Tennessee softball suffered a major blow in the transfer portal Thursday when star Taylor Pannell entered the transfer portal with a “do not contact” tag. By the end of the night, Pannell had committed to national runner-up Texas Tech.
Losing the First Team All-SEC selection is a major blow to Tennessee softball as they look to build a national championship contender in 2025.
Veteran Lady Vols head coach Karen Weekly took to X (formerly Twitter) to comment on the situation Friday.
“I think we can all agree on 2 things,” Weekly wrote. “1) women making money in sports is awesome and long overdue; 2) contacting players (directly or indirectly) before their season ends and signing them to NIL deals before they enter the portal is wrong. Money isn’t the issue – tampering is!”
Both Tennessee and Texas Tech were in the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City where it’s feasible that the Red Raiders could have talked to Pannell or someone close to her.
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But tampering is a major issue in all of college sports and is far from limited to just softball. The “do not contact” tag is a particularly ironic rule. It makes sense for players who are entering the transfer portal to follow a former coach to their new school.
Far too often, however, players enter the transfer portal with a “do not contact” tag without intending to follow a coach. It is against the rules for teams to talk to players not in the transfer portal, but players like Pannell enter the portal with the “do not contact” tag and commit to a new school shortly thereafter, making it clear that they had already talked to the new school.
Pannell was Tennessee’s top hitter on its College World Series team last season, hitting .399 with 16 home runs and 65 RBIs. She led the Lady Vols in batting average and RBIs during the 2025 season.
Ace pitcher Karlyn Pickens is back next season and her prowess will once again make Tennessee a contender to make it to Oklahoma City. But the Lady Vols’ offense was shaky last season. Losing their top hitter will make it difficult for that offense to make major steps forward.
Even with an inconsistent offense, Tennessee posted a 43-17 (15-9 SEC) record and made it to the semifinals in the College World Series. Texas, who eliminated Tennessee, defeated Texas Tech in three games in the WCWS Finals.
3 Responses
I’m sure Karen Weekly knows that Texas Tech ‘bag men’ boosters were signing other team’s players in April, well before OKC.
Sickening.
Good! Vols don’t need any turncoats.
I think if transfers had to sit out a year after transfered it would change things