Texas Tech cannot play the victim in Brendan Sorsby saga, it could’ve dealt with PR mess months ago
How many times does someone have to break the rules before consequences have to be paid for the wrongdoings? I'd imagine plenty of college football fans were asking this question over the past 72 hours while watching the fallout from Brendan Sorsby being granted an injunction that will allow him to play this season for Texas Tech.
There comes a point when one has to ask themselves how much there is to gain from allowing an athlete to stay on the team when there is so much backlash coming from outside sources.
On Monday, a Texas judge granted the Red Raiders quarterback an injunction, after being presented evidence by Sorsby himself and the NCAA, that showed he had been gambling for the past four years on a variety of sports.
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This included placing bets on his own team to win, while he was on the roster at Indiana, which added up to 40 different wagers, according to Sorsby.
In addition to gambling on the Hoosiers, while on the team, the quarterback also placed a number of bets on Indiana basketball. Then, when he transferred to Cincinnati, he placed additional bets on the Bearcats basketball team, along with more than $6,000 on other college football games.
When it was all said and done, Sorsby admitted to wagering $90,000 on sports betting, which did not stop when he arrived at Texas Tech, telling the NCAA he wagered an additional $5,000 through his friends.
I would guess that fans of the football team are most likely divided on the inside, if they were telling the truth. In reality, I'd imagine athletic director Kirby Hocutt and Texas Tech megabooster Cody Campbell probably feel a tad awkward knowing they will end up paying Sorsby more than $4 million to play football this season in Lubbock.
But lost in the ill-timed posts on social media from Campbell, or the awkward statements coming from the school regarding its starting quarterback, is a reality that this public bashing could’ve been prevented from day one of the school finding out the transfer portal addition had been breaking NCAA, and federal, laws since he first enrolled in college.
In speaking with multiple sources regarding the financials tied to Sorsby, there are plenty of conversations being quietly held behind closed doors across the country about why Texas Tech would not initiate the ethics clause in the NIL contract and just cut its losses.
Sure, there would be a number of hurdles wrapped up in the process, which would include medical provisions based upon Sorsby's 'mental health disorder' of addiction that his attorneys presented in court as an argument against the NCAA.
Most contracts that athletes are signing have 'outs' for schools and third-party collectives, centered around breaking NCAA rules triggering a way for schools to get rid of the problem. In no way am I implying this would be easy, but to act as if there isn’t at least an avenue to turn down would be a lie.
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In a number of cases, the school or collective, could try to collect on payments already made by either negotiating with the athlete's representation or taking the athlete to court.
"If this was the second-string running back or offensive lineman, I would think Texas Tech would not want to deal with the hassle," one Power-4 athletic director told FOX News. "Have you seen social media or the public statements from opposing schools over the past few days?
"This is a problem, but they (Texas Tech) are clearly putting their foot in the ground and sticking by him, for now."
Right now, the Big 12 Conference is searching through bylaws and legal notifications for a way to potentially punish the football program for keeping Brendan Sorsby on the roster. Conference athletic directors spent a majority of their meeting on Tuesday letting it be known how much they disagree with what Texas Tech is doing, according to sources briefed on the conversations.
At first, this was a personal matter. But, the moment Texas Tech decided to ride this wave and only suspend him for two games of the upcoming season, they essentially entered the ring with him.
The reality is that Texas Tech can no longer act as though they've done nothing wrong. That ship has sailed, and it doesn’t look as though it's coming back into port. And, I can't say I blame the Red Raiders if they are willing to be the 'heel' (bad guy) in this equation.
They've come this far. What's the point of bailing now?
"I've been Governor of Massachusetts for eight years now and President of the NCAA for the last three years. This is a new low. I'll leave it at that. We're appealing already and we'll pursue every legal avenue that's available to us," NCAA president Charlie Baker said on Tuesday evening.
Given that the NCAA has formally filed an appeal to the Seventh Court of Appeals, while asking for an expedited process, the next few months are going to be a public relations nightmare for the Texas Tech athletic department.
If you haven’t noticed, it looks as though schools across the country are ready to get their shots in on the program, and rightfully so.
By 'standing beside' their transfer quarterback in Lubbock, the NCAA of all organizations has garnered empathy from fans across the country. In what world did you think that would happen after the previous 30 years?
Obviously, the Texas Tech administration is not looking as though they are going to give into the pressure and cut bait. I'd say there are plenty of CFP reasons why they shouldn’t at the moment.
Though, we are past the point of acting as though the athletic department in Lubbock is just abiding by the injunction granted by a Texas judge. And again, I'm not blaming the Red Raiders for their stance to go full 'NWO' of college sports.
But, we can also no longer act as though Texas Tech has done nothing wrong. The school might not have known about the laws broken by its transfer quarterback three months ago, but darn sure know now.
So, whatever happens next, happens next.