OKLAHOMA CITY – After leading the MACU Softball program to new heights over the last two seasons, including the program's first ever appearance in the NAIA Tournament in 2024, head coach Jim Gasso has officially announced he will be resigning on Thursday morning.
Since taking over the reigns of the program during the summer of 2023, Gasso has amassed an incredible 69-39 overall record to go along with a 49-19 (.721) mark in Sooner Athletic Conference play as the Evangels finished third in the league standings in back-to-back years.
During the 2024 campaign, MACU won a program-record 27 SAC games, going 27-9 while following it up with a tie for the second-most league victories after going 22-10 during the 2025 season.
In his first year at the helm, Gasso guided MACU to a 37-17 overall record as the Evangels received an at-large bid to the 48-team NAIA Tournament field. The Evangels not only made their first ever appearance at the prestigious tournament, but MACU made a statement with its first NAIA Tournament victory as the Evangels knocked off NAIA powerhouse No. 15 College of Idaho by a score of 4-0 on May 14, 2024.
In the fall, Mid-America Christian was blessed a unique opportunity for one of its fall scrimmages as the Evangels got the opportunity to play the four-peat NCAA Division I National Champion Oklahoma at Love's Field on Nov. 1.
With the team losing some key pieces from last year's squad, the Evangels went through some ups and downs throughout the 2025 campaign, but a battle-tested MACU squad that picked up three NAIA Top 10 victories and played 11 games against teams ranked in the NAIA Top 25 made some noise in the 2025 NCCAA World Series.
With the team making its fourth appearance in the last five years in the NCCAA tourney, the Evangels split their first two games with a dominant 10-0 victory over Geneva before dropping a 3-2 walk-off heartbreaker to Sterling on Monday night. Facing Geneva once again in an elimination game on Tuesday afternoon, Mid-America Christian battled back from two runs down in the bottom of the eighth as the Evangels pushed across three runs in their half to pull out their own 8-7 walk-off win.
Re-matched once again against Sterling in the semifinal on Wednesday, the Evangels got their revenge with a dramatic 1-0 victory over the Warriors to punch their ticket to the title tilt. Facing off against top-seeded Jessup, the Evangels gave JU one of its toughest tests in the tourney, but came up just short in a 3-2 loss to finish as the NCCAA National Runner-Up in Coach Gasso's final game as the team's coach.
"I am very thankful for Coach Gasso's commitment to our MACU family over the past couple years," stated MACU Athletic Director Marcus Moeller. "He helped guide the program to its first NAIA National Tournament appearance (and NAIA tournament win) as well as making a terrific run in this year's NCCAA World Series. He has worked hard and worn MACU on his chest with an immense amount of pride. We're very thankful for his efforts to sustain excellence in the softball program and excited about the future of the program!"
Mid-America Christian will immediately begin a national search for its next head coach. Any inquiries can be sent to Marcus Moeller at marcus.moeller@macu.edu.
