Texas Tech softball stars dad goes on wild Tennessee rants in College World Series handshake drama

This college softball feud has gone from the diamond into the Twitterverse.The father of Texas Tech star Taylor Pannell allegedly took a shot on X at Tennessee coach Karen Weekly and also a reporter in the aftermath of the controversial postgame handshake following the Lady Volunteers’ win over the Red Raiders in the College World Series on Saturday.Pannell transferred to Texas Tech from Tennessee last offseason, and then alleged that her ex-coach told her she made a “mistake” in the postgame handshake line after Texas Tech’s 2-1 win.Brandon Pannell allegedly quote tweeted in a since-deleted post a clip of his daughter’s comments with the caption: “@KarenWeekly was right that my kid did make a mistake and that was to play for her…”He also allegedly posted, according to Sports Illustrated, since-deleted tweets that referenced money, “living rent free in a weak fan base heads” and how he loves the attention his posts have received.Brandon then purportedly sent the Sports Illustrated reporter a nasty DM that he would post, and, again, deleted from X.“@Maren_Angus your dad is rolling around in his grave reading the click bait trash you continue to write.You have been fired from Fastpitch News, Softball America and D1 Softball would not hire you.

Wonder why??” he allegedly wrote Sunday to the reporter, Maren Angus-Coombs.“Don’t get me wrong I do love the attention but I prefer the attention coming from a loser hiding behind a fake account.

…If you don’t want to be a fake journalist, why don’t you do your job and get the video of the hand shake line.”The bad blood between the Pannell family and Tennessee dates back to her Taylor leaving the SEC program for Texas Tech after three seasons.Taylor announced her commitment to Texas Tech on X on June 12, 2025, and Weekly posted a notable message to her X account the next day that could be viewed as her alleging there had been nefarious tactics used to lure Taylor from Knoxville to Lubbock, ...