Cody Campbell donated to Ken Paxton. Soon after, the Texas AG threatened Big 12
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One day before he threatened legal action against the Big 12 Conference over potential sanctions against Texas Tech, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was recorded to have received a notable political donation from Cody Campbell.
According to a report from The Texas Tribune, Campbell — the chairman of the Texas Tech University Board of Regents who contributed $25 million to Texas Tech’s 2025 football roster — was recorded providing $274,300 donation on June 10 to one of Paxton’s fundraising committees for his U.S. Senate bid, according to campaign finance records.
One day later, Paxton issued a public statement threatening to sue the Big 12 if the conference sanctioned Texas Tech for playing quarterback Brendan Sorsby after a Lubbock County judge granted an injunction allowing the Cincinnati transfer to play, despite violating NCAA gambling rules.
The ruling, which came with a two-game suspension, caused a firestorm in college athletics: Sorsby was found to have violated NCAA rules prohibiting gambling, and admitted to making thousands of wagers, some of which involved his prior team, Indiana, while he was on the Hoosiers’ roster.
“The Conference would face exposure to treble damages,” Texas state attorneys wrote, “including for Texas Tech’s lost football revenues, damages to its alumni contributions and damages to its recruitment, plus attorneys’ fees. The total exposure — for both the Big 12 and its members, joint and severally — will be substantially more than $200 million.”
Per The Texas Tribune, Campbell’s donation to Paxton was among the largest he had made in recent years after previously making political donations for the GOP candidate. He reportedly donated $30,000 to Paxton’s state-level campaigns “from 2016 onward,” including donations to both Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt in this year’s Republican U.S. Senate primary.
After Paxton’s threat, The Big 12 quickly filed a complaint in federal court, seeking a declaratory judgment that would allow the conference to enforce its own bylaws. Attorneys general from Kansas and Utah joined with Oklahoma in support of the Big 12.
Eventually, Sorsby decided to withdraw from Texas Tech, nullifying the injunction, as he prepared to enter the NFL supplemental draft. Campbell, issuing a statement on Sorsby’s withdrawal, maintained Texas Tech was helping Sorsby as he underwent gambling addiction therapy, which was the result of a broken system in need of serious overhaul.
“The bottom line is that Texas Tech did absolutely nothing but act with complete integrity through this entire process,” Campbell wrote. “We broke no rules, no laws, and crossed no ethical lines. We are proud to represent a university that supports its students the way that we do — especially in a growingly professionalized college sports world, that often treats these young people like nothing more than commodities.”
The NFL declined to hold a supplemental draft in 2026 and, in a letter to Sorsby, encouraged him to prepare for the 2027 NFL Draft.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cody Campbell donated to Ken Paxton. Soon after, the Texas AG threatened Big 12
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