Did Greg Byrne Handle Alabama's Latest Scandal Any Differently? All Things CW
Three days. That's all it took for University of Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne to fire baseball coach Brad Bohannon for his alleged involvement in a gambling scandal, after seeing the initial ESPN report that there was "suspicious wagering activity” surrounding the program
He was attending league meetings in Florida at the time. He probably had the same reaction as so many people surrounding Alabama athletics, something between "What else is going to happen?" and "Are you kidding me?"
It's been a rough few months for Alabama athletics, dating back to the shooting that killed Jamea Jonae Harris, 23, and allegedly involved former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles in the early morning hours of January 15. Miles and co-defendant, Michael Lynn, have pled not-guilty, and are still being held without bond.
It's not the only difficult thing that Byrne has been dealing with over the last four months, but obviously the most dramatic (for lack of a better word). The tragedy of a murder shouldn't be overshadowed, in any way, but a potential gambling scandal could undermine the integrity of the entire program and sport, which former Alabama football players Calvin Ridley and Jameson Williams recently discovered the hard way. Ridley was recently reinstated after being suspended by the NFL for a whole year, and Williams will miss the first six games of the 2023 season, after violating the league's strict gambling policy.
The state of Iowa is also finding out. There are approximately 41 current athletes between Iowa and Iowa State under investigation, although it's unclear yet what laws may have been broken. Iowa State confirmed to the Des Moines Register that there were “approximately 15” athletes from football, wrestling and track and field who may have violated NCAA rules, which do not allow athletes or athletic department employees to bet on a sport the NCAA sponsors at any level.
All it took for the Bohanon situation to unravel were some irregular large bets placed on an Alabama baseball game against LSU on the other side of the country. Things obviously unfolded pretty quickly and the school acted.
Which brings us back to Byrne, who was making his first public comments since firing Bohannon last Thursday. With Nick Saban and Nate Oats not participating in the Regions Tradition Pro-Am in Birmingham, Byrne was the lone Alabama official who talked to reporters.
He mentioned that it was an “ongoing investigation,” emphasized that no student-athletes appeared to have been involved, and praised the players who have had to deal with the aftermath. He met with the team and attended the first baseball game after the firing in an obvious show of support for the players (similar to what he did with the basketball team after the shooting). An all-athletic staff meeting was held Tuesday to address the situation department-wide, with both Bryne and Saban presiding.
“Like any time you have any challenges, you get the information that you can,” Byrne said at Greystone Golf and Country Club. “You deal with it in the most appropriate way that you can with the information that you have at the time.
“But I wanna tell you that the kids have been really good. Having the news come out on game day was obviously a challenge, but at the same time, too, it’s a really good group of young men. Went out and beat No. 5 Vanderbilt two out of three and obviously have a big series this weekend, too.”
He continued: “[You] don’t lose sight of that as you’re talking about your department and university because we’re having a really solid year in many ways. There's things we have to get better at and we’re taking that seriously. But I’m also really proud of a lot of the accomplishments we’ve had and I think it’s good to talk about these things."
It's absolutely impossible for an athletic department to be fully aware of what its coaches, support staff members and athletes, are doing away from the playing fields. All it can do is basically what Byrne said, get the information and deal with it in the best way possible in a timely matter.
Even though each situation is unique it's basically the same approach that he's used in regards to probably every other difficult situation, from the pandemic to the shooting. Yet he was heavily criticized by national media for the latter after not suspending two players who were also at the scene, including Brandon Miller, who is poised to be a top pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.
Some of the details regarding the shooting, at least those released to the public, remain muddled and are being contested. A second bond hearing will be held in two weeks before a different judge. The defense attorneys claim their clients acted in self-defense, that complied video backs them up, and the key witness was actually the aggressor (and can't be found despite a subpoena).
One way or another things appear to be amiss, but at this point exactly how is for the court(s) to decide. The lone certainty we do know is that if the defense attorneys are correct some people are going to look really bad from all of this.
In the meantime, it's interesting to note that no one seems to be blasting Byrne for how he's handled this latest situation, which could have had devastating consequences to the players, school, league, sport and more.
See Also: Former Alabama Basketball Player Darius Miles to Have New Bond Hearing
