We didn’t have to wait long to see what a school would do if a crucial player was sidelined for the season and there was no spring transfer window.
Texas Tech, which acquired QB Brendan Sorsby from Cincinnati for a claimed $6 million transfer, finds itself in a position where the projected QB1 may miss the season. While this may not have been a problem in previous years, when the Red Raiders could wait until the spring portal to recruit another quarterback, they will be unable to do so in 2026. They must now hope that Will Hammond’s major leg injury, sustained in 2025, recovers in time for September and the start of the new season.
Believe it or not, there is an alternative.
What if Texas Tech decided that they required a quarterback and that obtaining one was more important than retaining their coach for six games? This is where the other option comes in.
Texas Tech has no method to get a new quarterback without accruing fines because to the transfer gateway. If the current ideas are approved, the penalties might be harsh. Well, it’s harsh for the majority of schools. However, not TTU at this time.
Perhaps the NCAA has learned a lesson from its attempts to prohibit athletes from transferring. They realize it is simply a losing proposition, and the players should be left alone. However, the coaches and schools are a distinct issue. The coaches are school workers, and the schools are governed by the NCAA. In other terms, they are fair game and can be penalized.
If a school signs a player or a player signs and then decommits before enrolling at another university, both the institution and the head coach will face monetary penalties and roster limit decreases. These fines are intended to prevent a repeat of what happened in 2025, when Xavier Lucas was denied permission to quit Wisconsin so he might move to Miami. Wisconsin believed it had been unlawfully meddled with and hence did not permit it.
Instead of transferring, Lucas dropped out of Wisconsin and enrolled in Miami immediately. He joined the football squad and earned an NIL package. It was clear sabotage, much like Darian Mensah’s transfer from Duke to Miami earlier this season. Now it will stop, or the offending school will be hampered.
With the guilty club losing five roster slots, 20% of its operating budget, and the head coach suspended for six games, schools will reconsider before taking a similar action. However, Texas Tech is not. The five-player cut will be difficult given the already limited number of players permitted on the roster. The truth is that these are the final five walk-on players, and they will not perform this season.
The 20% reduction in operating budget may appear drastic. However, it accounts for just 20% of the salary awarded to players on the squad. It does not count any donations. This totals $4 million. Texas Tech’s mega donor, Cody Campbell, would simply cut short his vacation and donate the funds to the school’s athletics department. Texas Tech is the only institution that does not need to worry about obtaining funds. The most serious problem for certain clubs will be the lack of a head coach for six games.
Unlike the Michigan catastrophe involving Jim Harbaugh, this suspension will be genuine. The head coach will be unable to contact with any member of the staff, squad, or department. Whether on weekdays or on game day. The new regulation will attempt to prevent the same scenario, where Harbaugh was permitted around the squad all week. It is a wait-and-see strategy to determine if it will work, or if the coach will communicate with the squad. Like Paulie in Goodfellas.
If Texas Tech and Campbell agree that they can obtain a decent quarterback and that the team is talented enough to do without Joey McGuire for the first six games, a new signal-caller will be in Lubbock before the season.
If the institution believes McGuire is part of the magic, not Erik Spoelstra in Miami with Lebron, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh, the squad will see how long Sorsby is suspended for and what the prognosis is for Hammond.
Oh, and don’t worry about McGuire; no matter what happens, he will receive his salary.
