ASSISTANT COACH 2nd SEASON EAST CENTRAL, 2011 THE GASSO FILE Personal Hometown.....................................................................................Norman, Okla. High School...........................................................Community Christian School College...................................................................................East Central, 2011 Family.............................................................................................. wife, Andrea ........................................................................................................Son, Joseph Coaching History 2016-Present............................................................Oklahoma Assistant Coach 2015................................................................. Michigan State Assistant Coach 2014............................................................................. Purdue Assistant Coach 2012-13................................................................Oklahoma Graduate Assistant Playing History 2010-11.......................................................................... East Central University 2008-09............................................................Eastern Oklahoma State College
CAREER COACHING ACCOLADES • • •
Member of the 2016 NFCA National Coaching Staff of the Year Coached two players (Shay Knighten and Erin Miller) to All-America honors Under his tutelage, Erin Miller became the first outfielder in conference history to be the Big 12 Player of the Year in 2016
JT Gasso enters his second season as the team’s assistant coach. His primary responsibilities are focused on working with OU’s outfielders and the Sooner offense.
Like the Spartans’ batting average growth, the team’s run production improved by over 90 percent from 2014 to 2015, and their amount of extra-base hits increased by over 70 percent.
His first season couldn’t have gone any better as the Sooners won the 2016 national championship. He and the OU staff were named the NFCA National Coaching Staff of the Year for their efforts.
Prior to Michigan State, JT Gasso was a part of a first-year coaching staff which helped guide Purdue to a spot in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals in 2014. The program placed five players on the All-Big Ten postseason teams and a program-record six Boilers earned All-Region honors.
Senior Erin Miller was named a second team All-American and became the first outfielder in league history to be named Big 12 Player of the Year. Shay Knighten was also tabbed a second-team All-American as she took home Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors. In addition, to Miller and Knighten, Kelsey Arnold, Caleigh Clifton, Lea Wodach, Sydney Romero and Fale Aviu all earned All-Region honors. The team’s batting average of .351 and hit total of 631 ranked second in both OU and Big 12 history; the 631 hits were 16th most in NCAA history. The offense posted the third most doubles (100) and total bases (967) in school history; the doubles total also third most in Big 12 annals. The on-base percentage of .427 ranked fourth in school and Big 12 annals, while the slugging percentage of .538, 435 runs scored, 183 extra-base hits and 14 sac flies were fifth highest in OU single season history; the runs scored ranked fifth in Big 12 history and slugging was eighth highest. OU also hit 70 home runs and walked 208 times, ranking 10th in school annals in each. Gasso joined Oklahoma after spending one season as an assistant at Michigan State. While working with the Spartans, his primary responsibilities were focused on defensive play in the infield and hitting, while being heavily involved in recruiting and overall player development. While with the Spartans, he helped the program record its best offensive season since 2007. The team improved its win total by almost 60 percent from 2014 to 2015, while the offense improved greatly in nearly every offensive category. Michigan State’s home run total grew by 90 percent, while the batting average jumped 60 points to represent the fifth best improvement in the country in that category. Additionally, the team’s slugging percentage went up over 100 points, while on-base percentage jumped almost 50 points.
JT GASSO
JT GASSO
JT Gasso spent the 2012 and 2013 seasons as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma, where he was responsible for compiling scouting reports, game day and practice set up and assisting in hitting instruction and game planning for the team, including its 2013 national championship and 2012 national runner-up seasons. His coaching pedigree also includes time as a camp coach with national championship programs at LSU and UCLA, and at the IntenCity Sports Training Academy in Norman. A collegiate baseball player at Eastern Oklahoma State and East Central University, Gasso has been a lead instructor for the Sooner Softball camps the last 10 years. He is certified as a level 1 coach in Crossfit and has trained various athletes, including those at IntenCity, for which he has been a hitting instructor and strength and conditioning coach since 2008. In his time as a private instructor, he has tutored five athletes who have gone on to play Division I softball. In addition to his experience at Oklahoma and at IntenCity, the East Central University alum coached the Sulphur Orioles 18-and-under baseball team in 2010 and was the head instructor at the Chickasaw Nation softball camp in 2007. Gasso holds an associate’s degree from Eastern Oklahoma State College, a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from East Central University and a master’s degree in administrative leadership from the University of Oklahoma. The son of Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso, he is married to the former Andrea Harrison, the Sooners’ volunteer assistant coach and a former two-time AllAmerican at UCLA. The couple had its first child, Joseph, in October of 2016.
85 THREE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
10 WCWS APPEARANCES
13 BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIPS