The Big 12 has elected to pursue legal action against Texas Tech for its handling of the Brendan Sorsby situation.
The conference filed a 47-page complaint against Texas Tech on Monday, according to multiple national reports. The listed defendants in the complaint were Texas Tech, its university system, its president, chancellor and athletic director, and Texas attorney general Ken Paxton.
Paxton sent a letter to the Big 12 last week claiming it would be held liable for “Texas Tech’s lost football revenues, damages to its alumni contributions and damages to its recruitment, plus attorneys’ fees” if the school was punished for allowing Sorsby to remain eligible in 2026.
In the Big 12’s Monday complaint, the conference said any legal action against it would “prevent the Big 12 from exercising its rights under its Bylaws and the First Amendment” to sanction Texas Tech.
Sorsby was previously banned by the NCAA following investigations of his gambling activity, which included him betting on Indiana football games while a member of the Hoosiers’ program in 2022, but retired Texas judge Ken Curry granted the senior quarterback a preliminary injunction last week, rendering Sorsby eligible to play in 2026.
“The Big 12 and its member institutions (apparently save TTU) have no interest in being required to endorse or even appearing to endorse unethical and indeed unlawful conduct that strikes at the heart of athletic integrity,” the complaint said.
“Instead, the Big 12 seeks declaratory and injunctive relief that will permit it to exercise its rights in full and leave no doubt in the minds of its many other upstanding student-athletes, its potential future student-athletes, its rival athletic conferences and their member institutions, and the general public of exactly where it stands on an important moral, ethical and legal issue.”
According to The Athletic, Big 12 presidents will meet Monday to further discuss possible sanctions against Texas Tech.
