Tennessee softball coach Karen Weekly on June 13 voiced her opinion against tampering in the NCAA transfer portal — and how teams have used NIL to land players.
“I think we can all agree on 2 things: 1) women making money in sports is awesome and long overdue; 2) contacting players (directly or indirectly) before their season ends and signing them to NIL deals before they enter the portal is wrong,”
Weekly did not call out any specific team or reference any specific player, though her post did come less than 24 hours after Texas Tech softball and Gerry Glasco landed a commitment Lady Vols third baseman Taylor Pannell.
The All-American announced she was transferring to Texas Tech after entering the portal that same day. Pannell had a career season in 64 games this season for Tennessee. Named to the All-SEC First Team selection, she finished with a career-best .398 batting average with 74 hits, 65 RBIs and 16 home runs.
Weekly’s comments also come at a time that Texas Tech has been active in the transfer portal since losing to No. 6 Texas in Game 3 of the WCWS championship series on June 6. Texas Tech has landed Ohio State starting catcher Jasmyn Burns, UCLA pitcher Kaitlyn Terry, Florida All-American Mia Williams and former Southern Illinois standout infielder Jackie Lis.
Texas Tech officially announced the additions of Williams, Terry and Lis on June 13. In total, Texas Tech has added three All-Americans and three of On3’s top 10 players in the transfer portal to its 2026 roster to pair with star ace NiJaree Canady.
Texas Tech will reportedly pay its players $55 million among all its programs next year between revenue sharing and NIL. The Red Raiders’ NIL collective, The Matador Club, has not been shy about committing money to softball in the last year, which is considered by many to be a non-revenue sport.
The first notable financial commitment The Matador Club made to softball was Canady, the former Stanford star pitcher who transferred to Texas Tech ahead of the 2025 season and signed an NIL deal worth over $1 million with the Red Raiders.
Canady single-handedly pitched Texas Tech to its first-ever WCWS and WCWS finals appearances this year. She re-signed with the Red Raiders ahead of Game 3 vs. Texas on another lucrative, record-breaking NIL deal. According to ESPN, Canady’s new NIL deal is another seven-figure NIL deal for the upcoming 2026 season, while On3’s Pete Nakos reported it is worth at least $1.2 million.
Tennessee finished 47-17 overall on the season and advanced to the WCWS semifinals in Weekly’s 24th season at the helm of the program.