Rocha brings new attitude to OU softball
NORMAN — Patty Gasso, for the first time in 21 years, won't share the Oklahoma softball dugout with Melyssa Lombardi this season.
The coaching duo, with Gasso at the helm and Lombardi as her top assistant, won four national championships together with 12 Women's College World Series appearances.
Before Lombardi was hired as Oregon's head coach in July — ending an era in Norman — Gasso knew who she wanted as her next associate head coach.
Jennifer Rocha wasn't expecting the call.
“It really kind of took me back a little bit,” Rocha said. “I was very flattered that she called and really had to do a lot of thinking and discussing.”
Rocha was hired as Oklahoma's new associate head coach nine days after Lombardi's hire was announced in Eugene, Oregon.
“Making a change like this wasn't really on my radar,” Rocha said. “I think it just had to really do with the shifting of coaches around the country that made the opportunity available. Taking a look at it, it felt like it would be a good move for my family and I.”
Gasso is set to begin her 25th year as OU's head coach when the fourth-ranked Sooners open play at 3:30 p.m. Friday against Syracuse in the GCU Kickoff Tournament in Phoenix.
Gasso's relationship with Rocha predates her time in Norman.
Rocha, from South Gate, California, committed to play for Gasso at Long Beach City College in 1995.
“I wasn't a five-star recruit by any stretch,” Rocha said with a laugh.
Though she never got to play for Gasso at Long Beach City College, that commitment would influence her life more than two decades later.
Gasso took the Oklahoma job in 1995. She once again recruited Rocha, this time convincing her to transfer to Oklahoma, when in 1996 Rocha and two other Long Beach City College teammates helped form the foundation of Gasso's program.
“The story just kind of goes from there,” Rocha said.
Rocha, then Jennifer Jaime, was a three-year letter winner at Oklahoma, compiling a 43-17 record and a 1.46 ERA from 1996-98. She joined Gasso's staff as a graduate assistant in 1999 and was part of the 2000 national championship-winning team.
Rocha's career flourished at Florida where she spent the last 13 years as an assistant to former Sooner baseball player Tim Walton. With Rocha on staff as a pitching coach, the Gators won back-to-back national championships in 2014 and 2015.
Gasso wanted someone with rings on their resume to replace Lombardi.
“She's one of the only ones out there,” Gasso said of Rocha. “I was thinking about it before I even knew it was final who I needed to go for immediately. It's been a really nice transition and very comfortable for all of us.”
Personality might be the biggest change. Rocha and Lombardi are opposites in a way.
Rocha's demeanor matches her Southern California roots.
“Jen is very calm, very cool ... Kind of lives in jello, like, `Whatever, it's cool. No problem.' Coach Lombardi is a little more tense,” Gasso said. “And it works for her. That's who she is. With Rocha, it works for her as well.”
Gasso was sold on the most transparent similarity: winning.
“They go in different directions,” Gasso said, “but they usually end up with the same outcomes.”