Texas Tech representatives have told Big 12 officials that “any Big 12 sanction” related to QB Brendan Sorsby would be “met with another courtroom challenge,” according to sources cited by YAHOO SPORTS. School representatives are “actively exploring potential legal action not only against the league itself but individual conference universities whose officials claim they would not play the Red Raiders.” A source said, “If you want to go to battle with Texas Tech, get ready: We’re going to battle.” While conference and school officials have mostly remained quiet publicly, that “could soon change” if the league’s board of presidents and chancellors “sanctions the school through a provision in the conference bylaws -- something seriously under consideration” (YAHOO SPORTS, 6/10).
Texas Tech AD Kirby Hocutt said in a statement posted to social media before the YAHOO SPORTS report, “To my colleagues: I understand the frustration.” He added, “We are open to ongoing conversations about how to best handle these issues as an industry going forward.” He also said he has “heard the word ‘integrity’ used a great deal in the last 48 hours,” adding he believes integrity is “central to our industry’s success” but that it “applies on more than one front” (X, 6/10).
Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire said that while the injunction received by Sorsby allows him to play after a two-game suspension, that does not mean Sorsby “will be ready to play by the third game.” He said playing Sept. 18 against the Univ. of Houston “is still a stretch” (LUBBOCK AVALANCHE-JOURNAL, 6/10).
