Texas Tech leaders release video statement surrounding Brendan Sorsby backlash
· Yahoo Sports
This is a developing story and will be updated with more information.
Leaders of Texas Tech University and the Texas Tech athletics department joined forces Thursday to release a video statement regarding the saga surrounding Brendan Sorsby and the Red Raider football team.
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University president Lawrence Schovanec was joined by Texas Tech football coach and director of athletics Kirby Hocutt to release the 21-minute video discussing all things surrounding Sorsby and the backlash the school and program have faced in the wake of Sorsby receiving an injunction to be eligible to play for the Red Raiders despite his admitted gambling addiction.
"I think everybody should realize first and foremost," Schovanc said in the video, "that our decisions in this matter are guided by a conviction that we have at Texas Tech and that is that we stand by our students. Now, Brendan made a mistake, and acknowledged that. Mistakes have consequences. At the same time here’s a young man with a dream and a vision to pursue a career and we felt not to have the opportunity to pursue that career given the circumstances and the evolving changes in this world that these athletes face was unfair and unjust."
Texas Tech's statements came as Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark was scheduled to meet Thursday with the conference's executive committee, made up of university presidents from Brigham Young, Kansas and Kansas State. Yormark is expected to gather the Big 12's full board of directors on Monday, June 15.
Under Section 3 of the Big 12 bylaws, rule 3.6 allows sanction of fellow universities by a supermajority vote. One of the grounds for such sanction is if a school "engaged in any action or a course of conduct materiallyadverse to the best interests of the Conference taken as a whole."
Some Big 12 leaders and ones in other conferences have spoken out stridently against Texas Tech's decision to stand behind Sorsby after a judge granted Sorsby an injunction on Monday, June 8, giving him eligibility to play this coming season. Judge Ken Curry, other than assessing a two-game suspension, has barred the NCAA from keeping Sorsby off the field, even though Sorsby has acknowledged being a gambling addict who throughout his college career has violated the NCAA's rules against gambling.
Central Florida athletics director Terry Mohajir told the Orlando Sentinel that, "At UCF, if a student-athlete were found to have engaged in sports gambling that violated NCAA rules, that individual would be deemed ineligible for competition by UCF. We would still continue to support that student-athlete's mental health and academic pursuits, but participation on the field would be out of the question."
The injunction supersedes the NCAA's declaring Sorsby permanently ineligible.
Kansas State AD Gene Taylor used two expletives in describing his reaction to Sorsby's being allowed to play. In that interview with Yahoo! Sports, Taylor said, "I know the kid has a problem. Well, get well and focus on your problem. It is absolutely devastating for him to be able to play when every other sport, no matter the level, deems an athlete ineligible or they are punished severely for betting on their team."
Utah AD Mark Harlan said he was "disheartened" by the ruling allowing him to compete this fall "despite clear violations of NCAA policies and ethical guidelines.
"We are all committed to supporting student-athlete well-being," Harlan wrote on X, "but we also must have a definitive path forward that preserves the most basic tenets of competitive integrity in our industry.”
ADs at Georgia and Nebraska have said their coaches are not allowed to schedule Texas Tech. ESPN reported the Big Ten was considering "a leaguewide mandate to not schedule Texas Tech in any sports in the regular season."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: What Texas Tech athletic, university leaders said on Brendan Sorsby situation