The legal battle between a conference and its own member school is escalating in the Big 12, and it has nothing to do with a blown call or a controversial targeting penalty. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has fired off a pointed letter to Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark, urging the conference to take disciplinary action against Texas Tech for its handling of quarterback Brendan Sorsby—a player who, by his own admission, placed roughly $90,000 in sports wagers over four years, including bets on his own team while at Indiana.
This isn’t just a tempest in a transfer portal. It’s a legal and ethical clash that could redefine how conferences police their members when an injunction against the NCAA opens a loophole.
The Core of the Conflict
Texas Tech signed Sorsby out of the transfer portal, fully aware that his gambling history was about to become a major problem. The Red Raiders fought for his eligibility and won a temporary reprieve via a federal injunction against the NCAA. That move enraged other Big 12 schools, particularly Oklahoma State, who see the maneuver as an end-run around the league’s integrity bylaws.
Drummond didn’t mince words in his letter to Yormark and board chairman Douglas Girod. According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the AG wrote that the idea the Big 12 might not sanction a member for violating preexisting rules is “facially absurd.” He cited Supreme Court precedents to argue that the conference has both the right and the responsibility to enforce its own rules to protect competitive integrity.
“If Texas Tech will not do the right thing, the Big 12 should,” Drummond wrote. He specifically pointed to Bylaw 3.6, which allows the conference to sanction a school if a supermajority of disinterested directors determines the school has engaged in conduct “materially adverse to the best interests of the Conference as a whole.”
He then added a pointed note: the injunction protecting Sorsby only applies to the NCAA. It does not stop the Big 12 from suspending the quarterback itself.
A Declared War of Letters
The backstory adds fuel to the fire. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had already sent a preemptive letter to Yormark, warning that Texas Tech would sue the Big 12 if the league sanctioned the school for letting Sorsby play. That threat clearly rattled Drummond’s cage.
“My office stands ready to assist the Big 12 if Texas Tech’s leadership attempts to punish the Conference for doing the right thing,” Drummond wrote in a closing line that reads less like a legal position and more like a challenge thrown across the Red River.
Meanwhile, Sorsby is currently slated to serve a two-game suspension next season before taking the reins as Joey McGuire’s starting quarterback. The betting scandal—reporting shows he wagered on Indiana games while on the Hoosiers’ roster—has already raised serious questions about his future and the school’s judgment.
As of now, no sanctions have been formally proposed. But the tension between the Lone Star State and its conference neighbors is unmistakable. Whether this ends in a boardroom vote or a courtroom filing, the Big 12’s ability to self-govern is being tested in real time. And for Texas Tech football, the season hasn’t even started yet.
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