Former Kentucky Assistant Brad Bohannon Fired as Alabama HC Amidst Betting Probe
On Thursday morning, a bombshell was dropped in the college baseball world, as Alabama fired its head coach Brad Bohannon due to "among other things, violating the standards, duties, and responsibilities expected of University employees."
The termination of Bohannon follows "suspicious betting activity" that took place at a sportsbook in Cincinnati before Alabama's game against LSU on April 28 which led to the state of Ohio halting sports betting on Crimson Tide baseball.
ESPN staff writer David Purdum reported that "U.S. Integrity, a Las Vegas-based firm that monitors the betting markets, issued an alert to its sportsbook clients regarding "suspicious wagering activity" involving the Alabama-LSU game."
"The Louisiana Gaming Control Board told NOLA.com that two specific bets -- both made in Cincinnati, Ohio -- triggered the suspicious activity alert. "One was on a parlay which involved the LSU-Alabama game, and then there was another straight-up (money line) bet," said Ronnie Johns, chairman of the board. "I was told it was a large bet that involved LSU-Alabama."
Sportsbooks in Indiana then followed suit, as did Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Nick Kelly of The Tuscaloosa News then reported that Bohannon was connected to the bets, but "all indications are that no players are involved," while Purdum reported that "sportsbook surveillance video indicated that the person who placed the bets was communicating with Bohannon at the time."
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey also released a statement:
"The University of Alabama has taken swift action after information about baseball sports wagering activity was questioned by industry regulators. Ensuring the integrity of athletic competition is our highest priority, and for that purpose the SEC monitors gambling activity through its relationship with US Integrity and has done so since 2018. There must be zero tolerance for activity that puts into question the integrity of competition. We will remain in communication with the University throughout its ongoing review and will have no further comment at this time."
Bohannon was in his sixth season as head coach of Alabama, where he owned a 166-124 record. The Tide were 30-15 this season at the time of his termination and are still fighting for an NCAA Tournament bid. Before Tuscaloosa, Bohannon was a longtime assistant at Kentucky from 2004-2015, working under John Cohen and Gary Henderson, seeing four NCAA Tournament berths and a conference title in 2006.
He is originally from Rome, Ga and played college baseball for Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech and Berry College. Following his playing career, he was an assistant at Wake Forest from 2001-2002 before arriving in Lexington in 2004. He left UK to join Auburn's staff from 2016-17, his final stop before becoming the head coach of the Crimson Tide in 2018.
Pitching coach Jason Jackson is serving as the interim head coach. Bama won its first game under Jackson on Thursday night, defeating Vanderbilt 11-2 in Tuscaloosa.
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