Hey... Where the Hell Has Integrity Gone?

Kansas State and Brendan Sorsby are two sides of the same problem in college sports: leverage without honor.

I wasn’t going to write today.

No, like I actually wasn’t going to write today.

At the risk of sounding conceited, life has been really good. Lately, I have been blessed with many great developments in my personal life and fantastic opportunities in my professional life. As a result, I have decided to ease off the throttle on select Thursdays to both reward myself and avoid burning out completely.

Today’s agenda was to finish grading my students’ first exam, grab a little lunch, and then hop online and play some Fortnite with my brother and any of my friends whose remote work schedules allow some time theft before 5:00 pm. A very solid Thursday if you ask me.

Unfortunately, before 7:00 am, I received a message from a non-sports-industry childhood friend regarding the unfolding situation between Brendan Sorsby and Cincinnati.

Friend: Don’t really understand how Brendan Sorsby expects to get out of paying a mil to Cincinnati for leaving his contract early

Me: Litigation is expensive and uncertain

Friend: But if the clause for his buyout is as cut and dry as cincy makes it sound..?

Me: Buyouts in pro sports contexts are tethered to internal mechanisms like CBAs or arbitration tribunals that resolve contracts through private arbitration, non-unionized liquidated damages provisions are subject to principles of contract law, and must meet the standards of contractual fairness, good faith, and fair dealing.

As you can clearly see, my mind went right into sports law mode. It is a skill of mine, perhaps sharpened by my studies of economics and the law. I have been trained to think about rational action to maximize monetary output and how to optimize it within current regulatory systems (and their respective soft spots).

In the case of Sorsby, shoving your middle finger in the air and saying, “You want this cash… well, come and take it”, appears to be the economically rational strategy given the current landscape of college sports and the leverage that a party has when they are the ones on the hook for payment.

Especially for athletes, where there is little case law addressing exactly what constitutes an enforceable compensatory buyout, as opposed to an unenforceable punitive measure, there is a level of risk that accompanies the great expense of litigation. Abstaining from payment is usually a settlement play to reduce what is owed, but we will see how this Sorsby case unfolds.

While my ability to remove morality and ethics from a fact pattern can greatly benefit my analytical capacity, this morning, around 6:50 am, I looked in the mirror and said, “Man, but what’s wrong with people?”

I have an awesome Grandpa. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone I admire more. He had my father as a teenager, my uncle in short succession, and kept multiple jobs to keep a roof over their heads. Worked his way from the shop floor to the president of his company with only his high school degree.

Later in his life, from a freak accident, he got Septic Shock, with less than a 2% chance of surviving. In the best case, doctors said he was to be confined to a wheelchair the rest of his life with limited function. Well, guess what, after months in a coma, that son of a bitch woke up. He lost two legs above the knee and a couple of fingers. You know what else he lost? Not too much.

After a lot of diligent recovery, he walks with only a cane, drives a modified car, and above all, brings joy to his family, friends, and strangers. He does it all with gratitude and a smile on his face. This result was only surprising to people who didn’t know him before he went into the coma.

Hendersons sure as shit bend, but we don’t break.

While I would love to continually drink from his fountain of wisdom, the bits I get can sometimes be few and far between. One of the consistent mantras he has imparted upon me since I was a little kid is the value of relationships: how you make people feel is more powerful than what you provide; never tell someone you can give them something you are unsure you can uphold; and, most importantly, that you are only as good as your word.

Let’s focus on that last one: word is bond.

Having this instilled in me from a young age is probably why I have such a strong distaste for people who don’t abide by this principle. Whether it is wedding vows, a Hippocratic oath, or a handshake wager on the golf course, walking back your word is an incredibly quick way to lose my respect.

That is something that seems lost in today’s society, well beyond the narrow confines of sports. Perhaps it is normalized by the political and business leaders throughout the 2000’s who we don’t hold accountable for their decisions to push the boundaries of the rule of law. It isn’t new; Andrew Jackson had a Court order, a treaty, and a conscience, yet ignored all three.

Have I broken promises? Absolutely. Nobody is perfect, but sustaining a pattern of that behavior, not feeling remorseful, and not trying to remediate shortcomings in a way that can make the other party whole, and perhaps asymmetrically whole, is where this behavior becomes corrosive. Even more villainous is when that behavior becomes justified under the all too common tagline “it’s just business.”

What a pleasant cop out. I imagine the little voice in people’s heads sounds like this when they say, “It’s just business.”

I am just a cog in the ruthless world of business. Please trust me: in my personal capacity, I am righteous, but when dealing in the market, I am surrounded by snakes, and to survive in a land full of snakes, you sometimes must act like one. For if I don’t, my wallet might look a little lighter.

At the end of the day, if it looks like a snake and slithers like a snake. It probably is a snake.

What we see in today’s world of college sport is a complete lack of trust. I have reviewed athlete-agent agreements with clauses that could only have been stripped straight from the school of Berry Gordy. From my jaded outsider's perspective, nobody wants to act like the adult in the room: schools, agents, athletes, and league officials are all prone to act in self-interest, even if it violates their word.

Unfortunately, when snakish behavior happens, it tends to create a positive feedback loop. The less I can trust the party across the table from me, the less inclined I am to honor that commitment. That news spreads publicly and privately, and catalyzes less-faithful behavior in the party that was screwed over, to the point where nobody's word means anything at all. In a system like college sports, which has limited regulatory teeth, a lack of trust and faithful action leads to the lawlessness unfolding before our very eyes.

While the reluctance of athletes to honor their buyouts been a media sensation, it is important to examine a contemporary example of this behavior from a school.

Last week, Kansas State relieved men’s basketball coach Jerome Tang of his duties. To many, it appeared Tang was owed over $18 million in a buyout, as prescribed in his contract. However, KSU designated Tang’s termination as “for cause,” which, if upheld, eliminates the buyout entirely.

The university relies on a broadly drafted “Objectionable Behavior” clause requiring the coach to conduct himself as an ambassador and prohibiting actions that subject the university to “public disrepute, embarrassment, ridicule, or scandal.”

A statement from KSU athletics director Gene Taylor points to the alleged conduct in question: "Recent public comments and conduct, in addition to the program's overall direction, have not aligned with K-State's standards for supporting student-athletes and representing the university. We wish Coach Tang and his family all the best moving forward."

The subliminally referenced postgame press conference in question was uncomfortable, but it did not appear facially distinct from the emotional criticism coaches routinely express during difficult stretches. As someone who has been in the gym for practice, I wouldn’t even find his comments obtuse in the slightest.

Tang questioned player effort and pride, which is commentary that, while sharp, remains common in high-level athletics.

You can be the judge yourself:

Firing Tang for cause is a strategic move by KSU that, at best, relies on a liberal interpretation of the contract they signed. Let me be clear, Kansas State is entitled to assert its interpretation of the contract. Whether that interpretation ultimately satisfies the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing is a separate question for the Wildcats to answer.

The decision to terminate Tang for cause does not bar him from recovery, but it significantly increases the cost of obtaining it, either through litigation or settlement negotiation. Given what is publicly available, Tang appears to have a strong case. That said, strong cases do not always end in court. Litigation is expensive. It is slow. And even when you believe you are right, there is always risk.

Kansas State’s decision to designate this firing as “for cause” uses the same leverage to force a settlement that any paying party has. Much like Sorsby, KSU has shoved its middle finger in the air and said, “Come and get it.”

KSU loved Tang in 2023, when he was the Naismith Coach of the Year, so much so that they rewrote his buyout. A lot of people love their spouses when they get married, but if you don’t grow well together, it doesn’t mean you can get out of your prenup.

When we are quick to point fingers at players for not being faithful, let’s look at the industry as a whole and acknowledge that trust has eroded at every corner.

How do you want to be remembered?

Somehow, I finished drafting this before 9:30 am. Now, if you don’t mind, I have some Battle Royales to win.

Peace.

Noah Henderson is the Director of the Sport Management Program and a Clinical Instructor at Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business. His work explores the intersection of law, economics, and the social consequences of college athletics, particularly in the areas of name, image, and likeness (NIL), athlete labor rights, and sports gambling.

Henderson helped amend Illinois’ NIL legislation and played a direct role in establishing early frameworks that facilitated the legal payment of college athletes at Student Athlete NIL. He continues to advise athletic departments, brands, and sports agents nationwide on NIL policy, legal compliance, and best practices.

He contributed extensively to Sports Illustrated’s NIL Daily, where his reporting and commentary helped shape public understanding of the evolving business of college athletics. His insights have been featured by ESPN, NPR, CNN, PBS, Sportico, the Chicago Tribune, and others.

Henderson holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois College of Law and a degree in Economics from Saint Joseph’s University, where he was a four-year letter winner on the golf team.