EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsTexas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt issued a lengthy statement on Wednesday, continuing to support quarterback Brendan Sorsby's recovery from an admitted gambling addiction while also not ruling out the possibility of him playing this season."This situation is hard, it is new, and there is no perfect answer," Hocutt wrote on X.On Monday, a judge in Lubbock County, Texas granted Sorsby a temporary injunction that might clear the transfer quarterback to play for the Big 12 favorites even after the NCAA declared him ineligible for wagering on college sports. The public backlash came fast and furiously, including from within the Big 12, which is considering its own sanctions against Texas Tech.In his statement, Hocutt said he watched the reaction "with great respect for my colleagues across college athletics" but wanted to "offer a few facts that seem to be getting lost in the noise." Hocutt confirmed Sorsby will miss the first two games of the 2026 season under the terms of the court ruling, which are home against Abilene Christian on Sept. 5 and at Oregon State on Sept. 12. "What happens after that will depend, in no small part, on how his recovery continues to progress," Hocutt wrote. "We're taking it one day at a time as he is. We'll evaluate his recovery, compliance and readiness as we go."Hocutt said that before the lawsuit was filed, Sorsby committed to a "comprehensive clinical and compliance structure" as a condition of his return to the team."Texas Tech is not a party to Brendan's lawsuit," Hocutt stated. "We did not file it. We did not fund it. A young man in treatment for a clinically diagnosed addiction exercised his legal right to seek a remedy in court, and a judge agreed with him. Our role has been to support his recovery, not to engineer his eligibility."The NCAA has already appealed Judge Ken Curry's ruling to the Court of Appeals for the Seventh District of Texas in Amarillo. The NCAA ruled Sorsby ineligible after it discovered he wagered approximately $90,000 on professional and college sports over four years, including 40 bets involving Indiana football when he was a freshman with the Hoosiers in 2022. The NCAA denied Texas Tech's appeal for reinstatement Friday.Hocutt said he has heard the word "integrity" used a lot in the past 48 hours."The integrity of sport matters," he said, "So does the integrity of how we treat a 22-year-old who sought help, entered residential treatment, and is working every day toward recovery. Those two things don't have to be in conflict."In the seven-paragraph statement, Hocutt went on to explain Texas Tech's position on what has become an unprecedented ruling in college athletics."We are glad Brendan is still part of our community, because that is where we can extend him the best possible support in his ongoing recovery," Hocutt said. "Clinical care, device monitoring, financial oversight, outpatient therapy -- that infrastructure exists because we take our responsibility to this young man seriously."Hocutt said they spent Monday after the judge's ruling making sure those resources were in place."Pulling him out of a structured environment, away from his team and his support system, does not protect anyone," Hocutt said. "It might be a cleaner headline, but it wouldn't be the right one. And it wouldn't be true to the institutional values that guide us every day."Big 12 athletic directors held a conference call Tuesday with commissioner Brett Yormark. TCU athletic director Mike Buddie and Kansas State AD Gene Taylor have suggested that the league's other teams might elect not to play the Red Raiders this season."To my colleagues: I understand the frustration," Hocutt wrote. "This situation is hard, it is new, and there is no perfect answer. The system we're operating within is binary, but the situation is not. We are open to ongoing conversations about how to best handle these issues as an industry going forward."Big 12 Bylaw 3.6 allows for the conference to sanction a member with a supermajority vote of disinterested directors after "representatives of the Member(s) that are subject of such vote has been given reasonable prior notice and the reasonable opportunity to be present and to be heard."Among other reasons, the bylaw allows for the Big 12 to discipline a member for being "engaged in any action or a course of conduct materially adverse to the best interests of the Conference taken as a whole."The bylaws allow for the disinterested directors to "be empowered to determine whether any Sanctions are appropriate, the type, extent, and conditions to any Sanctions imposed." The bylaw allows for discipline that includes "prohibitions on appearance in postseason events or televised events, restrictions on revenue distributions, and limitations on recruiting or scholarships."Hocutt said the school will "continue to be transparent in our decision-making.""Most importantly," he said, "we will keep doing what we have always done, put our students first."
