On Thursday Night, the Texas Longhorns won the Women's College World Series, sweeping the in-state rival Texas Tech. The championship marks the start of a dynasty in Austin as Texas has now won back-to-back championships. While Texas Tech fans will be the most upset as they fell just short, Oregon fans will feel a similar level of disappointment.
your back-to-back National Champion Texas Softball team 🤘🏆#HookEm pic.twitter.com/N4QmIdkKXM
— Texas Softball (@TexasSoftball) June 5, 2026
The Texas Longhorns dynasty on the diamond is being built by their head coach Mike White. Oregon Ducks fans are far too familiar with Mike White as he was the head coach of Oregon's softball program from 2010 through the 2018 season. The championship is once again a brutal reminder of what could've been for the Ducks.
Oregon letting Mike White slip away could've cost the Ducks a dynasty
As Mike White celebrates back to back National Championships, it's impossible not to look back on his time leading the Ducks with some questions. The biggest question will likely always be why Oregon didn't step up financially to ensure Mike White stayed in Eugene when Texas made the move to land him.
The Ducks lost Mike White in the Pre-NIL era, and his reported salary at Oregon was only $237,500 while Texas big deal only came in at $450,000 which schools now spend on NIL deals for players who never end up panning out. It's not like Oregon hadn't stepped up prior in the White era either with the renovations to The Jane and building better facilities. Oregon even stepped up in 2015 when Arkansas came calling to keep the staff in place.
In this current era of college sports, it feels almost like a certainty that the Ducks would've stepped up and kept White in Eugene as Oregon has been at the forefront of the NIL and Revenue Sharing era. When Mike White left Eugene, he was coming off back to back trips to the College World Series, and made it there 4 of the previous 5 seasons.
Since Mike White's arrival in Austin, he's continued to show he's among the nation's best softball coaches. White has been at Texas for 7 seasons, winning a pair of National Championships, appearing in 3 WCWS finals over the last 3 years, and has advanced to Super Regionals every season.
Melyssa Lombardi has shown a ton of promise in Eugene, and in the end, she could still end up bringing a championship to Oregon. Even as Lombardi has given Oregon fans plenty to believe in, it's hard to look at White has done without thinking about how close he may have been to bringing that success to Eugene.
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