At the Women’s College World Series in June, Utah head coach Amy Hogue was effusive in her praise of hitting coach DJ Gasso. “Early on, he was so eager that he pretty much vomited everything he knew about hitting to our players,” Hogue said at the time. “[It] probably overwhelmed them at first, but he never slowed down. I love the fact that he said ‘I know all these things and I want to help you, so hurry and catch up and learn it all as quick as you can.'”
Gasso, still in his 20s, was seen as one of the top young hitting minds after guiding the Utes offense all the way to a Women’s College World Series berth. Knowing that calls would come this summer, Gasso had no plans to leave Salt Lake City unless and except a “perfect situation” arose.
In late June, the Arkansas Razorbacks came calling. The Hogs presented Gasso and his family the opportunity to get closer to home, to be near family, and to continue to coach at a high-level program.
The situation was about as close to perfect as any could be, and Gasso pulled the trigger. Last week, he was officially announced as the Hogs’ new hitting coach.
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His surname is the most familiar one in the game and yes, for those unsure, DJ is the younger son of Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso and the younger brother of OU assistant JT.
As well-known as his last name is, it would be easy for DJ to coast on family laurels, for his name to be an acclaimed attribute. But that’s not how things work for the younger Gasso.
“That’s just not who our family is,” DJ said. “I did use it one time, though – when I was about eight or nine years old. A security guard wouldn’t let me in the clubhouse and I was like ‘yeah, do you know who my mom is?’ But now, that’s just not who our family is. It’s just, you coach; you’re there for the players and you want to pour into them as much as you can.
“The name’s the name, it’s great, but I always definitely wanted to make a name for myself too. It’s always kind of been ‘Oh, this is DJ, Patty’s son’ and that’s incredible because it shows how great my mom is and what she’s done in her career. But there’s definitely an aspect of wanting to make a name for [myself].”
With such a popular name, too, comes certain assumptions. While DJ began his coaching career in a good position at Utah, his career in athletics began with a lot of work and toiling as a college baseball player. After beginning his career in junior college, DJ finished playing at Bradley, a Division I school in Illinois.
“When I get asked about [my work ethic], I relate it back to my own playing career,” DJ said. “You know, I did the JuCo route, made it D1 and all that good stuff, but I was never the biggest, fastest, or strongest kid. I was the coachable, ‘team-player’ guy, and for me to get on the field and get those opportunities, I had to outwork each kid on the team… that just directly related going into coaching. I pride myself in being one of the hardest workers and being one of the most prepared people out there.”
Referring back to Hogue’s comments at the Women’s College World Series, DJ, too, is open and honest about his arrival in Salt Lake City and his growth as a coach in the three years since.
DJ in 2020 is different, in many ways, than DJ in 2023.
“Definitely, starting out at 25 years old, in my first job, I was a young, ambitious kid,” DJ said with a laugh. “Going in, there were a lot of things that [were almost] ‘this is how we did it at OU so it’s going to work’ and there were actually a lot of different things that the team wasn’t used to, just philosophy stuff… and another thing about it, if you don’t respect or trust the person, you’re probably not going to listen to what they have to say. And in the years after [my initial arrival], I think I did a lot better of a job of being able to have conversations and build relationships. Through the years, I think I’ve really learned how to do that as a young professional in the sport.
“And then [the players] start buying into the process, and it really was a lot of them just buying in. When I first got there, I’d ask some of the freshmen ‘why did you come to Utah?’ and they’d say ‘I want a chance to play against the big dogs.’ And I’d just go ‘What are you talking about? You are a big dog!’ So it was definitely a shift in mindset like that; as a hitting coach, you’re a problem solver and you just have to figure it out.”
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“Being successful comes at a cost.”
Whether it’s from experiencing the early years of his mom’s career or simply knowing what he was getting into in the coaching profession, DJ Gasso isn’t shy about owning up to what comes with the job he does and loves. At the same time, mitigating and lessening some of those costs, if possible, was always a priority.
Now married with a young son, Salt Lake City was more than 1,200 miles from the families of both DJ and his wife, Grace.
When the phone rang with Courtney Deifel and Arkansas on the other end of it, DJ had to answer. The softball side was obvious – the Hogs have won two SEC championships in three years, hosted a regional annually since 2021, and enter 2024 with a bevy of offensive talent throughout their lineup.
But when he answered the call and had the initial conversation, DJ had more than softball on his mind.
“I wasn’t ever really looking for anything,” DJ confessed. “At Utah, we just went to the World Series, we’re losing one offensive starter, and we have a good chance to go back and do it again. For someone to get me away from Utah would have to be a great offer, really a perfect fit… then Arkansas called. That’s the closest Division 1, Power 5 university to my wife’s parents’ house; it’s closer than even living in Norman. My wife’s [family] own a prom store that’s an hour and twenty minutes from Fayetteville. On the coaching side of it, it’s an incredible opportunity with an incredible staff and it’s a really good fit for all parties. If it was just softball…
“From the family aspect, I don’t know if many people understand how close we’re going to be; from the softball aspect, it was extremely difficult to make this decision because we had such great things going on at Utah. I had a hand in recruiting a lot of the kids that are coming in… But one thing that I’ve learned throughout my life is that I want to be able to have that work-life balance; I want to be a great dad, a great husband. I want my son to be close to family and I want him to be able to have relationships with his grandparents, his cousins. That was a huge kicker in all of it.”
A pre-existing relationship with Deifel, dating back to her own days on the OU staff in the late 2000s, also played a factor, giving DJ familiarity beyond just what comes from a conversation and a job interview.
The opportunity was too good to pass up and the Gasso family are now Hogs.
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Introducing himself to a new fanbase, a new conference, and a new offense full of potential, DJ is quite clear on what he plans to bring to the table – and on how he hopes to be seen as he continues his career trajectory:
“I hope people see me as a God-fearing, positive, and loving person that will always have time for [anyone],” DJ mused. “I want people to know that I work hard, I get after it, and I’m extremely competitive. But I’m in it for the relationships – back to my own playing career and my coaches and teammates, we still have conversations and stay in touch. I’m not transactional, and I really want to change lives. Success on the field, that will come and go. But I’m always going to compete for that every day and I always want an opponent to be able to say ‘you know, it was an extremely competitive battle and DJ was still smiling through it all’. I want to do it right.
“What Arkansas has built, what Courtney has built and the success they’ve had, it’s going to be really fun to hopefully add to that.”
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