The latest chapter in the panic over the future of college sports in general – and football in this specific instance – was one of real concern.
The NCAA was rendered powerless in the quarterback Brendan Sorsby-to-Texas-Tech case and college football got it right, even if it was by accident. LSU sports administration and the SEC should be taking notes because gambling is the biggest existential threat to sports at any level.
I have written previously in this space that a lot of the “sky is falling” sentiment that is raised every time a player is awarded a seventh season of eligibility, or transfers into a big money NIL deal, or the playoffs are expanded, is misplaced.
College sports are surviving and prospering. The product in the various arenas continues to get better and the method for determining a champion – in football at least – becomes more credible. What else do you want?
The big changes have seemingly come crashing in all at the same time, but the adults in the room will ultimately sort it all out. They will come up first with an enforcement body they must all respect and then a set of rules that makes sense. Of course, that could mean the power football schools going their own way with a separate league or division.
But gambling is different. It creates an entirely different set of off-the-field problems on multiple levels, including law enforcement and the integrity of the game. It would seem like a slam-dunk to keep a player who has admitted a gambling addiction that caused him to place 9,000 bets, 40 on his own Indiana team, on the sidelines.
Yet, there are people out there trying to game the system right up to edges of ethical behavior. Cody Campbell is the billionaire Tech booster providing the bucks behind this effort, and Teach also made Stanford softball pitcher NiJaree Canady the first $1 million athlete in that sport.
And then there’s his buddy, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, who made a really dumb move.
Let’s set the stage: The NCAA declared Sorsby ineligible. Texas judge Ken Curry granted Sorsby a temporary restraining order, answering his Hail Mary play. Sorsby’s argument was that his addiction was a mental health issue, and he would be adversely impacted. Without being allowed his day in court.
The Big 12 responded with multiple emergency meetings of member schools, who were 11-1 against Texas Tech and Sorsby. Then Paxton stepped in and inadvertently settled the matter for both sides.
Paxton’s threatening letter, warning the Big 12 of massive legal action if it tried to enforce its own rules by declaring Sorsby ineligible, opened the door for a plea to federal court. It started in the early hours of Monday, June 15 and by the end of the day, Sorsby was looking at the NFL’s upcoming supplemental draft and Tech was re-evaluating its quarterback situation.
Without that letter, the Big 12 would have had to take on a case it probably wouldn’t have won while creating weekly negative headlines throughout the season. But then Paxton’s threat opened the door for a response in federal court where none previously existed.
That sound you heard on the news was college football dodging a bullet and saving itself a lot of ugly pain for the upcoming season. Paxton didn’t help his U.S. Senate campaign while blowing up Sorsby’s chances of seeing the field.
Sorsby may be done for good because the NFL sure doesn’t want fresh gambling issue in its backyard. I’m sure every team has been notified what the consequences might be if they want to take a chance on Sorsby.
College football got the right result, and it came with a silver lining. The result of this ordeal perhaps will re-emphasize the importance of the schools that make up college sports sticking together with standards applicable to all.
They also need to make sure they have some ironclad rules regarding gambling that every school will follow, and none will try to exploit. That’s what’s going on in college sports right now. The changing landscape requires some deep thought and careful planning, or even a school like LSU could find itself in an embarrassing position.
Not that it hasn’t already.
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