The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns softball team has become an organ donor.
The program with three-plus decades of rich history, encompassing 33 NCAA Regional appearances, eight NCAA Super Regional appearances, and six trips to the Women’s College World Series, has now seen its parts farmed out for top dollar. This quote from “Moneyball” seems quite fitting: “And now we’re being gutted, organ donors for the rich.”
Those Ragin’ Cajun body parts are providing life to other teams such as Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Alabama. All three teams are playing in Super Regionals this weekend. The Sooners and Crimson Tide face each other, ensuring Louisiana will be represented in the Women’s College World Series in some form, just not the one in which its supporters would most appreciate.
The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns lost seven starters to the NCAA Transfer Portal, including five to the Red Raiders, who also harvested the program’s former head coach, Gerry Glasco.
The result of being gutted? The once-healthy program began to experience symptoms of illness.
The program’s NCAA record 89 consecutive SBC series winning streak was snapped against Marshall. Not that big of a deal, but Louisiana would lose three more series, which just seems unfathomable for the program. The team won 29 games, which was the fewest in a season since 1984, when the team went 28-9. That year was the program’s fourth season of existence.
The program under first-year head coach Alyson Habetz appeared to regain its health late in the season, with three straight conference series wins, earning the No. 3 seed at the SBC Tournament. Yet, the team fell short and was eliminated after its second game.
That meant no postseason berth as for the first time since 1998, the Ragin’ Cajuns weren’t playing in an NCAA Regional.
While the Cajuns struggled, Glasco and the Ragin’ Raiders quintet helped put together the greatest season in Red Raider history.
Texas Tech broke a record for most wins in a season, won the first Big 12 regular season title, its first Big 12 Tournament Championship, with a run differential of 26-0, and hosted an NCAA Regional for the first time in program history, and then advanced to the Super Regional for the first time.
It just wasn’t Texas Tech that harvested Louisiana’s program for healthy talent. Four-time defending national champion Oklahoma and perennial national powerhouse Alabama did, too.
Oklahoma won the SEC regular season title and the co-SEC Tournament championship in the Sooners’ first year in the conference. Former Ragin’ Cajuns pitcher Sam Landry, who some thought would be at best a part-time starter, was dominant, going 19-4, earning first-team All-SEC honors, and being named SEC Newcomer of the Year.
Habetz’s former team, the Alabama Crimson Tide, earned the No. 15 national seed after winning 40 games. Former Ragin’ Cajuns infielder Brooke Ellestad was an integral part of that as she started 56 games for Alabama.
That’s seven starters and a head coach who are no longer part of a program that was the epitome of consistent excellence. Not even a program from the SEC or ACC could survive having that much talent and experience surgically removed from its body.
It is not unreasonable to state that it could have been avoided if Glasco hadn’t left for the greener pastures of Lubbock, Texas.
In his seven seasons (six full), Louisiana won 300 games, amassed six SBC regular season titles, four tournament titles, and appeared in six NCAA Regionals. Not to mention, Glasco, who was named SBC Coach of the Year twice, took over the program after the tumultuous ending of the Michael Lotief era, and had to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, which took away what appeared to be a team bound for the WCWS in 2020.
Yes, some of the vermilion and white faithful grew frustrated with the team losing in the regionals until breaking through in 2023 by beating rival LSU in the Baton Rouge Regional. That was followed up with the team hosting a regional for the first time in eight years, but they lost to Baylor in the title game.
Glasco had the Ragin’ Cajuns nationally ranked, winning SBC titles and playing in NCAA Regionals. Yet, he left a program with all the consistent success for one that had made only six NCAA Regionals in its history. The reason was simple — money.
Texas Tech has prominent boosters pumping massive amounts of money into its NIL collective like an IV drip, while Louisiana does not.
Cody Campbell — a former Texas Tech football player who became a billionaire in the energy industry — is leading the charge at Texas Tech. He is the co-founder of the Matador Club, the chairman of the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents, and a man who has the ear of President Donald Trump when it comes to the state of college athletics.
With Campbell, Texas Tech’s leadership has no qualms dropping up to $15,000 to $25,000 in NIL deals for softball players.
That’s exactly what they did.
Not only did the Red Raiders poach Glasco from Louisiana, but also starters and all-conference players in pitcher Chloe Riassetto, infielders Lauren Allred and Alexa Langeliers, catcher Victoria Valdez and center fielder Mihyia Davis, the 2024 Sun Belt Player of the Year.
Texas Tech’s historic season doesn’t happen without them removing the heart of Louisiana’s team.
How can the Ragin’ Cajuns turn things around and breathe life back into the program?
There is no doubt that Habetz can turn things around; we all saw that with how the team appeared to turn a corner late in conference play. We also know the Crowley native and former Ragin’ Cajuns All-American was a longtime assistant at Alabama, and helped them advance to a dozen Women’s College World Series and one national title.
Habetz knows how to win, she has love for the program she played for, and she can coach. Yet, she won’t be able to bring the Ragin’ Cajuns back to prominence unless there is money, and significant money being dumped into the NIL collective for the softball program.
Louisiana athletics has had to overcome having their best players, the ones they recruited and developed, leave them via the NCAA Transfer Portal for NIL deals. Football coach Michael Desormeaux has had to fight this ever since he took over the job, and former men’s basketball coach Bob Marlin had players get taken for the same reasons. This isn’t foreign for the athletic department.
Even though this sickness isn’t new, that doesn’t mean that the Ragin’ Cajuns can take any of this lightly. The Ragin’ Cajuns NIL collective Krewe Allons has to be aggressive, like a powerful antibiotic, and raise the funds needed to keep its teams from being harvested for larger programs.
If not, the Ragin’ Cajuns will continue to give life to other programs, which will only end in one way.
Raymond Partsch III is the co-host of “RP3 & Meche” which is broadcast weekdays (11-1) on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles — Southwest Louisiana’s Sports Station.
