Ex-Alabama Baseball Coach in Betting Storm Gets De Facto Ban

Posted on: February 2, 2024, 08:37h. 

Last updated on: February 3, 2024, 11:29h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More

Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

Former University of Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon has been handed a 15-year show-cause penalty by the NCAA after providing insider information to an acquaintance for betting purposes.

That means any college that wants to employ the disgraced coach must first justify to the NCAA why he deserves to be hired. He would then be suspended from baseball for the first five seasons of his employment. The order all but precludes Bohannon from coaching college baseball in the near future.

Bohannon was fired by Alabama in early May following reports of suspicious betting activity around his team’s April 28 game against LSU in Baton Rouge, LA.

The Ohio Casino Control Commission issued an “emergency order” to its licensed sportsbooks to immediately stop taking bets on University of Alabama baseball.

Incompetent Accomplice

The NCAA confirmed Thursday that Bohannon informed Bert Neff, an obscure youth baseball coach from Mooresville, Ind., of an injury to Alabama pitcher Luke Holman that ruled him out for the game against LSU. Alabama lost the game, 8-6.

Had it not been for Neff’s conspicuous ineptitude, the world may have never heard of the conspiracy. Shortly before the game, Neff approached the sportsbook at Ohio’s Great American Ballpark, home to the Cincinnati Reds, and attempted to place $100K on LSU.

Staff were immediately suspicious because the market on the game had received very little traffic, and the proposed bet was far in excess of the sportsbook’s limit on NCAA games.

In an effort to persuade staff to accept the bet, Neff insisted that it was “for sure going to win,” adding that “if only you guys knew what I knew,” according to NCAA filings. Unable to contain himself, Neff proceeded to show sportsbook staff the messages from Bohannon about the injury to Holman.

“Holman is out for sure … lemme know when I can tell LSU … Hurry,” Bohannon had written, according to the filings.

Federal Charges for Neff

On Wednesday, Neff pleaded guilty to federal obstruction charges in connection with the incident — specifically, destroying evidence, tampering with witnesses, and providing false statements to the FBI. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250K.

According to federal court documents, Neff placed an additional bet on the game with a competing sportsbook and shared the information with at least four other gamblers.

Bohannon, who hasn’t spoken publicly about the incident, had been Alabama’s coach since 2018, earning an annual salary of $500K.