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The Sorsby Saga: Winners and Losers
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It may seem hard to believe now, but the Brendan Sorsby eligibility drama – a Greek tragedy which opened with a Texas state judge simultaneously ignoring the law and the rules of the NCAA (not to mention common sense) – lasted only one week.
Though the adept legal maneuvering by both sides, together with high stakes shouting matches, took only just seven days to play out, there were definite winners and losers in the Sorsby saga.
With some parties finishing on both sides of the ledger …
Winner: The Big 12 Conference
Or at least the 15 teams not named Texas Tech.
To briefly recap: Brendan Sorsby received an injunction from retired Texas District Court judge Ken Curry, called out of retirement to rule on whether the NCAA could banish Sorsby for violating the cardinal sin of betting on your own team.
In a two-page decision which caught everyone off guard (perhaps even Sorsby himself) Curry ruled that Sorsby would suffer “a probable, imminent and irreparable injury” if he couldn’t practice or play for the Red Raiders. The ruling prevented the NCAA from being able to block Sorsby’s eligibility for what would have been his final college season.
The NCAA immediately appealed, and the Seventh Circuit panel (made up of four judges who all graduated from Texas Tech. Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up) set the matter for hearing … on February 8, 2027 … two weeks after the end of the 2026 college football season.
There was hope, for a nanosecond or two, that Texas Tech, or Sorsby himself, would do the right thing, despite the Judge’s ruling. In my Essay last weekend, “Guns Up“, I wrote:
“We support Brendan, and will continue to do so”, the statement from Texas Tech could have – should have – read. “We will support his treatment, and will pay him what we promised. However, gambling on your own team is a line over which no one in any organized sport in the world is allowed to cross, so we will not allow Brendan to play in any of our games. We will support his development and training, and help him prepare for the 2027 NFL Draft as a valued (sideline) member of our team this fall”.
With Texas Tech not willing to the right thing, and the NCAA prohibited from doing the right thing, it fell to the Big 12 to make a stand.
And, boy howdy, did the Big 12 make a stand.
In a 47-page lawsuit, the Big 12 requested a declaratory judgement from the Federal Court, stating that the Big 12 had the right to impose sanctions for bad actors within its conference. The Big 12 also requested an injunction preventing Texas Tech from running to a sympathetic state judge to request another “temporary” injunction which might last, say, eight months or so.
The lawsuit was so well drafted that it took less than a day for Texas Tech and Sorsby to back down, ending the legal actions before they even really had a chance to start.
The Big 12 came away a winner, as Commissioner Brett Yormark and the committee made up of the Conference’s Board of Directors, were unified, and spoke with one defiant voice.
The Big 12 may not have saved college sports, but the conference came away with its collective head held high.
Loser: The Big 12 Conference
While the Big 12 may have prevented college sports from having to deal with the precedent of having an admitted gambler take the field, there were some wounds left open between Texas Tech and the rest of the conference, wounds which may not immediately heal. As much as the rest of the Big 12 has come to dislike Texas Tech and its methods, the fact remains that, since Texas and Oklahoma left the conference for the SEC, the Big 12 has lacked a prominent national program.
Yes, it would be nice to have Coach Prime bring Colorado back into the Top 25, but no one is predicting that will be happening in the immediate future. BYU, Utah, Houston and Arizona State have potential to become national programs, but each also have their limitations.
With restructuring (read: realignment) coming in the next few years, the Big 12 and ACC are fighting for national relevance, if not outright survival. The ACC has a leg up, though, with Miami, Florida State and Clemson all being national brands.
While few are lauding Texas Tech’s methodology for bullying (and buying) its way into prominence, the reality is that Tech has the resources to build teams which can compete for national championships. Isolating the conference’s bell cow may give fans from other Big 12 programs some solace, but it may work against the conference when the Power Four is whittled down, and the Big 12 is perceived as clearly being behind the ACC in the number of nationally attractive programs.
Losers: Texas Tech and Cody Campbell
As noted, Texas Tech had, despite the ruling in favor of Sorsby’s participation, the opportunity to take the high road and not let Sorsby play. Instead, however, Texas Tech, and their billionaire booster (not to mention chair of the Board of Regents) Cody Campbell doubled down in support of Sorsby’s right to play.
“We’re just here to support our student athletes” was the mantra. “Sorsby hasn’t played a down for Texas Tech” … “We weren’t even a party to the Sorsby lawsuit”.
That was bad enough, but then Texas Tech, Campbell, and even the Texas state Attorney General went on the offensive, declaring that, if the Big 12 tried to sanction Sorsby or Texas Tech, they would sue.
Little did they know – or comprehend – that such rhetoric would play right into the Big 12’s hands.
The Big 12’s lawsuit may not have been possible, at least in the format it was presented, if Texas Tech hadn’t threatened to sue. That blunder opened the door for the Big 12’s preemptive strike … and a concession of defeat by Texas Tech and Sorsby in less than a day.
There have been any number of teams over the years who have embraced the role of villain in their sport. The Oakland/Los Angeles/Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders have always enjoyed playing the bad guys. The Detroit Pistons in the Bill Lambeer era and the renegade Miami Hurricanes of the early 1990s are other examples of teams who loved to be hated.
Texas Tech, whether willingly or not, has now taken on the role of villain. The athletic director and Cody Campbell blasted the other members of the Big 12 for daring to take a stand against them and their star player, with Campbell being particularly vocal in his defense of Sorsby and Texas Tech.
These are rifts which will not be closed anytime soon.
Oh, and Texas Tech and Cody Campbell were satisfied with pissing off the Big 12. Campbell also, at various times during the week that was, mocked or attacked programs within the Big Ten and SEC. You think Georgia is going to be excited about welcoming Texas Tech into the SEC after Campbell went on a rant that Sorsby was an angel compared to the rogues who suited up to play for the Bulldogs?
At some point, in the not too distant future, the SEC and Big Ten are going to be looking for teams to join their super conference(s).
No one is going to want to have a petulant child as a new partner.
Winner: Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark
In an era when conferences are fighting for their very survival, conference commissioners need to be on top of their game.
Brett Yormark had a good week last week.
Yormark didn’t overreact when the Sorsby decision was announced, putting out statements that the Big 12 Directors were meeting, and were “keeping all of their options open”. Yormark rallied the troops, and had 15 different schools, with 15 varying agendas, aligned to take on Texas Tech.
When the Big 12 is looking for teams to be consistent in the Top 25, and consistently be competing in the College Football Playoff, Yormark didn’t back down to the league’s biggest spender and latest bully.
In the current world of college football, it would be better for the Big 12 as a conference to have a team consistently ranked in the Top Ten, a team which could actually win a game in the Playoffs (with the Big 12 currently being 0-2 in the 12-team playoff era). Arguably, it would be better to have Texas Tech with a top transfer at quarterback.
But Yormark, quietly and professionally, stood for what was right for college football. For that, he is receiving – and deservedly so – proper credit for making this messy situation go away in a week.
Winner/Loser: Brendan Sorsby
Brendan Sorsby does not have a likeable resume.
He admits to gambling while on the team at Indiana, with at least 40 bets on the Hoosiers. Over the course of his three-year tenure in college football, he placed over 9,000 bets on sporting events, with over $90,000 wagered.
Sorsby did so with full knowledge that the punishment for being caught was a lifetime ban. How do we know that he knew? Other than the multiple lectures collegiate athletes endure, we know that he knew … because he tried to hide his bets. He had family members and friends open accounts – Why go to such lengths if he didn’t understand that there was a problem with his actions?
Yes, Sorsby did voluntarily go to rehab … but not until after he was caught! No one runs quicker to an AA meeting than someone just arrested for DUI. The penance, after being outed, did little to convince anyone (outside of Lubbock) of his reformed ways.
Now, Sorsby gets to try and convince an NFL team that he is reformed. Instead of being a potential first round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft, Sorsby has to take his chances with the Supplemental Draft. He will almost certainly fall out of the first round, with many pundits putting him in the third round at best.
So, how is Sorsby also a winner in this mess?
Well, with Texas Tech doubling and tripling down on its “we’re just here for the student athlete”, the Red Raiders backed themselves into a corner, with Cody Campbell stating that Texas Tech will still pay Sorsby the $4 to $5 million they promised Sorsby when they lured him away from Cincinnati.
Which means Sorsby will be paid over $4 million dollars … for throwing four touchdown passes in Texas Tech’s spring game.
Not bad work, if you can get it.
Winner: College Football
With the Sorsby Saga lasting only a week in the middle of the off-season, it would be easy to dismiss the frenzy as hype coming about when there was nothing else in college football to talk about.
Not so.
Had the Big 12 not stamped out the brush fire which was the Sorsby injunction, college football, if not all of college sports, would have been in peril.
Imagine a world in which Brendan Sorsby played for Texas Tech this fall. Every interception, every fumble, every overthrown ball would have been securitized. If the Red Raiders won a game, but didn’t cover the spread, the internet would explode with conspiracy theories.
And the logic of throwing games would quickly expand to any game which had an unlikely or unpredictable outcome. Do we want to live in a world in which Appalachian State defeats Michigan … only to have the main story being the accusation that Michigan players threw the game?
We can wish Brendan Sorsby all the best in his future endeavors. Perhaps a year or two as an NFL backup will give him enough time to show he is a reformed – not cured, but reformed – gambling addict.
Meanwhile, the rest of us can go back to cheering for our team … and hating Texas Tech with renewed vigor.
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