An Indiana man is at the heart of not one but two of the college baseball sports betting scandals that have been dominating the headlines over the past few weeks.
Sports Illustrated reported that Bert Neff, whose son plays for the Cincinnati Bearcats baseball team, was part of the incident that resulted in the dismissal of Alabama coach Brad Bohannon as well as the more recent incident in Cincinnati which resulted in the dismissal of two members of the coaching staff.
Neff was on the phone with Bohannon shortly before Neff placed a wager on the Alabama-LSU baseball game where Alabama starting pitcher Luke Holman was pulled at the last minute at the BetMGM Sportsbook at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.
Bohannon was dismissed from the school in the wake of the incident.
SI said sources reported that the dismissals of Cincinnati assistant coach Kyle Sprague and operations director Andy Nagle were related to their knowledge of Neff’s betting activity. Neither person reported the activity to the school.
It is unclear whether or not Neff was betting on Cincinnati baseball. His son, Andrew Neff, is a pitcher on the team’s roster but was not active this season.
There does not appear to be any connection between Neff and the widespread incidents at Iowa and Iowa State across several sports involving more than 40 athletes.
Neither the University of Cincinnati nor the University of Alabama were willing to comment on the news of Neff’s involvement in the Bohannon incident.
