A Texas judge’s controversial decision regarding Texas Tech Red Raiders quarterback Brendan Sorsby is drawing fierce blowback, but those angered by the ruling should save their ire for the NCAA.
On Monday, judge Ken Curry approved Sorsby’s temporary injunction against the NCAA, which, if upheld, will allow the senior transfer quarterback to play for Texas Tech this season after previously being ruled ineligible following an admission of betting on Indiana Hoosiers football games while a member of the program.
As absurd as the ruling is — athletes who gamble on their sport should be permanently blacklisted — the NCAA and its members only have themselves to blame. The staunch refusal to entertain making athletes employees, which would allow the NCAA and players to enter into a collective bargaining agreement, has led to the current system where anything goes.
Brendan Sorsby ruling draws blowback, threats of canceled games
Plenty have already railed against the Sorsby ruling, and the echoes will likely only grow louder.
“It’s f—ing b—s—,” blasted Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor, per Yahoo Sports senior college football reporter Ross Dellenger, who noted rival schools have floated drastic action as a result of the Sorsby ruling.
The criticism wasn’t limited to Texas Tech’s conference. Dellenger also shared pointed comments from Georgia Bulldogs athletic director Josh Brooks, whose program could potentially face the Red Raiders in the College Football Playoff.
“I think there needs to be serious conversations about not playing Texas Tech in any sports,” Brooks said.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Max Olson revealed several more angry responses, including from TCU Horned Frogs coach Sonny Dykes, who questioned, “How is anyone ever going to trust the outcome of a game again?” Utah Utes athletic director Mark Harlan described himself as “disheartened” by the ruling.
Even Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark raised alarm, saying, “The ramifications of today’s ruling are significant and could have broad impacts across college athletics, creating great concern amongst our membership.”
While programs contemplate what action they can take against Texas Tech, they’d be better served closing Pandora’s box before things go even more sideways, even if that includes finally relenting and allowing players to unionize.
That would allow the NCAA and players to collectively bargain, putting guardrails in place to avoid repeats of the Sorsby saga. In a CBA framework published by Athletes.org, which worked with over 5,000 current and former athletes, gambling policies would “be determined and agreed upon by both the negotiating entity and the players association.”
The Sorsby case wouldn’t even be an issue with a CBA in place. But the NCAA’s insistence that athletes aren’t employees has created an environment where its authority to enforce rules has been diminished.
It might take doing the one thing the NCAA has been adamant about refusing to get the genie back in the bottle. But if its members continue to stand in the way of progress, their cries over Sorsby will fall on deaf ears.
They made their bed. It’s their own fault if they can’t get any sleep.
