What was Brad Bohannon thinking?

On April 28th, LSU defeated Alabama 8-6 in a Division 1 SEC baseball contest. The Tigers held an 8-2 advantage after eight innings, but the Crimson Tide fought back and gave the Tigers a scare in the top of the ninth. Ultimately, though, LSU’s defense tightened up and secured an 8-6 victory over Alabama to improve to 33-8 on the season, while the road team fell to 30-13.

Surprisingly, however, the story of the game had nothing to do with the final outcome, but rather the suspicious bets that were placed on DraftKings before the first pitch. You see, Alabama recently fired their head man, Brad Bohannon, due to his unethical behavior away from the baseball field. According to an ESPN article written by David Purdum, Bohannon, who was introduced as Alabama’s head coach in 2017, allegedly provided helpful information about the Alabama-LSU matchup to an individual who submitted multiple wagers in the Tigers’ favor. In the piece, Purdum stated that “Alabama’s scheduled starting pitcher, ace Luke Holman, was scratched before the LSU game because of back tightness and was replaced by sophomore Hagan Banks, who hadn’t started since March 16.” This is a piece of information that Bohannon was accused of relaying to this mysterious individual, which explains why he felt comfortable selecting LSU as the winner of the contest.

Now, some of you may be confused as to why Bohannon received the boot, considering that he didn’t place the bets himself, but why would you keep a coach around who clearly isn’t all in on Alabama baseball? If someone wants to bet against the Crimson Tide because they simply don’t like how they stack up against the Tigers, then go right ahead, but it’s completely different when that person is aware that the Crimson Tide will be at a major disadvantage from a pitching standpoint. Who knows, Bohannon could have given this bettor additional information about Alabama’s lineup going into the game. At the end of the day, Bohannon’s sole focus should have been on preparing his group for a battle against a top 5 opponent, not assisting an outsider who was looking to earn some extra money on the side. I suppose the lesson here is fairly simple, make sure you have your priorities in order if you want to last as a head coach.