I’m in total shock, softball is all I have left. Ocala get in here and talk me off the ledge.
Can't sugarcoat this, man. Jen Rocha leaving is a blow to the softball program. But I can't fault Rocha for her move. She & her husband are both OK grads and from what I read they have family in Norman. If she wants to be a head coach at a major program it will happen sooner there than in Gainesville. Patty Gasso is 56, Tim Walton 45, plus he just signed a 10 year contract extension. Gasso's contract runs through 2024, so she ain't going anywhere anytime soon. I, also, have to believe that Rocha got a major bump in pay for making what on paper is a lateral move. Gasso was made the first million dollar/year softball coach in the NCAA in 2017. I can't find what Coach Walton makes now, but in 2010 he was being paid $253,000/yr. I read in a June 4, 2018 article that his base salary for 2018 was $305,000. The recent 10-year extension probably gave him another significant raise, (that same article I referenced previously suggested $500,000/yr. link:
https://chomptalk.com/2018/06/04/my-two-bits-could-tim-walton-bolt-for-texas/) but I would bet it's nowhere near what OU is paying Gasso. More than likely Rocha was being paid 1/3 to 1/2 what Walton was getting, so her pay was probably in the $150-175,000 range. If OU is paying their head coach $1 million/year, I would think they would pay their Associate Head Coach, now Rocha, somewhere around $350-450,000, maybe tripling her pay at UF. This is all my educated guessing, but there's no doubt that on top of the personal reasons, getting a significant increase in salary to go back to her alma mater had to make the move almost impossible to resist. And by the way, the move was triggered when Oklahoma's Associate head coach took the head job at Oregon, which opened because that guy took the head job at Texas. Jen Rocha was, obviously, one of the best developers of pitchers in the NCAA and the girls clearly love her. She & Walton appear to be best of friends. But this was an opportunity she had to take advantage of. Wish her only the best. Now the big deal is who can Tim Walton hire to replace her? That decision will impact recruiting and the future success of this team in a major way.