No dice on sports betting

Distractions for college athletes may never be higher.

Between social media, free movement in the transfer portal, and an ever-expanding and muddled NIL market where back-channel deals pull players from schools, athletes are more in charge of their destiny than any time previously.

But with freedom comes temptation, including sports betting.

And sports gambling’s power has spilled into the collegiate ranks in recent months – across conferences, regions, and sports.

Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon was fired May 4 for his connection and contact with a bettor in an Ohio sportsbook, while the University of Iowa found 26 players across its baseball, football, men’s basketball, track and field and wrestling programs were involved in betting violations.

And on May 8, Iowa State University’s athletic department announced it was looking into betting incidents with 15 athletes across football, wrestling and track.

How can Louisiana Tech avoid similar missteps?

That’s the mission for coaches and administrators ahead of the next academic year.

“I don’t know that we’re doing anything different,” Tech Athletic Director Eric Wood said at the Bulldog Blitz in Shreveport Tuesday. “What we will do is that we’ll use these examples, national issues, and we’ll bring back and share with our coaches, share with our student athletes and say, ‘Hey, before it happens here, look at the places it’s happened at – Iowa State and other places right?’ If it can happen there, it can happen anywhere.

“I always mention that this logo never comes off,” Wood continued. “If we’re at Cantina Laredo or we’re at Utility Pizza, it never comes off. And the same goes for what are we doing when nobody’s looking – the integrity of the game. We’re going to hit it, but we’re going to use those examples to help educate and remind our coaches that it’s popping up right now.”

NCAA rules prohibit athletes’ participation in sports wagering and from providing information to individuals involved in or associated with any type of wagering.

From a track athlete betting on a college basketball game or a football player wagering on the Super Bowl, it’s not allowed, per the NCAA code.

And in the age of smartphone dependency and life on the internet, Tech coaches know the battle against even the smallest infraction can seem impossible. But it’s worth the time and effort, rather than putting programs in danger of penalty.

Tech football coach Sonny Cumbie said the Bulldogs will have experts in the gambling world speak to the team during fall camp and hopes his players take the information to heart.

“Yeah, just don’t do it,” Cumbie said at the Bulldog Blitz. “You educate them on it and you bring in professionals that educate your players on the do’s and don’t’s of it and to stay away from it. It’s probably not unlike any of the other vices that are out there that they’re tempted with. You want to try and educate them as best you can and provide examples for them in terms of what you can and can’t do.”

Lane Burroughs has a personal relationship with Bohannon from his previous coaching stops in the SEC and was taken aback after hearing the news of his dismissal.

“I know Brad Bohannon personally,” Burroughs said. “He’s been a friend of mine forever, and I couldn’t have been more shocked. I know the guy personally and I never, in my wildest dreams, knew something like that was going on. It’s definitely a scary time, and you gotta be careful.”

Burroughs, the Bulldogs’ head baseball coach, has talked with his team previously about staying clear of gambling but like Cumbie, acknowledges it is truly up to players to be their own best defense when they’re away from the facility.

That’s all that stands in the way between keeping eligibility and a potential school punishment being laid down.

“We talk about it all the time, especially when it gets around the Super Bowl, bowl games and Final Four, that’s when you really stress it,” Burroughs said. “I mean look, we were all in college once. I’m unfamiliar with all that, it’s never been a vice of mine. But what I do know is they make it so easy now for these kids – you can do it online and all that stuff. I would say 90% of these kids have no idea they’re doing anything wrong. I think if they’re doing something online, they don’t think that’s really going to affect their eligibility, and it does, and we do try to stress it.”