By admin 
Amid the continued outrage over Texas Tech QB Brendan Sorsby being granted an extra year of eligibility despite admitting to betting on football, Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt penned a lengthy statement defending the school’s decision to keep him and let him play.
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“I’ve watched the reaction to Monday’s court ruling with great respect for my colleagues across college athletics. Many of them are people I admire. But I also owe it to Texas Tech, and frankly to the truth, to offer a few facts that seem to be getting lost in the noise.
“Brendan Sorsby has not played a single down of football as a Red Raider. He will miss the first two games of the 2026 season under the terms of the court’s ruling. What happens after that will depend, in no small part, on how his recovery continues to progress. We’re taking it one day at a time as he is. We’ll evaluate his recovery, compliance and readiness as we go. We are watching closely, we are deeply committed to his progress and well-being, and we are not operating on blind faith. We are operating on a comprehensive clinical and compliance structure that we committed to before the court ruled in Brendan’s lawsuit against the NCAA and that Brendan committed to as a condition of his return to our program.
“Texas Tech is not a party to Brendan’s lawsuit. 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.
“I’ve heard the word ‘integrity’ used a great deal in the last 48 hours. As someone who has dedicated his career to college sports, I, too, believe integrity is central to our industry’s success. I also think integrity applies on more than one front. The integrity of sport matters. So does the integrity of how we treat a 22-year-old who sought help, entered residential treatment, and is now working every day toward recovery. Those two things don’t have to be in conflict.
“I have two sons, including one who recently graduated from Texas Tech and played football. Throughout the process, I’ve kept asking myself: How would I approach this situation if this were my own son?
“Let me be direct about what Texas Tech’s position actually is: 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. Clinical care, device monitoring, financial oversight, outpatient therapy – that infrastructure exists because we take our responsibility to this young man seriously. We spent Monday after the judge’s ruling getting those systems stood up for him, not thinking about X’s and O’s. Pulling him out of a structured environment, away from his team and his support system, does not protect anyone. 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.
“To my colleagues: I understand the frustration. 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. We will continue to be transparent in our decision-making. Most importantly, we will keep doing what we have always done, put our students first.”
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“Simply Wrong”
Football fans are not letting Hocutt get away with treating Sorsby as though he simply made a silly mistake and is overcoming it with help of the school. Just about everyone is accusing Hocutt and Texas Tech of enabling someone who broke a cardinal sin of sports and shouldn’t be playing football, even if he does need help.
“You don’t care about his recovery, you care about doing whatever it takes to win and not wasting your $5 million dollars,” one user on X replied.
“I’m all for supporting Sorsby in his recovery and prioritizing his well being. You can do that while also acknowledging he committed a cardinal sin as an athlete and should not be playing football this year. Playing him is simply wrong,” wrote another.
“You play him, then you condone it. It’s that simple,” a third remarked.
“So you’ve got a school bus driver who’s an alcoholic and got a DUI while driving the bus, and your plan is to get him back behind the wheel of the school bus as soon as his rehab is complete, huh?”
“You are allowing an athlete who bet on his own games to be part of your organization. No amount of PR talk can change that fact. Pete Rose also had a problem. It is on Texas Tech to do the right thing or become a pariah.”
“Weaponizing mental health and recovery as a way to win football games is sick. Deep down you know how big of a clownshow this is but your legacy will be attached to it.”
“A 2-game suspension is not enough for someone who bet on their own team. He should never play in a college game again, not as punishment, but to protect the sport and all the other players and teams.”
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The fans have made their positions clear. Where do you stand?
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This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 12:09 PM.