It took just over a week for athletic director Greg Byrne to find the newest Alabama baseball coach. Byrne announced on Thursday that Brad Bohannon would be the 32nd baseball coach of the Crimson Tide.
“I am excited to announce that we have reached an agreement with Brad Bohannon to be our new head baseball coach at The University of Alabama,” said Byrne. “As we began the search and studied our successful rosters from the past regional and College World Series teams, it became apparent that we needed our head coach to be very strong in recruiting in the state Alabama, the Southeast and then completing the roster with national recruits. The vision that Brad shared for Alabama baseball matched that recruiting philosophy and coupled it with a great coaching pedigree and a commitment to the student-athlete, both as a baseball player and as a well-rounded student.”
Bohannon has been in the SEC as an assistant coach since 2004 with Kentucky (2004-2015) and Auburn (2016-2017).
He has been part of the turnaround for both programs he coached. He helped Auburn win 12 more games than the previous year, on the way to a regional berth. While at Kentucky, Bohannon helped the Wildcats go from worst to first, on the way to a SEC Championship.
“This is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I cannot wait to get started,” said Bohannon. “My goal is to make The University of Alabama the best baseball experience in the country. We’re going to recruit at the highest level, coach and develop our student-athletes and create a positive team culture that ultimately will help us to be successful. Every aspect of our program will play an important part, and Alabama has incredible resources to help us reach our goals. I truly believe we can accomplish anything here.”
He has been one of the top recruiters in the country in that time, with every class he’s brought in since 2008 being ranked in the top-25. He brought A.J. Reed to Kentucky. While at Kentucky, Reed was named consensus player of the year in 2014.
Sixty-nine players that he recruited to come to Kentucky were drafted, including a school record nine in the 2012 draft.
Bohannon takes over an Alabama team that won just 19 games last year, and finished last in the SEC with a 5-24-1 record.
