Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire addressed Brendan Sorsby’s status on a trip to Houston.
LM Otero/Associated Press
From a lengthy statement to appearances on a national podcast and a luncheon at the Houston Touchdown Club, Texas Tech officials went on the offensive Wednesday in support of quarterback Brendan Sorsby.
In his first public appearance since Sorsby was granted a temporary injunction against the NCAA, Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire defended plans to play Sorsby next season but called it “a stretch” that the fifth-year quarterback would be ready for a September return amid his recovery from gambling addiction and any possible legal hurdles to come.
Athletic director Kirby Hocutt said the school was not trying to “engineer his eligibility.”
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Billionaire megadonor Cody Campbell was much more defiant, saying the backlash was simply jealousy.
“Brendan Sorsby is recovering from an addiction,” McGuire said at the Omni Galleria. “I’ve sat down with this young man multiple times, and the things that he is going through and what he’s been through, is serious. I have a number of people in my family that were addicted to different stuff, and so I’ve seen what addiction does to people. And so for us even saying to the point — before we get to the legal — that he can be ready in Week 3 against Houston is still a stretch, because guess what, he’s still recovering.”
McGuire acknowledged the “rage” that has come from the situation, which many believe should make Sorsby ineligible to play.
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“For some reason, as a society, we’ve been OK with other things that happen and allowing players to play, and this has been the one thing that has united people, that that they were against,” McGuire said. “It’s crazy because it’s not murder, it’s not beating somebody — so there’s a lot of things that we’re working through. None of this is OK.”
On Monday, Sorsby was granted a temporary injunction against the NCAA that would allow him to play this season, despite his admission that he bet on college sports while a player at Indiana and Cincinnati.
During an appearance on the Don’t @ Me With Dan Dakich podcast, Campbell said the firestorm — which includes schools and conferences threatening to boycott Tech on the schedule — was “the college football world doesn’t think that Texas Tech should be as good as we are.”
“We’ve been a disruptor, just like Indiana has, so we’ve been a target,” Campbell added. “The volume has gone up and a lot has been directed at me, Coach McGuire, and our university, but that’s not fair.
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“If this had happened at LSU, people would say, ‘Ah, it’s LSU. They’re always going to do what they do.’ But it happened at Texas Tech, and people don’t want to compete with us. Of course ADs in the Big 12 are saying crazy things that they don’t want to play us. They don’t want to play us because they know he’s good and they don’t want us to be as competitive. They want to have a better chance at winning the conference. So they’re inherently conflicted in their opinion.”
The Big Ten is considering a league-wide mandate that would prohibit schools from playing Texas Tech in any sports. Meanwhile, the Big 12’s executive board is expected to meet to discuss the situation on Thursday. Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor has been among the most vocal, calling the Sorsby ruling, ‘f— b—.”
Campbell threatened legal action if teams opt not to play the Red Raiders.
“I love when the Big Ten or the K-State AD comes out and says we’ve all gotten together and we’ve talked about how we’re not going to play Tech, because guess what? That’s collusion,” Campbell said. “That’s an antitrust violation. So have fun with that one, guys. You can’t do that.”
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When asked if there could be lawsuits, specifically if the Red Raiders were banned from the College Football Playoff, Campbell said: “100%.” Texas Tech is coming off the program’s first Big 12 championship and appearance in the College Football Playoff.
McGuire said Sorsby was “back in the building” since dealing with his issues, which included a 35-day resident treatment program for gambling addiction and anxiety disorder. Sorsby must sit out Tech’s first two games of the season against Abilene Christian and Oregon State before he’s eligible to return beginning with the Friday Big 12 opener against Houston on Sept. 18.
Texas Tech canceled a previously scheduled media availability with McGuire prior to the event, according to a TD Club official. During the luncheon, McGuire took a handful questions from the crowd.
Sorsby, 22, was ruled ineligible by the NCAA in April, later had a request for reinstatement denied, and filed suit on May 18. The NCAA said this week it plans to appeal the decision.
McGuire and Hocutt took different tones, saying the focus has been to assist Sorsby in his recovery. They also pointed out that Texas Tech wasn’t part of Sorsby’s lawsuit.
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“None of this is OK,” McGuire said. “We were not a part of this lawsuit in any way. We did not pay for his lawyer. This was not Texas Tech taking the NCAA to court. What we did was support our player that is an addict. And that has been done at Texas Tech as long as Texas Tech has been a university, supporting their student-athletes and their students.”
McGuire said Sorsby could speak publicly soon.
“He’s the first person to tell you, it’s his fault. He chose to do this,” McGuire said. “But if you know anything about addiction, there’s a point where you choose it and then all of a sudden, you don’t choose it anymore. It’s not something that you can do by yourself to get past where you’re at. So I wasn’t going to turn my back on him.”
Sorsby placed about $90,000 in impermissible wagers on professional and college sports during his time at Indiana, Cincinnati and Texas Tech. He made 40 bets while a freshman at Indiana in 2022, though none included any games he played in with the Hoosiers.
The bets included everything from Indiana football, Romanian soccer, Turkish basketball, tennis and the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest.
As part of the injunction, Sorsby must continue to take part in individual clinical counseling for his gambling and participate in peer support through Gamblers Anonymous or a similar group. McGuire referenced the “amount of technology” on Sorsby’s devices to monitor him and that he “has a person that’s over every single penny.”
As for the timetable of any appeal, McGuire added: “As of right now, if you just look at the amount of time it takes to get to the appeal process, that’s still January-February. There’s a lot of things to work through.”
In a seven-paragraph statement, Hocutt said the school continues to evaluate Sorsby’s recovery.
“We’re taking it one day at a time as he is,” Hocutt said.
Then Hocutt had a message aimed at his colleagues across the country.
“I understand the frustration,” Hocutt said. “This situation is hard, it is new, and there is no perfect answer. The system we’re operating within is binary, but the situation is not. We are open to ongoing conversations about how to best handle these issues as an industry going forward. We will continue to be transparent in our decision-making. Most importantly, we will keep doing what we have always done, put our students first.”