said, this is
not about winning games. This is about winning souls and
(38:45):
that's that's what your job is. The rest will come,
and I believe that the Lord does grace us with
great talent and ability to win, partly because we'll do
those things on the field. We'll give a very open answer,
(39:08):
like a faith based answer in our interviews and giving
God the glory and praying around the circle after the
game and inviting the team that maybe we've just run
ruled to come over and pray with us. Some teams
do not, but majority do. And then I go down
and I'm recruiting out in California or wherever I am,
(39:31):
and I'm watching eighteen and under programs doing the same thing, Amen,
mimicking what we're doing. So people are watching, they're listening,
they're curious. They're curious, and as long as we can
get them curious as to what we're doing, we've got
to put in the door.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Yeah, and everybody usually will call me and say, hey,
did you watch those Oklahoma girls with Coach Gaso, you know,
after they won the series and they're the national champs,
all giving praise and honor and glory to Jesus Christ.
I said, I sure did, And I said, Jim, you
said that to me when we talked in July. You said, Hey,
(40:10):
Patty and I are just trying to work with these
girls and see them become young women who have a
great love for the Lord. So thank you for your testimony.
I know we got to move on.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
Mind, Yeah, we do. I'm sorry, guys, we got to
get to a break. The other side of the break.
We'll ask both Jim and Patty Gasca the question we
ask at the end, all the uniforms they've ever put on,
they get to pick one uniform out to get one
more game with that team. What uniform did they pick?
Who do they play against? And why? This is Faith
in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty and your
(40:41):
iHeart Radio App. Welcome back to Faith in the Zone
on Fox Sports nine twenty in your iHeartRadio App. I'm
Mike McGivern alongside the head pastor at Brookside Baptist Church.
He's Pastor Ken Keltner. And our special guests for the
entire hour have been Patty and Jim Gasso. Patty, they're
the coaches that University of Oklahoma and doing a really
(41:02):
really good job. Obviously also going to be coaching the
US women's softball Olympic team and looking forward to that. Guys,
this last question that we always end the show with
it happened, I don't know, three years ago now is
kind of a throwaway question. It just is always a
fun way to end the show. And Jim, I'm going to.
Speaker 6 (41:20):
Start with you all the uniforms you've ever put on
in your entire life, from Little League baseball to whatever
you whatever sports you've played and coached, you put all
the uniforms into closet, you get to put one out
to get one more game with that team.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
What you informed do you pick? Who do you play against?
And why?
Speaker 5 (41:39):
Well, I love athletics and God's blessed me with you know,
the ability to play. You know, I played football in
high school and in college and it was because of
that that I was able to showcase God. So it
definitely is going to would be football. But I was
(42:03):
I was blessed that that He gave an opportunity. But
I used it not for my glory, but for His glory.
And that's because of my parents and because of.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
God and where I am man Amen to that. Patty.
You've put out a lot of uniforms in in your day,
in your life. I'm wondering, if you put them all
in the closet, what uniform do you pick out to
get one more game with that team?
Speaker 4 (42:30):
Okay, so I heard you say, I can I pick
a coach, a coaching outfit.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Yes? No, No, you can you coaching uniform or a player,
whatever uniform you put out a lot of them, if
you could get one more game.
Speaker 4 (42:46):
My career as a play was very average. I'm going
to go to coaching. And I think the game that
changed my life, or the the year that changed my life,
was in twenty thirteen, and that was when the level
(43:11):
five tornado hit the city of Moore, which was devastating
and it was more than about a ten minute drive
from Norman, and it affected a lot of people. It
had some casualties, and one was a young girl from
Moore who was a seven year old who was just
(43:34):
in love with OU softball and some of her parents
from her little travel ball team, a little seven and
eight year olds reached out to us. And the girl
that I'm talking about passed away in this She was
in school and one of the buildings fell and she died,
(43:56):
and we brought her teammates and it was just a
lot of mourning and a lot of sadness. And I
just remember bringing those kids to our field and playing
games with them and they're laughing again and they're I mean,
this was like a week after it happened. They're laughing.
(44:16):
The parents are crying watching this while the girls, little
girls are laughing. But we ended up. That was right
before we went into the World Series, and it was
such a passion to play for something else besides you
know Oklahoma. It was more for the city of More,
(44:40):
City of More, but the state of Oklahoma. And man,
did we feel God's presence in that moment on that
field because it was so important for us in our
minds to win, to bring joy and glory to God
and everything else that we can for people in Oklaholma
(45:02):
who are hurting over the devastation and destruction of that tornado.
I'll never forget that, and it just changed me forever.
Speaker 3 (45:11):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
She is Patty Gasso and her husband Jim Gasso. After
listening to this and I asked about how to build
a program. This isn't a program. This is a ministry
that these two have, And what I should have asked
is how do you continue to build this ministry? Because
that's what this is for them? And I knew it
coming in, but I know it a lot more now.
(45:33):
Pastor Ken, this has been a great hour, and I
thank you for the work that you've put in to
get this show. Jim and Patty, thank you so much
for your time. Good luck with all the work you guys.
Good luck with your your fall team, and don't let
those young girls beat your team today, Patty, don't don't
let them do that for sure. We're too competitive us coaches.
(45:54):
We don't want to lose anything, So don't let them
lose today. Jim and Patty Gasso, guys, thank you so much.
I really appreciate it. James, great job today. This is
Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty and
your iHeart Radio app.
Welcome to Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nine
twenty in your iHeart radio app. I'm Mike McGivern. Look
who's back. My co host is back in the chair,
and I'm excited to have him back. Pastor Ken Keltner
from Brookside Baptist Church. We are coming from the Donovan
and Jorgensen Heating and Cooling Studios. Any issues you have
with your HVAC system go to Donovan Jorgensen dot com. Man,
(00:24):
I'm excited about today's I'm not half as excited as
you are, but you know what I Before we get going,
I have to thank Lea and Miko. She introduced and
got us a phone number for one of our special
guests today. We have two of them, and Pastor, there's
been two names for the last eight to ten years
that you've been saying to me, we gotta get, we
gotta find, we got to track. One has been Tim
(00:46):
Tebow and we're still tracking. Well, we'll get him one day.
The other one was Patty Gasso, the head coach for
the women's softball team at University Oklahoma. And you've been
talking about Patty Gaso for a long time and they
won a national championship a couple of years ago, and
their theme music for that year was Nobody from Casting Crowds,
(01:07):
which is the theme song for this this show. And
I said, Okay, we need to find her, and you've
been chasing her. And I want to thank Leah and
Miko for introducing you to Jim and getting us a
phone number for Jim and Patty Gaso. And I know
you're excited about today's show.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Sure, am, And we're so glad to have Jim and
Patty with us today. And yeah, I'm kind of starstruck really,
you know, to be on the phone visiting. And you know,
I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, so I was always
a big Oklahoma fan.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
And I know they'll they'll kind of laugh at this.
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Back in the seventies, the school I went to didn't
have a baseball team, so I played fast pitch softball
with our men's team at the church. And Patty you
would have probably you and Jim would have probably been
on my case because I tried stealing one time and
the catcher was so powerful with his rocket arm that
(02:05):
the second basement had the ball in his glove as
I went into the slide.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
I think you would have said.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
No stealing pastor. Hey, Jim and Patty, how you guys doing.
Let's start with Jim, thank you so much for helping
us set this up.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Sir.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
How you doing today?
Speaker 5 (02:23):
I'm doing good. I've been doing How about you guys.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
We're doing great. We're excited. I can tell you that. Patty,
how are you today?
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I'm good? Getting ready to play our first fall game,
So this is a good way to get started.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, and I know that's a big thing. Every fault
you are. There folks that go to loves Field to
watch watch you all play those fall games.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
They do, but not today because we're playing the USA
national nineteen and underteam that's in town and about to
play the World Games in Oklahoma City. So what's interesting
is there's four players on that team that are future recruits.
So this is going to be I got to get
(03:08):
our team up to say we are not going to
lose to the nineteen.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Practice for.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
This is something completely new, and I'm anxious and nervous
at the same time.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Hey, Patty, I also do a high school sports show.
I was a high school basketball coach for a long
time in this market, and during the summer we'll do
one week of baseball, one week of softball, girls softball.
And every time I have girls come in, we'll have
you know, all conference, off state, whatever they are, I'll
ask them a question. Look at night, before you close
(03:47):
your eyes, if you could, if you could pick any
school in the country to go play softball at the
next level. And they always say the same thing, Well,
other than Oklahoma, right, And I'm like, what do you mean. Well,
Oklahoma is where everybody that every girl that plays softball,
that's where they want to go. It's very difficult to
play there. So other than Oklahoma, maybe I'd want to
(04:08):
go to Wisconsin, or maybe I'd want to go play here.
But it's really funny to be because they all say
the same thing, Well, I'd like to go to Oklahoma,
you know anybody in Oklahoma? And I'm like, I don't.
And it's so funny to me that that you have
built this program to the point that even in the
state of Wisconsin, these girls are dreaming about playing for you.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
That feels really good. It's very difficult to make all
the dreams come true, but the fact that they are dreaming,
whether it's about Oklahoma or any other team, is what
you want at a young age to keep them focused
and fighting and all that good stuff. So that's good
(04:54):
for our sport if they're dreaming about softball right now now.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
And Jim, you really helped Mid America Christian University kind
of take their women's softball to another level. As I
was reading about some of your accomplishments, and so I know,
I know the Gasso family is a big softball family.
Speaker 5 (05:19):
Yeah, you know. I came in and two years ago
and I just all I did was just put them
in the right positions and challenge them and working with
the players in their self confidence about themselves, how they play,
(05:44):
adjustments on just simple little things, but just giving it,
giving it their best no matter what happens.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, and obviously you did a great job connecting with him, Jim.
I can always tell when I'm watching I know your game.
Kathy and I we make it a point. After the
twenty seventeen National Championship against Florida that went seventeen innings,
Kathy and I fell in love with the Oklahoma softball
(06:14):
team and Shade Knight hitting that homer there, I think
it was in the top of the seventeenth. I need
to win but I can always tell you're there, Jim.
You have the greatest whistle.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
I don't know if anybody ever tell you that.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I mean, I always look at Kathy and I go, hey, Jim,
Jim's in the stadium right now.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
But let's ask Patty. Let's ask Patty if she likes
that whistle.
Speaker 5 (06:43):
I know him too.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
I love the fact that, I mean, he knows he's
so connected personally and spiritually.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
Two our players.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Yeah, so he becomes more than just a super fan.
I mean he's very connected. And the players know his whistle.
They see him right above the dugout. They see his excitement.
He can get overly excited sometimes and maybe throw a
word at the umpire every year and there. And that's
when I remember. One time I was walking into the
(07:17):
dugout at the World Series and he was sparking, I think,
at the umpire, and I just looked up and gave
him a.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Look like, yeah, yeah, hey, listen, every husband knows that look,
all right.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
I meant, I didn't marry Milk toast.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
And when I get that look, because I coached for
a long time and she would usually rebuke me for
anything that I might have said to an official. So
I've apologized to several officials in my day. And I
can get pretty excited too, So she kind of will
look at me when we're watching an Oklahoma softball game
(07:54):
and say, you need to settle down right now, And
I said, well, I.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Mean for curn lewd. I mean they've been on that
a strike the whole game.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Hey, Patty, you know what I my wife has given
me the look. My my pastor has given me the look.
My pastor's wife has given me look. I coached pastors
boys in high school, and I coached my son in
high school basketball, and trust me, our spouses, she gives
me a look and she doesn't say much during games
except we got to box out more. But Pastor Ken
(08:25):
when I was coaching his boys, he would be up
in the crowd and thank good as he doesn't know
how to whistle, because he would have been whistling like crazy.
I gotta tell you our special guests for the entire hour,
Patty and Jim Gasso. When you when you think about
the world of softball, they they are, they are, they
are on the top at this point. I gotta be
honest with you. There have been people that we've had
(08:47):
on faith in the zone that have have been at
the top as well, right they they're just have been.
And and Lea Miko's one of them. I mean she is.
She has done some wonderful things in this game. But
when you talk about especially at the clegianal level, we
Patty and Jim Gassho are at the top of the
mountain right now and they're doing things the right way pastor.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah, and Patty, you know, I couldn't help. But you
know I watch j T. Their your your son as
a hitting coach and assistant coach.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
And all right now, and and.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
I couldn't help. Kathy and I have four boys, very
all very competitive, and I couldn't help. But think when
you were playing Arkansas and your other son, j D.
I think he's a hitting coach for Arkansas.
Speaker 5 (09:32):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I got to imagine that there had to be some
talk between j T and j d uh during that
during those games.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Yeah, well my senate Arkansas is DJ.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Just oh, DJ, I am sorry, I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
I will tell you that I probably had more nerves
going into that game or that series. My daughter in
law is there, her parents are my grandkids. From that side.
JT and his wife brought their four kids. So it
was I was nervous a little bit about just you know,
(10:14):
when you have your family together, you know there's just
a little bit of chaos. I felt that. But DJ
is a talker, and I'm over in the third base
coaching box and he's in the dugout to me, mimicking
the way he was as a kid, like mom, mom, mom, mom,
(10:39):
doing a lot of that, and waited for me. He
just was way for me to turn around and look
at him, and I just kept holding my ground till
finally I turned over. I'm like, DJ stopped. He wasn't
even related to stophone kind of. He knows how to
he kept saying the week prior, like I know how to.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
Get to you.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
I know I know how can break you. I know
I can distract you. So it was me worrying about
if DJ could break me or not. But it was
it was a celebration, honestly. Jimmy was there, our whole family,
both DJ and his kids, to Tea, his wife, his kids,
(11:26):
all of us were together playing an Elite Division one
softball game on national television, and I just I just
felt it more like a celebration of look at look
at what's going on right now, and it was. It
was fun. I still want to win, I don't it
(11:53):
was I don't know. I just certainly felt the blessings.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
Yeah, God's given it the family.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, well yeah, I watched that game. I thought you
held your composure very well. And with four boys, we
have a talker to during the break. I'll tell you
a little bit of how they can get in their
mother's head.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
That's for sure, one hundred percent. Our special guest Patty
and Jim Gasso. Hey, Patty, last question before we get
to the break. When you when you were playing softball
at California State University, if I had sent to you
back then, Hey, in the futures, this is what the
future holds for you. You're you're going to be the
all time winningness softball coaching Division one softball history. You're
(12:36):
going to win a number of state championships or national
championships at Oklahoma. When you were a player, what would
you have said to me.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
You're absolutely out of your mind. Just back then, we
played at a park field that was our home field.
We bore no helmets. I was one of those players
that far back we wore no helmets. The bats were
either wooden or aluminum. Pitching mound was at thirty five
(13:11):
thirty six, and pitchers are humming it. I mean, it
was definitely not an offensive game. Games would be over
in an hour and a half because nobody could hit
a pitching game. But no, there was no one that
came to our games. There was no investment financially in
(13:32):
women's softball, let alone women's sports. So the journey is
and Jimmy was there for that as well. We met
in college, so he saw this whole our careers play
out to where now I'm coaching in a forty five
(13:57):
plus million dollars stadium.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
It is a beautiful stadium.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
Thank you. It's just there was a lot of hard
work by Jimmy and I and our family and just
the boldness. And that's something Jimmy has way more than
I do. But he's encouraged me. But really, the Lord
(14:25):
has changed me in a way that I want to
stand up for what is right for our players, for
our program, for our coaches, and I eventually kind of
our program became the model of what every program should
(14:47):
look like. It wasn't me trying to say look at me.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
It was more of.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
How fans are coming out now, fans have no place
to sit. Fans are getting locked down out of the
gates because they can't get in. We need a bigger stadium.
And with the exposure on television at a lot of
fans are able to watch the growth of fans and
(15:16):
their engagement. Like just talking with you both, you're watching,
you're seeing. It's great game, it's very athletic, it's very fast,
it's fun to watch, and the fans want in. And
now wherever we go to play, the opponent's place is
selling out and they're bringing in more bleachers, and we're
(15:38):
trying to go to places. Last year we went back
to where I came from. We played San Diego State,
Long Beach, State, cow State Fullerton, and Loyola Marymount, which
are programs that don't have the money of the power
for And I just thought, if we could make that
road trip and try to sell out those places, at
(16:01):
least we can put some money, hopefully in their pockets,
so they could do something to improve their experience at
their university with more permanent stands, grant stands or whatever
it is. So we are My mind is always trying
to I mean, we've arrived, But my mission now is
(16:22):
just trying to help others arrive as well.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Amen. That's that servant leadership heart that you obviously have
our special guests. Hey, and look if you think about
who would be on the Mount Rushmore of women's softball, right,
We've had Dot Richardson on, We've had Lea Miko on,
and now we have Jim and Patty Gasso on. That's
pretty good, especially the way we hit a softball in
(16:46):
short softball league where Yeah, I got to tell you,
Patty Pastor Ken and I won two in that league. One. No,
maybe not. We both swing and missed underhand softball. Wait,
we can't do it anymore, Patty, at least for me.
I'm not playing more. Our producer can play. He hits
the ball of tone. You're not playing anymore, are you? No?
Speaker 3 (17:05):
My days are done.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
My days are done as well our special guests. For
the entire hour, our Patty and Jim Gasso, We're gonna
get to a break. The other side of the break
will ask them to share their testimony. This is Faith
in the Zone on Fox Sports ninet twenty and your
I Hurt Radio app. Welcome back to Faith in the
Zone on Fox Sports ninet twenty and your iHeart Radio app.
(17:26):
I'm Mike mcgiver alongside the head pastor at Brookside Baptist Church.
He's Pastor Ken Keltner. Coming from the Donavan and Jorian
Sanhiti and Coolian Studios. Our special guests Jim and Patty Gasso.
Patty is the head coach at the University of Oklahoma. Hey, Jim,
before we ask you to share your testimonies, are you
still are you going to be coaching again this year?
Speaker 5 (17:49):
Well, you know, I have a training facility and so
I'm training. I've been training athletes forever. So, but I'm
invested with Patty now with her being with the Olympic
team and everything else, and I'm more like right now
with her, like her orations. Person.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
That's awesome, man, Good for you, Good for you, guys.
The second segment for us, guys, is the one that
we get the most reaction from people. Ask me a
lot about segment two when we ask people to share
their testimony in Jim, I'm gonna start with you, if
you could share your testimony with us?
Speaker 5 (18:30):
Okay, Well, you know I grew up in a family
of eleven and my mother and father were the big
reasons of me getting to know about my Christianity. They
were both very a discipline in the Word and discipline
(18:52):
in the family, and we go to church every Sunday
and then midy week my father would lead a Bible
study for the family and that's how I grew up.
Now what I'm a perfect Christian. I don't think I was,
and ever thought I was. But if it wasn't for
(19:14):
my parents who guided us through teaching us about God.
And I mean it just it's they with me ever since.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
When Hey, Jim and Pastor you always talk about listen
that that God made it so easy that even children
can understand that you have to fully accept Him and
be born again. And I think what Jim is talking about,
and he can correct me if I'm wrong. As a child,
you know, it was something that was in his home
and and and you know he certainly he it guided
(19:52):
him when he said, Look, I wasn't a perfect Christian.
I've never met one, Pastor, and I don't think you
have either, But but what a great way to be
able to build that base.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Yeah and uh yeah, so yeah, Jim, you probably came
to know the Lord Jesus as your Savior early in
life as I did. And I'm thankful for my parents too.
My dad was military. Uh, he and my mom were
not believers, and when they were stationed in South Carolina,
a family invited him over and shared the gospel. And
(20:21):
from that point on, when he and my mom trusted Christ.
Right there I was. I was in church too, and
and really heard that message as you did. It's powerful, uh,
the message of Christ. Uh, even at a young age.
Speaker 5 (20:37):
Yeah, And you know, it didn't it like, it didn't
hit me really really until you know, I got a
little bit older and I was in high school, and
then I was getting ready to go to college, and
and then a lot of things started happening. And then
I would always go back to both my parents and saying, so,
(20:59):
this is what we're teaching me. This is that makes sense?
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (21:04):
Then you know, exploring through through college my life is
it's uh, you know, I was thinking okay about God
and trying to live the way I'm supposed to live
and sharing the gospel and so forth.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
So I love that, Jim, Thank you so much for
sharing that. Patty. If I can turn it over to you,
and if you'd be willing to share your testimony as well.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Yeah, it's quite different. So and when I was young,
my mom was raising three kids on her own. So
when I was like, we were a single parent home,
so I had a lot of I'd come home from
(21:49):
school and my mom would tell us as kids, we
went to Catholic school, so uh, family members helped my
mom get us through that financially. I would come home
from school in my uniform. We lived literally right next to.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
Go to park.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
It opened up, the gate opened up, backyard gate opened
up right into the park. So she would say, when
you get home, I want you to change your clothes,
get in your play clothes, get over to the park.
And she would call our park director and say, do
you see my kids over there somewhere? Are they playing?
(22:31):
To see them? And he would say yes, and she
felt good, like the park was our babysitter. The park
director didn't know he was our babysitter. So we didn't
have the money to babysit three kids, So I just played.
I played every day after school when I was young,
(22:52):
in elementary school, and that's how I learned a lot
about leadership and things like that. When you are one
of the better athletes, everyone wants to come to you
for the rules, and what's first base? What are we
going to use for first base? What a team? So forth.
So that's kind of how we grew up. An interesting
(23:16):
I can remember back being in high school, were still
in those black and white TVs. Maybe I was eighth
grade or something, and I turned on Billy Graham and
I was watching it on TV, and I remember my
siblings coming in and going, oh, are you a Jesus freak? Now?
(23:36):
Like just but it did something to me, like I
felt it in my heart, but it still was not
born again. I met jim Gasho in college as we
knew we were getting closer together and we were engaged.
(23:59):
We were fighting over who's going to whose church? And
thank God that I surrendered and went to his church.
That you know now, I'm not kneeling, I'm not sitting
in hard seats. It's like we're sitting in movies, like
we're at the movie theater almost. So it really took
(24:20):
me a long time to understand what being born again meant.
And Jimmy wanted it so bad for me. I hope
you don't get mad for me saying this. We're praying
one time like the pastors like, let's praying, and my
eyes were open and he looked over and he's like,
(24:41):
you can't pray with your eyes. So it's just him
wanting me to figure it out. And it took me
two years going to his church and watching baptisms and
just nothing. Well, it was very foreign to me, but
(25:03):
I still was looking forward to going every Sunday, and
I was really trying to understand what being born again
meant and how that would feel.
Speaker 5 (25:14):
How do you know?
Speaker 4 (25:15):
How do you know? When that happened? And not by surprise,
The Lord made sure that I was on a soutball
field and we were playing a game out in Fullerton
and the sun was kind of setting and I remember
runner like a player running around second and I'm like
(25:38):
waving her home, and I didn't even look to see
if she was safer out. I was just looking into
the sunset because it was just a wow sunset. And
I felt in that moment God come into my heart
and just you know it when you know it, and
I felt it, and I was kind of trying to
(25:59):
hide because I was crying, but I could not wait
to get home to tell Jimmy what I experienced and
I knew that when that happened, that you want to
shout it from the mountaintops, like it's just a whole
nother level of understanding. God has entered your heart. And
(26:19):
I came home and I couldn't like to tell him
and he's like, oh, okay, great, So it was. It's
just an amazing transformation for me that I have not
looked back on.
Speaker 5 (26:35):
Let me let me add to that a little bit.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Yeah, Jim, you go.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
But here's here is what transpired with me is like
I remember, I remember talking to God and asking God,
you know, I said, God, you know, I'm bringing the
love of my life that you have put in giving
me and you told me that bringing her to you,
(27:04):
and you know things are what would be getting better.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
But all I'm doing is fighting.
Speaker 5 (27:10):
I'm fighting you know what's going on here, you know.
And then that was my prayer. And then I remember
like shortly shortly thereafter, like I felt like someone hit
him in the head and telling me, she knuckle ahead,
that's not your job, that's my.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Job, amen.
Speaker 5 (27:28):
And I said, oh my gosh, but what the biggest
mistake I ever done to do that? But I learned,
But I learned.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yeah, that's phenomenal. How you know, Christ Jesus uh as
our savior as he he works in our lives. I
remember years ago when I was young, back in Tulsa,
we had a little five day club and I walked
one of the boys home afterwards talking to him about
the Lord. And I got home and I told my dad.
I go, hey, Dad, Scott got saved today.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
He goes, he did. How that happened?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
I go, well, he didn't want to, but I jumped
on it. I jumped on him, put him on his back,
and I told him, hy, buddy, you're going to put
your faith and trust in Jesus right now before I
let you up. I remember my dad looked at me
and goes, that is not how it's done. And Jimmy,
we kind of want to, we kind of want to
make people make that decision.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
But you're right, that's the spirit of God's job.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Our special guests Jimmy, Jim and Patty Gasso. Patty, It's
interesting because I too, We went to Catholic schools from
from first grade through twelfth and back then, and I'm
a grandfather of six, so I've been around a long time.
Back then, they would say, hey, well, we'll show you
how to carry the Bible when you go in the church.
(28:43):
Don't worry about what's in it. We'll tell you what's
in it. But this is how you carry it. And
we had somebody on faith in his own give me
this line, and it was perfect. I knew Jesus Christ
the same way I knew Abraham Lincoln. I knew all
the stories, but I had no relationship, and I didn't
understand it. I prayed for me for years, Patty for years.
(29:03):
And one day when I walked into an east Side
Baptist church because I was doing some things that I
shouldn't be doing, the pastor said, I knew you would come.
And I said excuse me, and he said, I didn't
know when you would come, but your wife has been
praying for you for years, so I knew you would come.
One day, Let's go to work, and and that changed
my life. It changed everything about my life, It changed
(29:25):
my family, it changed all of it. And my wife
prayed for me for years, and I know that Jimmy
did that for you as well.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
Most definitely, Yeah, and that's how we I think that's
probably was the turning point of where we knew now
we can be married as one.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Amen, And you look at it now. God's given you
both such a great platform. And I told Jim when
we were talking on the phone, you know, back in July,
I said to you, the thing that stood out to
me was in the Oregon U Super Regional this last year.
And I know you're so close with Melissa Lombardi that
(30:07):
you coached with you for years. And I think Sidney
Romero is over there in the dugout and all I
remember as the players went and circled the pitching mound,
both Oregon and and the OU players, and they're praying.
I saw you, Jimmy come out of the the stands
and get Patty and probably JT and and you went
(30:29):
over and you got all the Oregon coaches, uh. And
they had it on national TV just for a second,
you know, and I was like, look at that, Amen,
and you you, Jim, you gathered everybody together, and it
looked like to me you were you were praying for
for all of them and and and the game, uh
and the safety of everyone after that. But you've had
(30:51):
both of you have had such a great platform of
of of reaching others and teammate you know, those team
players for you, for Christ.
Speaker 5 (31:02):
Yeah, you know, in those moments, I really, you know,
I feel the presence of God and everything that that
we have done the entire seasons and coaches, those the
part of our discipleship. And then it all comes together
(31:24):
even stronger, you know, when we win in those games.
But for us and and and the people that have
been with us, it's the first credit goes to our
Lord and Savior for what he's done for us, what
he's supplied us with. And it's all just thinking him
and putting us where we're where we need to be.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
That is Jim Gasso. We are special guests, Jim and
Patty Gasso. We need to get to a break other
side of the break. I'm gonna ask Patty question that
I get asked a lot about building a program, and
and look what she has done and and what her
and and Jim have done at Oklahoma to build this
program is remarkable and the template that they've used, I'm
(32:07):
going to ask her about building this program. And again
when in the beginning of that first segment, she said, look,
we used to play in parks where nobody could come
and watch his play. And then we had a facility
where people couldn't get in, and now Oklahoma is a
place that again, every softball player I talked to in
the stay of Wisconsin, they're like, well, I'd like to
go to Oklahoma, but if my second choice would be this,
(32:28):
And she has built that program to the point where
everybody is trying to figure out how we can get
to that point, and we'll ask her that question on
the other side of the break. This is Faith in
the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty and your iHeart
Radio App. Welcome back to Faith in the Zone on
Fox Sports nine twenty and your iHeartRadio App. Coming from
the Donovan and Jorgensen Heating and Cooling Studios, our special
(32:52):
guests Patty and Jim Gasso. But when you talk about
the world of softball, these are the two that you
can start with. And for me, Patty, I'm going to
start with you this segment. As a high school basketball coach,
I've had the opportunity to either try to build on
programs or build a program, and starting from the ground
(33:13):
floor kind of it's a very difficult thing to do
to build culture in the locker room and have the
school understand the importance of being a good competitive basketball team.
I'm wondering when you got the job at Oklahoma, you know,
it was obviously not where it is now for sure,
and you have built that program. I'm wondering if when
(33:34):
younger coaches ask you, you know, is there a special
sauce to building a program, what do you tell them?
Speaker 4 (33:42):
That's a good question. I think just my foundation of
where I came from there was just a lot of
blue collar hard work. I had to work for my money.
I had to work, you know, for anything I was
hoping to get. My first job was at Burger Team,
(34:02):
which is probably one of the greatest things that could
have happened to me, because fat food is hard work
but low pay, and I worked my tail off as
many hours as I could to try to make money
because my mom really didn't have a lot of money
for us. So I think I'd look back at how
(34:22):
I grew up and part of the independence that I had.
But really, the blue collar model is what I brought
to Oklahoma. When I got there, the team was in revolt.
They did not want they were hoping to maybe get
a different coach, and they were kind of boycotting when
(34:47):
I got there. When I got there, I was pregnant
with DJ, so I'm trying to find all these players
and get them back. Let me talk to them. So
I just I am very strong willed in knowing what
is needed on the field, and that is a player
(35:10):
that is hungry, that will ball out do anything they
need to do to make a play. And I was
tough back then, probably much tougher than I am now.
I tried. JT wanted me to bring back the old men,
which is a little bit harder to do, but I
(35:33):
put them. And Jimmy was our strength coach as well,
so we were both involved in building this program. But
it was just accountability and that's not good enough, Let's
do it again. That's not good enough. We're going to
do it again. And I didn't always have I mean,
it's impossible to have a locker room of let's say
(35:55):
eighteen females and them all get along because they all
think they should be starting, and if you're starting in
their spot, I don't like you, so forth. So I
really was involved in making sure that the locker room
could get along. And when I'm not in there, I
know some things can happen. But I was always looking
(36:19):
for whatever problems that were happening that I could squash them.
I had a player who was like the mole of
the team, but everyone liked that person enough that they
don't even know that it's the mole. But the mole
would come back and tell me this person's doing this
or we need to change that. And so it was
(36:42):
really effective that I had someone communicating with me but
not afraid to do it. So that was really kind
of how I started. And I'm just gotta say, like,
trophies are great. I don't think I've ever held or
we've held up trophy. I've held up the trophy after,
(37:04):
you know, when all the cameras want you to. But
I don't wear rings. I don't get caught up in
one that meant more than the other. I just my
goal is more than winning games. It speak, it was
more about turning girls into women. But as I've gotten
(37:25):
stronger and more bold in my faith, it's been also
finding a way to if it's not from me, it's
putting them in front of someone that can share the
gospel or open.
Speaker 5 (37:38):
Their mind to it.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
And Jimmy's been great in that way. And I have
to give credit to Sarah Roberts who's one of the
higher ups in the FCA that has been our chaplain
for quite a long time and connected with the girls.
And I'd say right now that probably three fourths of
(38:01):
our team are faith based, very new, though many are
very new. But they when like an athlete, when you
when you want something, you put the work in. And
that's what they're doing right now as young Christians is
they're putting the work in. They're reading, they're going to church,
(38:22):
they're doing things that have been new to them. So
it went from being cut up and winning games and
always being at the World Series and always trying to win,
to that the Lord kind of knocked me, like Jimmy said,
like knock me over the head and said, this is
not about winning games. This is about winning souls and
(38:45):
that's that's what your job is. The rest will come,
and I believe that the Lord does grace us with
great talent and ability to win, partly because we'll do
those things on the field. We'll give a very open answer,
(39:08):
like a faith based answer in our interviews and giving
God the glory and praying around the circle after the
game and inviting the team that maybe we've just run
ruled to come over and pray with us. Some teams
do not, but majority do. And then I go down
and I'm recruiting out in California or wherever I am,
(39:31):
and I'm watching eighteen and under programs doing the same thing, Amen,
mimicking what we're doing. So people are watching, they're listening,
they're curious. They're curious, and as long as we can
get them curious as to what we're doing, we've got
to put in the door.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Yeah, and everybody usually will call me and say, hey,
did you watch those Oklahoma girls with Coach Gaso, you know,
after they won the series and they're the national champs,
all giving praise and honor and glory to Jesus Christ.
I said, I sure did, And I said, Jim, you
said that to me when we talked in July. You said, Hey,
(40:10):
Patty and I are just trying to work with these
girls and see them become young women who have a
great love for the Lord. So thank you for your testimony.
I know we got to move on.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
Mind, Yeah, we do. I'm sorry, guys, we got to
get to a break. The other side of the break.
We'll ask both Jim and Patty Gasca the question we
ask at the end, all the uniforms they've ever put on,
they get to pick one uniform out to get one
more game with that team. What uniform did they pick?
Who do they play against? And why? This is Faith
in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty and your
(40:41):
iHeart Radio App. Welcome back to Faith in the Zone
on Fox Sports nine twenty in your iHeartRadio App. I'm
Mike McGivern alongside the head pastor at Brookside Baptist Church.
He's Pastor Ken Keltner. And our special guests for the
entire hour have been Patty and Jim Gasso. Patty, they're
the coaches that University of Oklahoma and doing a really
(41:02):
really good job. Obviously also going to be coaching the
US women's softball Olympic team and looking forward to that. Guys,
this last question that we always end the show with
it happened, I don't know, three years ago now is
kind of a throwaway question. It just is always a
fun way to end the show. And Jim, I'm going to.
Speaker 6 (41:20):
Start with you all the uniforms you've ever put on
in your entire life, from Little League baseball to whatever
you whatever sports you've played and coached, you put all
the uniforms into closet, you get to put one out
to get one more game with that team.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
What you informed do you pick? Who do you play against?
And why?
Speaker 5 (41:39):
Well, I love athletics and God's blessed me with you know,
the ability to play. You know, I played football in
high school and in college and it was because of
that that I was able to showcase God. So it
definitely is going to would be football. But I was
(42:03):
I was blessed that that He gave an opportunity. But
I used it not for my glory, but for His glory.
And that's because of my parents and because of.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
God and where I am man Amen to that. Patty.
You've put out a lot of uniforms in in your day,
in your life. I'm wondering, if you put them all
in the closet, what uniform do you pick out to
get one more game with that team?
Speaker 4 (42:30):
Okay, so I heard you say, I can I pick
a coach, a coaching outfit.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Yes? No, No, you can you coaching uniform or a player,
whatever uniform you put out a lot of them, if
you could get one more game.
Speaker 4 (42:46):
My career as a play was very average. I'm going
to go to coaching. And I think the game that
changed my life, or the the year that changed my life,
was in twenty thirteen, and that was when the level
(43:11):
five tornado hit the city of Moore, which was devastating
and it was more than about a ten minute drive
from Norman, and it affected a lot of people. It
had some casualties, and one was a young girl from
Moore who was a seven year old who was just
(43:34):
in love with OU softball and some of her parents
from her little travel ball team, a little seven and
eight year olds reached out to us. And the girl
that I'm talking about passed away in this She was
in school and one of the buildings fell and she died,
(43:56):
and we brought her teammates and it was just a
lot of mourning and a lot of sadness. And I
just remember bringing those kids to our field and playing
games with them and they're laughing again and they're I mean,
this was like a week after it happened. They're laughing.
(44:16):
The parents are crying watching this while the girls, little
girls are laughing. But we ended up. That was right
before we went into the World Series, and it was
such a passion to play for something else besides you
know Oklahoma. It was more for the city of More,
(44:40):
City of More, but the state of Oklahoma. And man,
did we feel God's presence in that moment on that
field because it was so important for us in our
minds to win, to bring joy and glory to God
and everything else that we can for people in Oklaholma
(45:02):
who are hurting over the devastation and destruction of that tornado.
I'll never forget that, and it just changed me forever.
Speaker 3 (45:11):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
She is Patty Gasso and her husband Jim Gasso. After
listening to this and I asked about how to build
a program. This isn't a program. This is a ministry
that these two have, And what I should have asked
is how do you continue to build this ministry? Because
that's what this is for them? And I knew it
coming in, but I know it a lot more now.
(45:33):
Pastor Ken, this has been a great hour, and I
thank you for the work that you've put in to
get this show. Jim and Patty, thank you so much
for your time. Good luck with all the work you guys.
Good luck with your your fall team, and don't let
those young girls beat your team today, Patty, don't don't
let them do that for sure. We're too competitive us coaches.
(45:54):
We don't want to lose anything, So don't let them
lose today. Jim and Patty Gasso, guys, thank you so much.
I really appreciate it. James, great job today. This is
Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty and
your iHeart Radio app.
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