HOUSTON (AP) — Sports leadership at Texas Tech on Wednesday defended their plans to play quarterback Brendan Sorsby next season while he treats his gambling addiction, insisting they are not trying to “engineer his eligibility” through the courts and dismissing widespread criticism t hat includes the president of the NCAA.Speaking to the Houston Touchdown Club, coach Joey McGuire acknowledged the “rage” surrounding the situation, with athletic directors across college football saying that the NCAA ban on players who gamble should remain sacrosanct and a court order won this week by Sorsby crossed a line that should never be crossed.“For some reason, as a society, we’ve been OK with other things that happen and allowing players to play, and this has been the one thing that has united people, that they were against,” McGuire said. “It’s crazy because it’s not murder, it’s not beating somebody -- so there’s a lot of things that we’re working through. None of this is OK.”
Athletic director Kirby Hocutt also released a statement to “offer a few facts that seem to be getting lost in the noise” and noting the school is not part of Sorsby’s lawsuit against the NCAA.
“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,” Hocutt said. “Our role has been to support his recover, not to engineer his eligibility.”
