When Jada Coleman first stepped into Loves Field, the new home of the OU softball team, earlier this year, she couldn't stop crying.
“We finally have a football-like facility,” Coleman said. “I can complain to Billy (Bowman, a University of Oklahoma football player and Coleman's fiance) about it any time.”
Women's sports are thriving on OU's campus and across the nation.
The 2023 NCAA women's basketball championship game between LSU and Iowa drew 9.9 million viewers, a record for a women's college basketball game at the time.
This year the audience numbers have increased even more.
more:Oklahoma State University softball team advances to WCWS for fifth straight year as Cowgirls beat Arizona
The Final Four rematch between LSU's Angel Reese and Iowa's Caitlin Clark drew 12.3 million viewers.
The national championship game, in which the Clark University Hawkeyes lost to the University of South Carolina, averaged about 19 million viewers, the most-watched basketball game in the past five years according to Nielsen, and more than 4 million more viewers than the men's final game between Purdue and Connecticut.
Viewership for the Women's College World Series, which kicks off Thursday at Devon Park, has steadily increased in recent years.
Last year's WCWS finals averaged about 1.9 million viewers on ESPN and peaked at 2.3 million.
The game's viewership was second only to the Sooners' 2021 WCWS Championship Series win over Florida State in recent softball rankings.
Sooners coach Patty Gasso is in the midst of a softball boom, not only transforming the program into a dynasty but also raising the sport's national profile.
more:How OU softball seniors led Sooners to eighth straight WCWS
OU coach Jenny Baranczyk
OU women's basketball coach Jenny Baranczyk has her own perspective on the recent boom.
Gasso's program was already established as one of the best in the country when Baranczyk arrived in Norman in 2021, and it has continued to grow since then, winning the past three WCWS titles.
Baranczyk has been close with Clark's family for many years, welcoming her to camps as she was growing up and following her development not only from that perspective, but also as an Iowa alumna who was involved in coach Lisa Vladar's success in Iowa City.
“You're going to see Kaitlyn become a household name, not just in women's basketball or from the state of Iowa,” Baranczyk said. “She's really elevated herself. Look at what she's already done from a WNBA standpoint.”
Clark's WNBA regular season debut for the Indiana Fever against the Connecticut Sun drew an average of 2.12 million viewers on ESPN2, making it the most-watched WNBA game in more than 20 years.
“When I think about Lisa, Patty and (OU girls gymnastics coach) KJ (Kindler), they are women of class and have elevated the level of their sport,” Baranchek said. “They're not only focused on what they do every day, but they've elevated not only their sport at a national level, they've elevated the level of all women's and girls' sports. They're strong, incredible people with humility, grace, values and the ability to be competitive but also to elevate those around them.”
“I don't know how I've been so lucky to be around so many different people, but I have, and those people shine through in me.”
While Baranczyk was at the Final Four in person to watch Clark and the Hawkeyes, Gasso was an avid watcher on television whenever he had the chance.
“I love watching top athletes compete,” Gasso said. “I love watching top athletes, whether it's bowling, golf, softball, women's basketball. … I don't know how many viewers there were, but I was watching because it intrigued me. These are top athletes, and that intrigues me. I don't care about anything else. What interests me is watching a 35-foot bomb, and that was incredible. I love good competition and top athletes competing. It doesn't get any better than that.”
more:Mussatto: Why Oklahoma State University's softball team became the 'toughest team in town'
Jocelyn Alo and “The Ballplayers of Our Sport”
Since arriving at OU in 2018, Jocelyn Alo has witnessed a shift in the perception of women's sports, finishing her record-breaking career as the career home run record holder and now playing for the Savannah Bananas baseball team as well as professional softball.
“People are starting to see us as more than just girls who play ball,” Alo said. “We are actually ballplayers in this sport. We're very good and we work very hard, but we don't get enough recognition for what we do.”
“When you see what women's basketball has done in the postseason and the rise of women's sports right now, it's like, 'We're really good athletes.' It just took time for people to recognize that and I think people are now recognizing it. From a softball standpoint, I think we're starting to get a little bit more recognition, but I think it just takes a little bit more work from people to get us out there like we are known.”
Coleman has attended many girls basketball tournaments over the past few years, especially the Reese-Clark games.
“Honestly, it brings me to tears to see how much girls' sports are growing, because I want my daughter to be an athlete one day and not have to rely on a man to make money or anything like that,” Coleman said. “Just go out there and be a boss woman.”
OU third baseman Alyssa Brito has seen a change in the crowds in the stands and in autograph-signing lines.
“Young boys are also seeing female athletes and being really inspired by them,” Brito said. “I think it's inspiring not only for young girls, but for the next generation of young men to understand the value of women's sports and encourage more collaboration within that.”
