USA Softball head honcho Craig Cress spent this past weekend at an international softball meeting in Croatia.

News of Team USA’s next Olympic coach had already crossed the Atlantic.

“Oh, Coach Gasso from OU,” Cress heard repeatedly.

Cress glanced at the aforementioned coach as he recounted the story Tuesday morning during a press conference formally announcing her new appointment.

“So, you’re already known internationally,” he said. “Isn’t that great?”

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Patty Gasso just smiled.

While it may well be great that the legendary coach is known beyond the college softball world, it’s her local appeal that might blow the top off what will already be the biggest sporting event in the history of our city. The Olympics coming to Oklahoma City in 2028 promises to be a glorious, wonderful three-ring circus.

Now?

Has there ever been a six-ring circus? Nine rings? One with 17 tents?

We not only have the Olympics coming to town, but we also have softball, which has become nearly as beloved as football in Oklahoma, being coached by the most beloved sports figure in the state.

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Here’s the cool thing: No one’s more fired up about all this than Gasso.

“For Oklahoma City to be hosting two Olympic events is off the charts,” Gasso said alluding to OKC having softball and canoe slalom. “That alone gives me goosebumps. Not only is it in the States — and I know a lot of the athletes wanted it in LA, and I understand that completely — but this is going to be a first-class event all the way around.”

Gasso has some experience with the Olympics.

She was just out of college when the Games came to Los Angeles, her hometown, in 1984. She knows she went to a couple of the events, though she can’t remember exactly what they were.

Volleyball, maybe?

“That’s a long time ago,” she said with a laugh.

Still, she has a very clear memory of the vibe.

“Amazing energy,” she recalled. “People everywhere. It just felt different.

“It felt like nothing I’ve ever felt before in the way of a sporting event.”

A little more than a decade later, Gasso returned to the Olympics when they were in Atlanta. The 1996 Games were the first time softball was included.

Gasso was a young coach, only a year into her tenure at OU, and she loved being at the games. The competition was unlike anything she’d ever experienced, and when Team USA won gold, Gasso locked away the moment.

She can still close her eyes and see American star Dot Richardson celebrating.

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“I felt so honored to be there,” Gasso said. “But never in a million years would I tell you that I thought that I would be sitting here right now.”

Team USA coach?

Olympic coach?

Her?

It might’ve seemed far-fetched back then, but today, it makes perfect sense. Gasso has created the gold standard in college softball. OU does everything well. Evaluating talent. Developing players. Molding teams. Winning championships.

Gasso plans to do the same with Team USA.

“I think we have some really great secret sauce at OU that I’m ready to share with USA Softball to get them prepared and ready for a huge challenge,” Gasso said.

Make no mistake: The challenge will be significant.

After Team USA won the first three Olympic softball gold medals in 1996, 2000 and 2004, it has failed to win another, falling short to Japan in 2008 and 2020. Yes, Team USA’s two-decade-plus drought is due in part to the sport not being included in the Olympic program several times, but still, the Japanese have surged ahead of the Americans.

No two ways around that.

Established pro leagues in Japan pay the players well enough that they don’t have to work other jobs to make ends meet. That isn’t the case in the United States.

It’s one of the many things Gasso aims to change for the Olympic team.

She talked Tuesday about engaging with businesses and corporations to fund the team so that players don’t have to stress about paying bills while playing softball. Considering Gasso’s sway and pull in the sport and the state, it’s not crazy to think that she’ll be able to get that done.

That’s the kind of thing that could catapult Team USA into another stratosphere.

As if the Olympics here in 2028 needed to be taken to a higher level.

“It is going to change the city and hopefully change the state and ultimately change the way the USA is looked at in softball when we bring home that gold medal,” Gasso said.

Can you imagine an Olympic medal ceremony at Devon Park with Gasso getting a gold medal hung around her neck?

The ovation might register seismic activity.

That isn’t the thing that Gasso imagines, though.

“To be walking not in front of, but behind these athletes when they walk through these gates and onto the field is going to be probably the highlight of my career and my life in softball,” she said.