{"id":328289,"date":"2026-06-08T23:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T23:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/328289\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T23:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T23:34:10","slug":"brendan-sorsby-playing-college-football-is-unconscionable-thats-why-texas-tech-is-the-only-happy-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/328289\/","title":{"rendered":"Brendan Sorsby playing college football is unconscionable. That\u2019s why Texas Tech is the only happy party"},"content":{"rendered":"

The word \u201cunbelievable\u201d has become so ingrained in college sports that I consulted a thesaurus to find an apropos adjective to describe Monday\u2019s news that Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby, despite his gambling on college sports (including his own team), will be allowed to play college football<\/a> in the fall, for now.<\/p>\n

No one word seems strong enough. So how about all of this?<\/p>\n

Unconscionable. Reprehensible. Outrageous. Gross.<\/p>\n

With one three-page injunction order Monday, Judge Ken Curry of the 99th District Court in Lubbock County, Texas made the wrong kind of history. He allowed Texas Tech\u2019s transfer quarterback to become the first known athlete in a major sport to admit to gambling on his own team (at Indiana, in 2022) and still be allowed to continue playing that sport.<\/p>\n

Curry apparently believes that the harm caused to Sorsby, were he deprived the ability to \u201cbenefit from the elite coaching, training resources, camaraderie and regimen that only being a member of a Division I college football team can provide,\u201d is more damaging than the harm caused by setting a precedent that someone can bet on their own team \u2014 the cardinal sin of being an athlete \u2014 and receive no consequences besides missing games against Abilene Christian and Oregon State.<\/p>\n

Major League Baseball\u2019s all-time hits leader, Pete Rose, had to die before that sport would forgive him for betting on his own team. But a Big 12 quarterback? Two-game suspension.<\/p>\n

Former Iowa defensive tackle Noah Shannon saw his college career ended because he placed one legal bet on his school\u2019s women\u2019s basketball team, believed to be for less than $100. Sorsby placed at least 40 bets on Indiana football while still underage, and approximately $90,000 in sports wagers using other people\u2019s sportsbook accounts, and will be back in time for the Red Raiders\u2019 Big 12 opener against Houston.<\/p>\n

All because Curry bought plaintiff\u2019s attorney Jeffrey Kessler\u2019s specious argument that the NCAA was harming a recovering gambling addict\u2019s welfare by enforcing a rule that every pro sports league in this country also enforces.<\/p>\n

Just how egregious is this decision? It may be the first time in college sports history in which 99.9 percent of the country sides with the NCAA.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, shameless Texas Tech has twisted itself into knots attempting to defend the indefensible. In a May 26 open letter, university president Lawrence Schovanec had the audacity to argue, \u201cThe NCAA bylaws governing Brendan\u2019s case have not adapted to the era of widespread legalized sports betting,\u201d just months after his own school voted to overturn an NCAA policy change that would have allowed athletes to bet on pro sports.<\/p>\n

Hey, they\u2019ve got a Big 12 championship to defend.<\/p>\n

Speaking of which, it may be up to that league\u2019s commissioner, Brett Yormark, to step in and right this wrong<\/a>. There was immediate backlash<\/a> among Tech\u2019s competitors, with one Big 12 coach telling The Athletic\u2019s Bruce Feldman he called Yormark 10 minutes after word spread to voice his displeasure. Every conference has a broad sportsmanship policy that allows the league to suspend someone.<\/p>\n

It was one thing when we had federal judges (and in one case, the United States Supreme Court) taking on class-action cases that attacked the NCAA\u2019s broader amateurism model. College athletes were finally able to profit off their own name, image and likeness through a series of fully formed decisions resolving years-long crusades.<\/p>\n

What we\u2019ve seen in the last few years is something different entirely: One aggrieved athlete in one particular district finds a judge who hastily grants them an emergency injunction due to the specifics of their case. But then that one decision sets a precedent that has broader consequences for the entire industry.<\/p>\n

See: Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia suing to get his year of juco eligibility back. Or Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss suing to retroactively receive a medical redshirt for a Division II season in which he never applied for a medical redshirt. Or any number of former professional basketball players who\u2019ve been granted college eligibility despite being textbook cases for why there\u2019s a rule denying them eligibility.<\/p>\n

But the potential consequences in Sorsby\u2019s case are more severe. Allowing someone who bet on his own team to keep playing college football affects the integrity of the competitions themselves. The kind of threat pro sports leagues take so seriously that they ban players for life if they get caught.<\/p>\n

The NCAA\u2019s gambling rules are supposed to be a deterrent for potential future offenders. Curry just gave them a flashing green light.<\/p>\n

Kessler \u2014 he of Alston and House fame \u2014 argued that Sorsby should be treated with sympathy because he sought help for his addiction. I\u2019m sympathetic, but being stricken with an addiction is not supposed to give one license to break firmly entrenched rules he agreed to upon starting college.<\/p>\n

Case in point: Back in 2015, then-USC coach Steve Sarkisian lost his job due to behavioral incidents stemming from substance abuse. At a preseason event for fans, he could be heard slurring his words and uttering a profanity during a speech. Athletic director Pat Haden gave Sarkisian a reprieve at the time but later fired him after showing up at a team meeting while intoxicated.<\/p>\n

He sought treatment for alcohol addiction and later filed a $12.6 million wrongful termination suit, alleging he was discriminated against for having a disability. An arbitrator ruled against him, saying, \u201cSarkisian must bear sole responsibility for having actively concealed from USC his claimed disabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sorsby spent four years concealing his gambling habit from three different schools. By all accounts, he only came clean once law enforcement flagged his transactions, and an integrity monitor for the sportsbooks tipped off the NCAA.<\/p>\n

No matter. According to Curry, it\u2019s more concerning that he could be deprived of the ability to showcase himself to the NFL.<\/p>\n

Curry\u2019s decision is not binding beyond his own district<\/a>. But you have to believe it\u2019s now going to get cited by anyone caught doing the same thing. Meanwhile, what a miserable season this is going to be with the public scrutinizing every Sorsby interception or errant pass for signs of malfeasance. It\u2019s every sport\u2019s worst nightmare if there\u2019s even an appearance the outcome of the games can\u2019t be trusted.<\/p>\n

The NCAA will immediately appeal Curry\u2019s decision, and one can only hope an appellate court located outside of Lubbock will approach the same set of \u201cfacts\u201d with more sensible logic. But nothing about our legal system gives me confidence, and the process could take so long that football season could come and go.<\/p>\n

There is no better example of why targeted intervention from Congress is necessary. When you have schools and deep-pocketed supporters willing to look the other way on the glaring integrity threat of betting on your own team \u2013 and judges whose rulings effectively strip away our\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Charlie Baker (@CharlieBakerMA) June 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the hope, expressed by NCAA president Charlie Baker, that perhaps this is the crisis that will motivate lawmakers to grant the organization its long-sought antitrust exemption to be able to make and enforce rules. Based on the tepid response in the Senate last week to the grand unveiling of the Protect College Sports Act, I wouldn\u2019t hold my breath for that, either.<\/p>\n

Added Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen: \u201cI have not personally advocated for conference self-governance, but today\u2019s decision makes it obvious that it is a necessary path forward. We can not align with institutions who advocate or support player participation in this circumstance.\u201d Utah AD Mark Harlan also voiced his displeasure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But never fear. Texas Tech board chair, mega-donor and political influencer Cody Campbell is on the case. He issued this statement in the wake of the Sorsby decision:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis unfortunate situation is the outcome of a broken system. I\u2019m doing everything I can to fix it, but until there is a permanent solution, Texas Tech and its student athletes have to do the best they can to navigate and compete amid the chaos that exists in the reality of the world we live in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only unfortunate thing about this situation is that the wrong side prevailed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The word \u201cunbelievable\u201d has become so ingrained in college sports that I consulted a thesaurus to find an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[261,1631,5390,2256,27,29,28,415],"class_list":["post-328289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-college-football","tag-opinion","tag-sports-betting","tag-sports-business","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-texas-tech-red-raiders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}