The Big Ten is not expected to implement a mandate that would prohibit schools from scheduling Texas Tech, two people involved in the discussions told The Athletic on Thursday.
Big Ten athletic directors were scheduled to meet with commissioner Tony Petitti later Thursday. Some in the conference wanted to consider a league-wide ban on playing the Red Raiders across all sports in the wake of a Texas judge clearing the way for Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby to play this season after the NCAA deemed him permanently ineligible.
Sorsby, who transferred to Texas Tech from Cincinnati this winter, has admitted to thousands of NCAA gambling-rule violations, including betting on his team’s game while he was a redshirt freshman at Indiana.
On Monday, not long after the court order was released, top administrators at Big Ten member Nebraska and SEC member Georgia informed their coaches that they would not be permitted to schedule games against Texas Tech going forward.
The Big Ten plans to continue to let schools handle those decisions on their own, the two people said.
Illinois has a men’s basketball game against the Red Raiders scheduled for November. Oregon has a home football game against Texas Tech in 2033.
While many in college sports are furious with the Sorsby ruling and with Texas Tech for providing Sorsby with a potential place to play, there seems to be no interest in conference-level action targeting the school outside the Big 12, where the Red Raiders compete.
SEC athletic directors held a regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, at which the Texas Tech situation was discussed, but no action was taken. An SEC spokesman said there were “no announcements coming at this time.”
Georgia is the only SEC school known to have told its coaches not to schedule Texas Tech in any sport without approval. Arkansas is the only SEC school with Texas Tech on a future football schedule — three games beginning in 2030. AD Hunter Yurachek told The Athletic earlier this week that, while he was also concerned about the Sorsby case, he wanted to let the situation play out, given there are four years until the first game.
The ACC has stayed out of discussions about scheduling Texas Tech, and none of its members have football games scheduled with the Red Raiders.
The Big 12 executive committee met Thursday to discuss potential legal ramifications of potential sanctions, sources familiar with the decision told The Athletic. The office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sent a formal letter to the conference stating that any sanctions against Texas Tech regarding Sorsby would be considered “unlawful” and would prompt legal action.
“We are taking time with our legal counsel to understand the concerns of the state and will meet again with the full Board next week,” Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said in a statement in response to receiving the letter from the attorney general’s office.
This story will be updated.
— The Athletic‘s Justin Williams, Matt Baker and Seth Emerson contributed to this report.
