Alabama Baseball Coach Was Directly Communicating With Bettor In Ohio, This Certainly Wasn't The Brightest Idea

Alabama fired baseball coach Brad Bohannon on Thursday amid what might end up being the wildest investigations in college baseball history. This all started with one state halting all betting on Alabama baseball, but has now turned into a circus.

It's bad enough to get fired from your job for betting, but to be caught on surveillance footage is a whole new ballgame. This is how it went down for Bohannon, according to a new report from ESPN. The outlet is reporting that sportsbook surveillance video shows the person who was placing the bets in Cincinnati was in direct communication with Brad Bohannon.

How they arrived to that point is most likely cell phone records that pinged back to Bohannon in Baton Rouge. But, the simple fact that he was caught red-handed betting on a game involving his team is mind blowing.

Think about how this played out for a minute. If they can directly tie Bohannon to the Great American Ballpark sportsbook, who knows how long this guy has been doing this. Did the former Alabama coach have anything to do with the late pitching scratch on Friday night? Did he manipulate the game in anyway while Alabama was in the midst of a comeback against LSU?

How Is The SEC Handling The University Of Alabama?

Multiple sources have indicated that they don't believe in student athletes were involved in this matter. So my main concern goes back to the previous 45 games of the season. Did Bohannon have anything to do with how these games turned out? These are the questions that Alabama, NCAA and betting regulators are trying to put together now.

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey further commented on the matter Thursday afternoon.

"The University of Alabama has taken swift action after information about baseball sports wagering activity was questioned by industry regulators," Greg Sankey noted. "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."

Alabama played at LSU last Friday, where there was allegedly suspicious gambling activity. Courtesy of Alabama Athletics

In addition to Ohio, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Indiana have stopped taking bets on Alabama baseball. I would imagine that every sportsbook will have them off their board by the end of the day. Bohannon had been the Alabama coach since 2017, coaching in 290 games for the Tide.

We will see how much crazier this case will get over the next few weeks, but Brad Bohannon has most likely coached his last college baseball game.

Alabama will play Vanderbilt in a three game series, starting tonight on ESPNU.