Texas Tech deserves more hate in Brendan Sorsby’s sordid eligibility case

An important thing seems to have been forgotten in the wake of an injunction that shook college sports to the core Monday.

The entire crisis around Brendan Sorsby could be avoided with one simple decision.

Texas Tech could choose to do the right thing and tell its starting quarterback his services are no longer needed.

Don’t laugh.

Yeah, this is college sports where everyone is looking for an angle, a good lawyer and a friendly local judge. Where if you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’. Where pressure to win makes the rules seem more like suggestions.

But why is it too much to ask the adults at Texas Tech — starting with mega-booster Cody Campbell and his underlings in the chancellor and athletic director offices — to just suck it up and do the right thing here?

Deep down, they have to know the revelations about Sorsby’s gambling addiction and the bright red line he crossed by gambling on college football games is disqualifying.

These guys are not idiots. Campbell played college football, as did athletic director Kirby Hocutt. They surely understand Sorsby committed the cardinal sin for any athlete, in any league, in any sport. Anything but the most severe consequences for an athlete who bets on their own games is a road to ruin. If this had happened in the NFL, Sorsby would get the boot and there wouldn’t even be a discussion.

And regardless of the nonsensical injunction produced by a local judge that will likely allow Sorsby to play in 2026 while the various appeals get tied up in the legal system, Texas Tech has agency here.

Sure, a judge says Sorsby can play. But he doesn’t have to. There is nothing stopping Texas Tech from telling Sorsby that, given the information that came to light after he transferred from Cincinnati, it would be best if he pursued recovery on his own time. Thanks and good luck.

That would be the mature and logical thing for an institution of higher education to do.

Instead, Campbell was tripling down Monday night on social media. In response to criticism from Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks, he sent a tweet asking “how many @GeorgiaFootball players have been arrested in the last year?” He challenged a critic to the Oklahoma Drill. He retweeted a post from a Texas Tech fan claiming the Red Raiders are “doing what any other program would do.”

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Campbell fancies himself the savior of college sports, using his money and political influence with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to help shape the Protect College Sports Act.

But what Campbell doesn’t seem to realize is that no congressional bill is going cure the fundamental sickness that he is actively engaging in here. If you convince yourself there is no line your competitors won’t cross, you can give yourself permission to do pretty much anything.

And because Campbell and Texas Tech refuse to cut the cord on Sorsby when it’s so obvious that’s the only acceptable outcome for the health of college sports, it is hard to imagine there will be any buy-in for reform with Campbell’s name on it.

Where is chancellor Brandon Creighton? Where is Hocutt, other than desperate to keep his job after a series of scandals at Texas Tech that should have sunk his career years ago? Where are the adults in the room to stand up to Campbell and tell him the truth?

There is no number in someone’s bank account that can save them from looking ridiculous if they are bound and determined to make themselves into fools.

Sorsby is not worth all this. Whatever number of games Texas Tech expects to win this season isn’t worth all this.

The Red Raiders invested big in a quarterback with a gambling problem who broke a black-and-white rule with universal support in college and pro sports that has ended the careers of others. Tough break, but it happens. A program run by responsible, level-headed people would cut its losses and move on. Lesson learned.

Instead, Hocutt put out a statement Monday saying “we do not believe that the circumstances of Brendan’s case warranted permanent ineligibility.” With all due respect to Hocutt — which now seems like very little — that’s both absurd and incorrect.

There are no degrees to Sorsby’s transgression. You can’t bet on your own games — period. It doesn’t matter what gray areas other schools are exploring with their athletes. It doesn’t matter what Sorsby’s previous schools knew about his gambling.

This is Texas Tech’s problem now, and it cannot put Sorsby on the field this fall and be considered a serious institution or football program.

The Red Raiders still have time to do the right thing. They can tell Sorsby that despite the ruling, they are taking a stand for a sensible and necessary NCAA rule and that he should pursue his football career elsewhere.

Anything short of that will forever make Texas Tech — and Campbell — a pariah and national embarrassment that deserves every bit of scorn coming their way.