The Brendan Sorsby gambling scandal at Texas Tech was a wild rollercoaster that had very few heroes. As Sorsby’s camp and the university poured resources into overturning his ban, the NCAA, which is supposed to issue punishments when college athletes break rules, was rolled over by a local judge. In turn, opposing teams and conference officials were forced to forge their own plan of action to set a precedent against Sorsby’s rules violations, which included betting on his team at Indiana.
Sorsby ultimately chose to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft rather than continue his legal and PR battle to be the Red Raiders’ quarterback this season.
The whole saga, argued popular college football commentator Josh Pate in a video reaction on his YouTube channel late Monday, provided yet another example why the NCAA is “maybe beyond repair.”
“Right now, we just watched an entire episode go down where the governing body of this sport failed to be able to enforce basic rules,” he said.
“I mean, ‘don’t bet on the games that you’re in,’ is one of the most basic rules. It’s like etched in stone and one of the commandments, basically. And the NCAA couldn’t even enforce that. It’s not even their fault, they’re powerless to enforce their rules. And so, I don’t know that anyone who’s been paying attention needed to learn the lesson that the NCAA is ineffective, maybe beyond repair at this point. But if you needed to learn the lesson, there you go.”
Last week, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit offered a similar stance, sounding the alarm on the growing trend across college football of athletes finding sympathetic local judges who will overturn NCAA rulings on eligibility and other issues.
The unique nature of college football means that it is subject to laws governing universities as well as sports regulations imposed by conferences and the NCAA. This has often led the association’s rulings to be seen as toothless from a legal standpoint, though some believe the situation may be getting worse as more money seeps into college sports and the line blurs for athletes between professional and the old amateurism model.
Pate added that beyond a reckoning for the NCAA, the Sorsby situation should also force some introspection among media and content creators with how they handle gambling sponsorships. The former local TV host, who now runs a YouTube channel with more than a half-million subscribers and contributes at ESPN, said he accepted a partnership with FanDuel under certain conditions that he believes should be adopted across the industry.
“I just said, point-blank, I don’t think that I’m prepared to maybe message the way that is standard across the industry,” Pate said of his conversations with FanDuel.
“You’ve gotta give me some rope to talk about the darker side of this stuff. You’ve gotta give me some rope to talk about the addictive nature of it. And they’ve been a great partner on that front, because there were some other ones, believe me when I tell you this, that were not on-board with us talking like that. That should be standard, is the other lesson that very much needs to be learned on … [the media] side of the fence.”
Given that Sorsby has now left Texas Tech, the conversation will likely fade, perhaps delaying needed change in college sports that could have been accelerated had he stayed. In the meantime, Pate is giving guidance on efforts that he believes can begin now, before the next scandal hits.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.