Report: Identity of bettor involved with Alabama, Cincinnati scandals revealed

Sports betting has become a key area of focus in college athletics over the last few weeks following a handful of high-profile scandals that have resulted in the dismissal of coaches.

Most notably, Alabama head coach Brad Bohannon was fired in early May after an investigation into some suspicious wagering around an Alabama-LSU game was launched. Cincinnati also quietly fired two baseball staffers after a similar investigation began.

It turns out there’s a common thread between the two.

According to reporting done by Sports Illustrated, the man who was in communication with Bohannon and placed bets on the Alabama-LSU game was Bert Eugene Neff Jr., the father of Cincinnati baseball player Andrew Neff.

It’s unclear if Neff’s sports betting included wagers on Cincinnati games, Sports Illustrated reports, but the Bearcats fired assistant Kyle Sprague and operations director Andy Nagle in mid-May after an investigation began.

The two fired Cincinnati staffers reportedly had knowledge of Neff’s gambling activity and did not report it to school administrators.

The bets Neff placed on the Alabama-LSU game were surrounded by questionable circumstances.

He placed the bets at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati on April 28, prior to a game in which Alabama ace Luke Holman was scheduled to throw against LSU. But Holman was a late scratch due to back tightness, and the Crimson Tide turned instead to Hagan Banks, who at the time had gone about a month and a half since his last start.

LSU beat Alabama 8-6 in the game, and within days the sports betting investigation had been launched.

Alabama fired Bohannon on May 4 and has since used interim coach Jason Jackson to guide the baseball program. The Crimson Tide has actually fared pretty well under Jackson’s direction, too, putting together a 40-18 overall record with a 16-14 mark in SEC play.

The Tide are widely expected to be an NCAA Tournament team with a good shot of hosting an NCAA Regional. D1Baseball’s latest projections for the Field of 64 have Alabama as the No. 10 national seed, a regional host.