NiJaree Canady, the 2024 USA Softball Player of the Year, made history this week by signing a seven-figure NIL deal with Texas Tech. The announcement came on her social media pages Wednesday. The elite right-handed pitcher considered staying at her former school, Stanford, but the offer from Texas Tech was too substantial for the Cardinals to match.
Canady will now call Texas Tech her new home, and she is worth every penny. She led the Cardinals to back-to-back College World Series appearances in 2023 and 2024, boasting a 0.67 ERA with 555 strikeouts over 365 2/3 innings. She is a dominant force and one of the best overall college athletes the game has ever seen. The seven-figure annual deal was made possible by Texas Tech boosters John and Tracy Sellers.
The $1.2 million deal was certainly persuasive, but Canady also credited first-year coach Gerry Glasco’s recruiting efforts. In an interview with ESPN, she mentioned, “I think the biggest thing that stuck out to me was just how many players started following him in the days and weeks after [Glasco arrived]. Some kids even chose no contact when they hit the portal because they knew they wanted to follow him wherever he went. I think that speaks highly of him as a coach.”
Another exciting aspect of this deal is the potential partnership with Adidas, recently announced by the school in collaboration with alumnus and Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes. This reflects a new era where African American women can potentially earn over seven figures in sports if they excel. While there are concerns about managing this generational wealth at such a young age, many believe Canady will prove that the investment in her will yield returns just as substantial as the deal she signed.
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