Big 12 court filing seeks to uphold right to punish Texas Tech over QB’s status
The Big 12 has filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Dallas seeking a declaration that the conference can enforce its bylaws and potentially sanction Texas Tech if it chooses to play quarterback Brendan Sorsby this season.
The filing, made in the Northern District of Texas and obtained by multiple media outlets, lists the following defendants: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Texas Tech University, the Texas Tech university system, Texas Tech chancellor Brandon Creighton, Texas Tech president Lawrence Schovanec and Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt.
Sorsby, a transfer seeking to play his final season with the Red Raiders, has been undergoing treatment for gambling addiction and has admitted to betting on Indiana football when he was on the Hoosiers’ roster.
After Sorsby was ruled ineligible, he won a favorable ruling from a retired Fort Worth judge and is now eligible to play this season after serving a two-game suspension.
After TCU and other Big 12 schools reacted with outrage and said they would consider seeking to sanction Texas Tech, Paxton warned the conference that any attempt to punish Tech would result in the state suing the league.
In the Big 12’s filing obtained Monday, the conference seeks “declaratory and injunctive relief” against Paxton, Texas Tech and the other defendants.
“The Big 12 and its Member Institutions (apparently save TTU) have no interest in being required to endorse or even appearing to endorse unethical and indeed unlawful conduct that strikes at the heart of athletic integrity,” the filing states.
The Big 12 said it is not seeking to overturn the ruling on Sorsby’s eligibility, but to uphold the conference’s “independent governance authority over its Member Institutions.”
“In an industry that rarely agrees on anything, there is finally an issue that everyone seems to agree on (other than TTU and the Attorney General): universities should not field players who have bet on their own team’s games in college athletics,” the filing states.
“... The presence of Sorsby’s documented history in Conference games creates a cloud over the legitimacy of those games, a reputational risk for institutions that participate in them, and an unequal playing field for Member Institutions who are upholding the values of the Conference.”
The Big 12 said some of its potential punishment against Tech if it played Sorsby would be “monetary sanctions and/or a ban on competing in the Big 12 Championship Game.”
