Smoke first appeared on the horizon Monday night. A story published by ESPN’s David Purdum became the first domino in a saga that hit another level with a Thursday morning email from the University of Alabama.
Crimson Tide baseball coach Brad Bohannon was fired, the statement from Alabama AD Greg Byrne read upon arrival at 10:13 a.m. CT. It broke a notable silence since Purdum’s piece at 8:05 p.m. CT Monday revealed Ohio sports books were ordered to halt taking bets on Alabama baseball games.
Details were sparse but there was plenty to read between the lines in what’s becoming the biggest blow to a slow bleed of a once-powerful program. More than a decade after the last sniff at the College World Series and with each of the last three head coaching firings getting progressively messier, Omaha never felt further from Tuscaloosa.
The Thursday firing, while shocking on its face, had been telegraphed in the relative silence since Monday’s report on ESPN. Almost a day after the initial report, the Alabama athletics statement was an acknowledgment without a denial.
The longer this stale flatulence lingered, the worse it smelled.
Then the SEC and NCAA released statements Wednesday that noted continued monitoring of the situation, but as speculation grew, no box fan could clear the smoke or that stink.
And while Thursday’s statement announced Bohannon’s abrupt firing (less than nine hours before a 7 p.m. CT home game against Vanderbilt) more questions remain. The gambling probe was not mentioned specifically in Byrne’s 63-word statement to the press but three stand out.
Noting the termination process began, Byrne’s statement listed “violating the standards, duties, and responsibilities expected of University employees” but three interesting words preceded. “Among other things” carried significant water in this statement which only churns the speculation about where this story goes from here.
But when integrity-of-the-game questions meet the inevitable intersection on almost nationwide legalized sports gambling, this saga feels far from over.
Questions are stacking faster than we’re getting answers at this point, but one stands above all else: Did Alabama play a fixed game?
That one can’t be avoided at this point.
And to think the firing of coach Greg Goff in 2017 felt like hitting the bottom for this Alabama program.
Byrne axed the one-year coach soon after his arrival and a 19-34-1 season ended with five SEC wins in 30 attempts. The culture was rotting and Bohannon was a solid first hire from the new AD making an early splash after arriving from Arizona.
And there had been progress, though gradual at best. The 2022 team swept eventual national champion Ole Miss and made noise in the SEC tournament a year after making the program’s first NCAA regional appearance since 2014. Byrne in a June 2022 Q&A with The Tuscaloosa News gave a glowing review of Bohannon.
“I love coach Bohannon,” Byrne said at the time. “He is extremely smart, works his tail off. Recruits every chance he has the opportunity to. The culture within the program is really good. The young men in the program like playing for him. We’re not that far off.”
This year’s group is 30-15 overall, 9-12 in SEC play for a program that hasn’t had a winning record against league opponents since the 2014 team went 15-14. The Tide failed to make the SEC tournament from 2017-19.
This was a program that peaked in the 1990s with a .656 winning percentage that slipped only to .621 from 2000-09. The Crimson Tide played three College World Series in 1996, 1997 and 1999 — playing in the national title game in ‘97 just like it did in 1983.
Rosenblatt Stadium was demolished a decade ago and Alabama hasn’t sniffed its replacement. The events of the last week damaged the chance of a return even further.
What else was broken along the way?
And how many dominos are left to fall?
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.
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