OU 'perfect fit' for SEC, says Sooner grad and SEC Network analyst Dari Nowkhah

Dari Nowkhah grew up in Tulsa and graduated from OU, but it wasn’t until this week that the SEC Network anchor attended his first Women’s College World Series. 

“Over the years, I’ve gone from not really paying any attention to it, to becoming a legitimate fan of it,” Nowkhah told The Oklahoman on Friday during the Alabama-Stanford game. 

After watching his Sooners win the world series last year, Nowkhah got the itch to cover the event. Both for the softball, and to come home. 

“Fayetteville’s about as close as I ever get,” said Nowkhah, who was hired by ESPN in 2004. 

This year, Nowkhah and Alyssa Lang split SEC Network hosting duties in Oklahoma City. Nowkhah led the coverage through Saturday before Lang took over on Sunday. 

ESPN has had comprehensive coverage of the event, with games on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC as well as on-site crews from the ACC Network and SEC Network. 

Alabama was eliminated on Friday and Tennessee was eliminated on Monday night. Then there are the Sooners, of course, that are SEC-bound for the 2025 softball season. 

The Oklahoman caught up with Nowkhah about OU’s upcoming move and his first impressions of attending the Women’s College World Series. 

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So even when you were at OU, you didn’t get a chance to come out here?

Nowkhah: “I’d never even seen the stadium. I’m from Tulsa, but four years at OU, never made my way to the stadium. I interned at Channel 9 for two semesters, still never made my way here.” 

What do you think of it?

Nowkhah: “I love it. This is awesome. I remember when I walked in here … I was like, ‘It’s a little smaller than it looks like on TV.’ But there was nobody in here. And then yesterday morning we came in, and it was full, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is what it looks like on TV.’ It’s really cool.”

As an OU grad have you followed OU softball?

Nowkhah: “Any OU sport that’s winning championships is on my radar. I’m beyond thrilled that OU is coming to the (SEC). And the second that I found out that it was official official, of course the first thing I thought of was football. The second thing I thought of was holy cow, how much better can this (league) get in softball? We’re about to find out in a couple of years. It’s gonna be awesome.” 

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I wanted to ask you about OU going to the SEC. Is that kind of like the perfect marriage given your position?

Nowkhah: “It is. It’s pretty funny. My wife and I, I remember we were out at a doctor’s appointment and I was sitting in the car because it was COVID time, I was not able to go in. So I’m sitting in the car listening to sports radio, she’s in the appointment, then she comes back and news breaks that it had been announced by OU and Texas that they were going to join. 

“I had been hearing rumors, but my wife does not follow sports in the least. Has less interest in sports than I can even explain. So she looks at me and goes, ‘So that’s cool for you, right?’ And I’m like, that doesn’t even begin to explain how great it is. 

“I’m gonna cover them like I cover the other 15 teams in the league but just to be able to … Joe Castiglione is a good friend of mine, I’ve got friends within the athletic department, I love the school. It will be really, really fun. I also think of the fact that so many people in this state will have a reason to watch us as a network. It really fires me up. My wife and I spent a good 30 minutes talking about it, and it was probably the most time we’ve spent talking about a single sporting thing.” 

Seeing both sides of it, knowing OU’s tradition in various sports and the SEC being crazy about everything, what would you tell OU fans about what this transition is going to be like?

Nowkhah: “Well, I’ll tell you this, and this is what I’ve told SEC people: (OU) fits right in. The SEC has their slogan, ‘It just means more.’ Greg Sankey started that when he became commissioner. A lot of people don’t know what it is. What it means is simply this: To every individual in the SEC, to every household that follows an SEC team, what their team does that day — win or lose, how far they go in a tournament — it just means more to them than it does the average fan. 

“OU culturally is the exact same way. Their fanbase is the exact same way. It’s an absolute perfect fit. For OU, my friends, my family that ask what’s it going to be like when we get into the league, like in football? That’s what they always talk about. I said, you’re going to have to be OK with a lot more 8-and-4s and 9-and-3s than you are 11–and-1s. And that could be a good year. It is a grind. But at the same time, you’re going to have a helluva lot better home football schedule to go to, too.” 

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