Alanna Barraza needed to look into Craig Snider's eyes to know it was for real.

During her time with the Texas Tech softball team, Barraza had heard plenty of coach speak from the program's previous leaders. First with Adrian Gregory then with Sami Ward, Barraza had fallen victim to what she calls "recruiting face," how coaches talk and act when they're trying to win you over only for those words and actions to become lies over time.

When Snider was hired to be the Red Raiders' new leader, he was set to be Barraza's third coach since she arrived in Lubbock in 2019. She had to know if she could trust him.

"I couldn't tell that he had a recruiting face or anything," Barraza said. "The way he presented himself to me was the way that he was all the time. That was super, super important to me. That's how my last coach kind of got me."

Their first face-to-face chat after Snider's introductory press conference was all Barraza needed to give yet another coach a chance. She's not regretting that decision.

"It's definitely been a roller coaster," Barraza said, "but this is the happiest I've been through my time at Tech with this staff. I'm very happy with this staff now. It sucks that I couldn't have them five years ago."

Barraza signed with Tech when Gregory was still the coach. Gregory resigned in Sept. 2020 after an internal review of the program found allegations of player abuse, racial insensitivity and conducting at least three baptisms within the team facility.

Ward was hired to replace her a month later, and Barraza succumbed to the dreaded "recruiting face." Ward didn't last long, either, being fired two years into the job.

Given all that, few would have blamed Barraza, a Diamond Bar, California, native for abandoning ship. Still, she wanted to give Snider a chance before packing her bags.

"I think the big thing was it's about the present for us now," Snider said. "I told her we need help with this. We want to stay focused on what we're doing and not so much what hasn't happened in the past or whatever happened in the past. That's exactly what it is: the past."

Barraza was ready to move forward and found a staff that caters to their players in all aspects, not just softball.

"This staff actually cares about each individual player," Barraza said. "They don't just care about wins and losses. They care about actually molding us into amazing softball players and teaching us different aspects of the game that isn't just fundamentals.

"They're teaching us the mental aspect and how to think the right way when we play, so they take a deeper dive into us as people and into us as mental athletes."

Being able to trust each other was mutually beneficial for Barraza and Snider. The 5-foot-5 second baseman posted a career-high nine home runs and batted .293 on the year with 29 RBIs in 2023. She's also played a key role as recruiter, helping Tech lure several notable transfers and the best recruiting class in program — and school — history.

Now in her graduate-senior season, Barraza is as good a recruiting piece as Snider can ask for, since she's seen and endured it all. She can attest to where the program was and where it is now.

"I've had some recruits where I'm hanging with them directly," Barraza said, "others where I'm just talking to them, like this is the place that you want to be. Doesn't matter where else you're touring and looking at. I've definitely tried to chirp in some of the recruits' ears and be like 'This is where you want to be.'"

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Barraza finds happiness with Texas Tech softball coaching staff