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Bert Eugene Neff Jr., the father of Cincinnati Bearcats pitcher Andrew Neff, “placed wagers that raised suspicion at the sportsbook in the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati before an Alabama-LSU baseball game on April 28,” according to a report from Ross Dellenger, Pat Forde and Richard Johnson of SI.com.
Those bets serve as the “connective thread” between NCAA investigations into both the Alabama and Cincinnati baseball programs, and the subsequent firings of Crimson Tide coach Brad Bohannon and Cincy assistant Kyle Sprague and operations director Andy Nagle.
Per that report, Neff was communicating with Bohannon when he placed the wagers, which according to ESPN’s David Purdum were two bets on LSU to win the game.
The Crimson Tide had removed ace Luke Holman from his scheduled start due to back tightness and replaced him with Hagan Banks, who hadn’t made a start in nearly six weeks.
Sprague and Nagle were fired for reportedly being aware of Neff’s gambling activity and not reporting it to school administrators.
According to SI.com’s report, Neff—a former college baseball player at Louisville and Indiana—has been “involved as a coach and administrator over the years with youth baseball teams in central Indiana. Sources describe him as well connected within the youth baseball and college baseball realms.”
Gambling infractions and investigations have increased in college sports, with the Iowa baseball team and Iowa State’s football, wrestling and track and field teams being the source of investigations into potential illegal gambling activity in May.
Such cases of college athletes wagering on sports are “spiking” at the moment, according to the NCAA’s vice president of enforcement, Jon Duncan, who added that it remains an ongoing process to determine punishment in such cases.
“What are we going to do that’s fair to the school and fair to the individual?” he said. “Do we need to distinguish between a school and a bad actor?”
