Alabama AD Greg Byrne should resign
Queen Elizabeth once said in 1992 that it was her ‘annus horribilis’, which contained divorces, a horrible biography, a fire to a palace and a public controversy over who would pay for it…and Diana and Prince Charles announced their separation, probably because they were both having affairs.
Anyway, if there could an annus horribilis in college sports, then Greg Byrne, the Athletic Director at the University of Alabama, is having one in 2023…and it’s only May.
Let’s quickly go through a timeline:
February 2023: A bunch of Alabama basketball players are involved in the death of Jamea Harris in Tuscaloosa. The one arrested was Darius Miles, who shot the girl. Brandon Miller drove the gun to the shooting. Nate Oats, the Alabama coach, defended Miller to the hilt, saying the words: “Wrong place, wrong time”, and excused a lot of Miller’s behavior after the event.
Byrne did not ask Oats to suspend Miller during the investigation.
Anyone else in their right mind would have. The incident made Alabama the most hated basketball program in the country and will forever be a black park on Byrne’s legacy, let alone Oats’. The fact was this: Alabama was favorite to win March Madness, and Miller was a Lottery pick destined to bring it all home.
The Miller case also caused such a fracture within the Athletic Department that Nick Saban seemed to snipe at Oats in an interview at him with the line “Wrong place, wrong time” (He denied it, but we all know that this is BS),
(You can only wonder what would have happened if the shoot-out was not involving Alabama athletics and what the reaction would have been).
March 2023: Presumably because of the weight of the world on his head, Brandon Miller’s March Madness is a dismal failure, and the Crimson Tide loses to San Diego State – much to the joy of a nation. This is what you created, Greg and Nate.
March 2023: Alabama four-star cornerback Tony Mitchell is arrested after doing an impressive 141 mph with enough weed in the car for the police to charge him with intent to distribute. Within the car were scales, and a large amount of cash, and handguns.
Again, Mitchell has been suspended but not booted, thanks to the Nick Saban school of second chances.
May 1st: Matt Self, one of the senior admins under Byrne’s watch, who governs Athletics, Compliance and Support Services, is arrested on third-degree domestic assault charges.
Alabama’s cursory, legal statement: “We are aware of the charges blah blah blah”.
At the University of Texas, basketball head coach Chris Beard was FIRED 24 hours after being arrested for domestic assault. Self is still in a job.
May 4th: Brian Bohannan, head baseball coach at Alabama, is fired by the University for being involved in a betting operation around Alabama’s game with LSU. According to a report, Bohannan was giving information to a bettor.
According to Alabama’s press release, “Alabama director of athletics Greg Byrne announced 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.”
All of this, and it’s May. Look, we know that Byrne is great at glad-handing donors. While Saban tells them what they should think, Byrne makes them feel cosy and a part of things. It’s the reason why Alabama sports is the behemoth that it is.
But there is an expression: “The fish rots from the head downwards”. And in this case, looking at the hirer as well as the hired.
And yes, we think that Greg Byrne firing a baseball coach for giving information to a bettor was a good thing to do. The guy deserved it. But the excuse of ‘violating the standards, duties and responsibilities expected of University employees’ rings very hollow if you think of how he seemed to ignore what Nate Oats was doing with the Brandon Miller case. You’ve then got Oats vs Saban, PLUS a member of his staff getting busted for wife-beating, let alone the High School All-American doing is own version of Cheech & Chong at 140mph.
The fact is this: Greg Byrne is letting the foxes run the hen house, and it will be better for the SEC and Alabama sports in general if he resigns.
Not that it will happen, because Alabama is good at sports.