Deifel credits OU’s Gasso with her coaching start
Courtney Deifel hated to talk on the phone.
It was 2006, and Deifel was a graduate assistant with the Oklahoma softball team, and she absolutely did not want to pick up a phone to call a fellow coach, recruit or player.
Deifel, who earned a College World Series win as a catcher with California and played professionally in Japan, was in Norman to get a master's degree, and she was using softball to do it. The now-Arkansas head coach certainly didn’t intend to turn coaching into a permanent profession.
But Oklahoma softball coach Patty Gasso saw something dif-
ferent. She recognized that as a catcher and a natural leader, Deifel had many qualities that make a good coach.
Except for one thing: her aversion to phone calls.
“She had some qualities that she needed to change, and she would be the first to tell you that she did not like talking to people on the phone,” Gasso said. “I said, ‘Well, OK, look, whether you’re going to go into coaching or not, you need to learn how to be OK with things like that.”
By the time Deifel left Oklahoma two years later for an assistant coaching job at Louisville, she was getting more comfortable with phone calls — and with the idea that coaching might be her true calling.
“In my second season (at OU) when (pitching coach Melyssa Lombardi) went out to have (her son) Gianni, they trusted me in taking over for her, which they don’t hand out very easily,” Deifel said.
“That’s when I was like, ‘Oh I can do this.’ I like the strategy of the game. I love the pitching, the catching. I love the relationships. And now I guess I’m a lifer.”
But just because Gasso helped ignite Deifel’s coaching career doesn’t mean that Deifel is doing Gasso any favors when it comes to scheduling. Gasso has frequently lamented the difficulty she faces in scheduling tough nonconference opponents.
Ideally, she’d like to play more SEC and Pac-12 opponents to have more RPI-boosting opportunities.
This season, Deifel, in her second year as Arkansas’ head coach, brought the Razorbacks to Norman for a lateseason nonconference game.
Next year, however, a return trip isn’t likely.
“When it comes to things like that, friendship gets thrown out the window,” Gasso said. “So I already know that Arkansas is not wanting to play us next year, for their own reasons.
“Their reasons are, ‘Why would we need or want to play you when
“I can’t tell you how proud I am to see what she’s done with this program. Watching her confidence now as a young coach makes me smile because I remember what it was like, and she just, nothing was good enough, and now I’m seeing her just be a really solid female role model and leader. It looks like she’s enjoying what she’s doing. I’m really happy for her, and I’m glad that I might’ve played a super small part in helping guide her in this direction.”
Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso, on former Sooners assistant and current Arkansas Razorbacks coach Courtney Deifel we have it all set up in our conference?’ It’s a tough deal, and I understand what she’s trying to do and she understands what I’m trying to do.
“So I can’t force her and it is what it is. She’s looking out for the betterment of the program, and I can’t fight with that.”
Though Deifel likely won’t put the Sooners on her schedule in the future, her team might have to face OU one more time this season as Arkansas makes its first postseason appearance in four years.
The Razorbacks are slated to play Tulsa in the first game of the Norman Regional at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, and from there, Deifel’s team could play OU or North Dakota State.
What happens in the regional is anyone’s guess, but no matter what, Gasso will have a front-row seat to witness just how far her protégé has come.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am to see what she’s done with this program,” Gasso said. “Watching her confidence now as a young coach makes me smile because I remember what it was like, and she just, nothing was good enough, and now I’m seeing her just be a really solid female role model and leader.
“It looks like she’s enjoying what she’s doing. I’m really happy for her, and I’m glad that I might’ve played a super small part in helping guide her in this direction.”