Betting scandal just the latest off-field issue for Alabama | College Football Enquirer
Yahoo Sports national columnist Dan Wetzel is joined by Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde and Ross Dellenger to discuss the Crimson Tide’s firing of baseball coach Brad Bohannon and how it adds to a rough start to the year in Tuscaloosa. Hear the full conversation on "College Football Enquirer" - and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
Video transcript
[AUDIO LOGO]
DAN WETZEL: Our first potential major gambling scandal since sports wagering became heavily legal across the country.
ROSS DELLENGER: Give it up, SEC.
(ALL CHANTING SARCASTICALLY) SEC, SEC, SEC.
DAN WETZEL: So what happened was, last Friday night. LSU is going to-- LSU and Alabama are going to play a baseball series. Somebody walks into the sportsbook at Great America Park in Cincinnati, Ohio. Someone walks in and makes two what they call sizable bets, one on LSU to win and a parlay featuring LSU to win.
But you could imagine, this isn't the freaking Super Bowl. How many people are betting the LSU-Bama baseball game in downtown Cincinnati anyway? So according to ESPN, the sportsbook surveillance video shows-- I don't know how they know this. But it shows the guy who made the bet was, quote, "communicating" with Brad Bohannon, the Alabama baseball coach.
The more it's legal, the more people are watching, the more analytics are on this stuff. Absolutely crazy to be involved in it. Certainly it was interesting how quickly Alabama moved on Bohanon. What was it, three days and he was gone?
PAT FORDE: Three days and he was gone, which is probably indicative, A, they had some stuff they knew he had been in the wrong. But B, This is not a time to be screwing up at Alabama. I think they've probably reached their saturation point on scandal.
ROSS DELLENGER: I was out in Phoenix for the conference meetings. The SEC was the topic of discussion with the common theme of, what the hell is going on in Tuscaloosa?
DAN WETZEL: So to recap, we have junior Darius Miles charged with capital murder in the death of Jamea Harris. There were two other teammates there, one of them Brandon Miller. Last month, recruit Jaykwon Walton was arrested in Tuscaloosa. He had marijuana and three guns in a vehicle he was sitting in.
Football recruit Tony Mitchell was charged down in Florida with possession of marijuana with intent to sell or deliver. Nick Saban suspended him. Monday, Alabama's compliance director Matt Self was arrested on third-degree domestic violence charges. All of that in a, what, four month, five month period, less than five month period. Now we have the potential gambling scandal that caused the firing of the baseball coach.
PAT FORDE: I will say, the system actually worked here. Instead of people-- the immediate reaction form some people is, oh, my god. We can't have gambling on college athletics or certainly on college baseball because this is the kind of thing that'll happen. But the system worked. The system found somebody that was trying to bet on inside information and identified them and blew it up.
