Tito's Vodka Gifts $20 Million to Texas Team of Teens Coached By a Recovering Alcoholic

By Kevin Harrish on February 1, 2022 at 2:31 pm
Texas Football, by Tito's Vodka
Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports
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Massive donations are not new to the world of college sports, but the University of Texas' freshest stack of cash certainly comes from a unique place.

Tito's Vodka has made a massive $20 million to the Longhorn athletic department to help fund new practice facilities for the football team as well as both the men’s and women’s basketball teams and the rowing team.

With the vast majority of college football players and athletes still under the age of 21, this means that these players will be practicing in facilities paid for by a company they aren't even legally allowed to support. More than that, the current NIL rules prohibit players from signing name, image and likeness deals with alcohol brands.

To make matters worse, Steve Sarkisian, the current head coach of the football team, is a recovering alcoholic who lost his previous head coaching job at least in part because of his alcoholism.

So we've got a Vodka company funding a team of teens coached by a recovering alcoholic. This seems like an odd partnership!

Of course, it's tough to turn down $20 million wherever it's coming from, and to be fair, the founder of Tito's Vodka is a high-profile Texas alum. But it's still one of the more perplexing donations in college sports.


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