This week, the Texas Tech softball program made national news by landing 2024 USA Softball National Player of the Year, NiJaree Canady, a transfer from Stanford. Of course, in the modern era of college athletics, we know that the best pitcher in college softball isn't going to come to Texas Tech (a program that missed the NCAA Tournament this season) unless unprecedented money is involved.
According to numerous social media outlets, Canady's N.I.L. deal is believed to be over $1 million. What's more, The Sporting News reports on X that the previous top N.I.L. deal ever for a softball player was $175,000.
NiJaree Canady is transferring to Texas Tech on an NIL deal worth over $1 million, per @slmandel 💰
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) July 24, 2024
She signed a one-year deal with The Matador Club, an NIL collective for Texas Tech athletes.
The previous high for a softball pitcher was believed to be $175,000. pic.twitter.com/2gIxlwrEHu
Of course, this brings The Matador Club back into the spotlight. That's the N.I.L. collective that supports Texas Tech athletics and without the work of that organization, Canady doesn't even consider becoming the Red Raider.
When this news broke, some fans may have wondered why the Matador Club would be willing to make such an investment into Texas Tech softball. After all, that is a non-revenue sport and one that has been an afterthought in Lubbock for years.
In fact, that program is now on its fifth head coach since 2010 after Craig Snider resigned earlier this year to become an assistant coach at Tennessee. That's the ultimate sign of an unhealthy and irrelevant program.
Yet, the Matador Club felt it worthwhile to invest in Tech softball despite all of that program's warts and flaws. Thus, Red Raider fans should be excited about the future of all Texas Tech athletic programs as we move further into the era of monetary compensation for NCAA athletes.
The fact is that the Matador Club has been on the cutting edge of the N.I.L. movement since its founding. What's more, its founders, Cody Campbell and John Sellers, are both former Texas Tech football players. Thus, they are as motivated as anyone to see their alma mater succeed across the board in athletics.
If The Matador Club is going to make such a sizable investment in the softball program. Imagine what it will be willing to do to land the nation's top 2025 women's basketball recruit, Lubbock's own Aaliyah Chavez of Monterey High School who earlier this week included Tech in her top six choices for a college home.
Would the Matador Club be willing to double what it is paying Canady to land Chavez, a local product who could help revive one of Texas Tech's most historically significant athletic programs? Will it take more than that to out-bid Texas, South Carolina, LSU, UCLA, and Oklahoma? Perhaps. But we can be assured that the money will be there should Chavez want to stay home for college.
Or imagine what true freshman wide receiver Micah Hudson could command next year if he has a breakout season for the Texas Tech football team. The first-ever five-star recruit to sign with the Red Raiders out of high school, he was coveted by every top-flight program in the nation as a recruit.
Now, in the world we live in, we have to ask ourselves what it will cost to keep him in Lubbock if he lives up to the hype and realizes his massive potential right off the bat in Lubbock. Certainly, he could command huge N.I.L. compensation if he becomes one of the top pass catchers in the nation.
Perhaps nowhere is N.I.L. more prevalent than in college hoops. This year, we saw a player that Texas Tech hosted on an official visit, Great Obosor, sign an N.I.L. deal worth a reported $2 million after transferring to Washington. As the Red Raiders continue to try to stay nationally relevant in that sport, the price of poker is only going to go up.
That's why it is reassuring to see that The Matador Club is willing to pay a softball player roughly the same amount of money that Texas Tech annually pays its A.D., Kirby Hocutt. It is a reminder that the pockets in West Texas are deep (and lined with oil money) and as the cost of staying competitive in college sports continues to rise astronomically, Texas Tech is in great hands.