CINCINNATI — The plot thickens in the Brenden Sorsby saga as the NCAA has officially issued a letter of inquiry to the University of Cincinnati, seeking to determine exactly what program officials knew regarding the player's extensive betting activity.
This follows an NCAA ruling in May which rendered Sorsby ineligible to participate in NCAA activities after he admitted to placing thousands of impermissible sports bets over the last four years, the last two of those years coming while wearing a Bearcat uniform.
"We have had continuous conversations with the NCAA since the initial reports related to impermissible sports wagering began," the University of Cincinnati athletic department said in a statement. "As we have stated before, we do not believe any athletics official or staff member was aware of any impermissible sports wagering."
Both university administration and head football coach Scott Satterfield declined to offer further comment at Big 12 Media Days.
Court records indicate that Sorsby placed more than $90,000 in impermissible wagers since first enrolling at Indiana, spanning his tenures with the Hoosiers, the Bearcats, and his subsequent transfer destination, Texas Tech. According to reporting from ESPN, Indiana is currently the only program involved that has not received a formal NCAA inquiry.
To date, investigators have found no evidence indicating that Sorsby placed bets involving the Bearcats' football team. However, he admitted to placing three specific wagers on Cincinnati’s men’s basketball team using a FanDuel account shared with a friend. Sorsby reportedly funneled more than $60,000 into that shared account between December 2023 and June 2025.
The NCAA's intervention brings a new layer to an already messy legal battle. Cincinnati is actively suing Sorsby for breach of contract over a $1 million exit fee dispute stemming from his offseason transfer to Texas Tech. The situation boiled over last month when Sorsby’s agent, Ron Slavin, publicly claimed that Cincinnati’s staff had been aware of the quarterback's gambling issues for two years and willfully failed to act. Cincinnati vehemently denies those allegations.