Days after the Ohio Casino Control Commission abruptly ordered sports betting operators in Ohio to stop taking any bets on the University of Alabama’s baseball team, the university’s athletics director announced the team’s head coach has been terminated.
The Ohio Casino Control Commission confirmed that suspect wagers placed in Cincinnati led to the agency’s decision to prohibit wagers on the baseball team.
Alabama Director of Athletics Greg Byrne announced Thursday that he has initiated the termination process for head baseball coach Brad Bohannon for, “among other things, violating the standards, duties, and responsibilities expected of University employees,” according to a statement from the athletic director. Jason Jackson will serve as interim head coach, and Bohannon has been relieved of all duties.
“There will be no further comment at this time pending an ongoing review,” the statement reads.
News 5’s John Kosich reported earlier this week that the Casino Control Commission said it was alerted by one of its sports integrity monitors about wagers made on University of Alabama baseball.
RELATED: Ohio Casino Control Commission prohibits sports betting on University of Alabama baseball games
ESPN reported it had to do with last Friday’s game, where Bama was losing by seven to LSU before staging a comeback with four runs in the ninth inning, ultimately losing to LSU by two runs for a final score of 8-6.
Officials are not saying what it was these monitors spotted, but they sent a heads up to their clients, the Casino Control Commission being one of them.
That prompted Ohio to send out the notice to all licensees to suspend until further notice all betting on Alabama baseball only — LSU and other college baseball bets are still fine.
Ohio, as best we can tell, was the only state to take this step.
The state’s Casino Control Commission confirmed Thursday that all bets for the University of Alabama baseball team remain off.
Watch live and local news any time:
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
