What happened to Gerry Glasco's daughter? How Texas Tech softball coach carrying memory of Geri Ann into WCWS

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Daniel Mader
What happened to Gerry Glasco's daughter? How Texas Tech softball coach carrying memory of Geri Ann into WCWS image

In his first season as Texas Tech's softball coach, Gerry Glasco has the program reaching new heights.

The Red Raiders recently advanced to the 2025 Women's College World Series Finals, on the brink of a title while making their first trip to Oklahoma City in program history. Glasco has enjoyed a ton of success after coming from Louisiana-Lafayette — and a special part of his journey has been honoring his late daughter, Geri Ann Glasco.

Both Gerry Glasco and one of his former players, Sam Landry, recently spoken about Geri Ann Glasco's legacy and how her presence has been felt throughout this year's WCWS.

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Here's what to know about Gerry Glasco honoring his late daughter, Geri Ann, throughout Texas Tech's playoff run.

MORE: How Texas Tech's NiJaree Canady became softball's first $1 million NIL player

What happened to Gerry Glasco's daughter?

In 2019, Geri Ann Glasco died at 24 in a motor vehicle accident in Louisiana. At the time, she had recently become a volunteer coach for Louisiana-Lafayette, where her father, Gerry, was head coach.

Throughout Texas Tech's 2025 run to the Women's College World Series, the now-Red Raiders head coach has said he's felt his daughter's presence along the way. When Texas Tech was awaiting its fate during the 2025 NCAA DI Softball Championship selection, one of his two other daughters, Tara Archibald — a former softball head coach at Eastern Illinois and now an assistant coach under her father — told Glasco that if the team got the No. 12 seed, it would make the Women's College World Series. No. 12 is the jersey number that Geri Ann Glasco used to wear in softball.

"The night of the drawing, Tara said, 'If we get to the 12th seed, you know we'll go to the World Series. And I bet you we get the 12th seed,'" Glasco said after beating Oklahoma on Monday. "Sure enough, it comes up on TV. She said, 'I told you. We're going to the World Series.' We got the 12 seed, which was Geri Ann's number. And we go to Arizona, and we check in the room, and I go to my room, and I realize I'm in Room 112. And it's a huge hotel."

The 12th-seeded Red Raiders have had a consistent reminder of Geri Ann Glasco's presence as the team has made a run to the championship, with the No. 12 becoming their sign for her.

“[Geri Ann has] been with us on this journey,” Gerry Glasco said. “... For things to happen like that — it's going to take me a while to digest and know what I really think.”

A player that Texas Tech matched up against Oklahoma, Sam Landry, also has strong ties to Gerry Glasco. Landry played under the head coach from 2021-24 at Louisiana-Lafayette. While she only met Geri Ann Glasco a few times during her recruitment, Landry has shown love for her former head coach's late daughter through the years.

During the recent Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma matchup in the WCWS, when the Sooners' bid for a fifth-straight title came to an end, Landry wore a glove with Geri Ann Glasco’s name stitched into it and the No. 21 on the back of her own jersey as a nod to her. Landry also wore No. 12 when she played at Louisiana-Lafayette.

“It was so important to me to carry on her legacy. She was an amazing person,” Landry said of Geri Ann Glasco on Monday. “When I got [to Oklahoma] and No. 12 was taken, I knew that I had to figure out somehow to keep her legacy going.”

After Texas Tech beat Oklahoma, Landry and Gerry Glasco embraced on the field, with the head coach later saying he told the pitcher he loved her and that he "hated" that he had to face her to reach the championship.

Texas Tech's 2025 championship opponent, Texas, also has connections to Geri Ann Glasco. Mike White, the Longhorns' head coach, coached her when he was at Oregon during her playing career.

"I was blessed to be able to coach [Gerry's] daughter, Geri Ann Glasco. ... What a special person she was," White said Tuesday. "Not only as a player but as a person. She was a proponent of softball and promoted it everywhere she went."

With the Red Raiders reaching the title matchup as the same number seed as Geri Ann Glasco's former jersey number, it's been a special run in many ways for Texas Tech.

“I think it's the type of experience that you know a year from now, you'll become aware of something that you didn't realize,” Glasco said. “It's just been a really magical season.”

Who was Geri Ann Glasco?

Geri Ann Glasco was a former softball player and coach. She is one of three daughters of Texas Tech softball coach Gerry Glasco, along with Tara Archibald, who played softball at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, and Erin Glasco Simons, who played softball at Notre Dame and Texas A&M.

Geri Ann played college softball at Georgia and Oregon after she was named the 2012 Gatorade National Player of the Year at Oconee County High School in Georgia.

As a collegiate player, Geri Ann Glasco earned various honors, including the 2013 SEC Co-Freshman of the Year and a Third-Team All-American selection, then All-Pac-12 honors in both 2015 and 2016 with the Ducks. Glasco finished her college career with a 47-15 pitching record and 3.01 ERA, plus a career batting average of .341 and 51 home runs.

Glasco got into coaching after a brief stint in the National Pro Fastpitch League in 2016. She spent time with Oregon as a student assistant coach, then later joined Louisiana-Lafayette in 2018 under her father.