Texas Tech Still Has One Big 12 Grudge Fans Wont Forget

Texas Tech's Cody Campbell stands firm on his critique of the Big 12 in a Paramount+ spotlight, forecasting a powerful comeback on the gridiron.

Texas Tech’s Cody Campbell is not backing off.

The billionaire donor and chairman of the Texas Tech Board of Regents was already making noise in Paramount+’s new four-part documentary, The Program, and on Saturday he doubled down on the same hard-edged message after the release sparked fresh reaction. Campbell’s frustration centers on the Brendan Sorsby gambling saga and, more specifically, the way he believes Texas Tech was treated by parts of the Big 12 while the issue played out.

“Looking back on it, I know that Texas Tech and I handled everything with integrity, and we did things the right way,” Campbell says in the documentary. “I think this is something that could have been handled much more privately.

We’re not going to forget about that, and I don’t think they’ll forget about it either when we’re up by 40 and still throwing the ball in the fourth quarter. That’s where the retribution will come.”

That line has been doing the rounds since Friday, and Campbell made sure the message didn’t soften with time. In a post on X responding to an Iowa State fan, he said, “It was exactly 7 days between the injunction and resolution of what was a very complicated legal (and human) issue.

Texas Tech never sued anybody or did anything but follow the rules and the law. But yet, in that 7 days, certain idiot Big 12 coaches and athletic directors, who had no idea what was going on, ran their mouths just because they wanted to take a cheap shot at Texas Tech.

Most of the conference was great, and kept things private.

“But I will repeat what I’ve said several times… We remember who the jackwagons were, and we will give them what they have coming to them.”

The anger around Texas Tech’s handling of Sorsby has split opinion well beyond Lubbock. Many outside the program believe Sorsby never should have received a court injunction that made him eligible to play in 2026, especially after he admitted to betting on his own team while he was a backup quarterback at Indiana as a redshirt freshman. Tech also drew criticism for standing by him and trying to help him return after a stay in a rehab facility.

That support turned the Red Raiders into a villain for a lot of college football fans. But the resentment inside the program isn’t about losing Sorsby. It’s about what Tech sees as the rest of the sport - and especially the Big 12 - piling on when the school was already in a tough spot.

Campbell’s point is that Texas Tech had only bad options: cut ties with a player in a dark moment or stand with him and absorb the public backlash. What stings, in the Red Raiders’ view, is that other schools didn’t stay quiet and let the matter resolve itself.

For Texas Tech, this is about being overlooked for years and then feeling targeted the moment the program became more visible. Campbell’s tone made clear that the resentment is still very much alive.

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