Brad Bohannon named head baseball coach at Alabama

TUSCALOOSA CO., AL (WSFA) - After spending the last 20 months assisting Auburn baseball, Brad Bohannon gets his first head coaching job 126 miles up the road here in Tuscaloosa, just hours after coaching Auburn in a regional final. He was officially introduced as the 32nd head coach in Crimson Tide baseball history.

"I have been waiting all weekend to get up here and say Roll Tide baby, Roll Tide!" said Bohannon. "My goal going forward is to make Alabama the absolute best place in the country to play college baseball and we have everything we need in place to make that happen."

With 14 years of assistant coaching experience in the South Eastern Conference, 2004-2015 with Kentucky and 2016-2017 with Auburn, he has become a top tier recruiter in the South.

"It's interesting because as we went through this process and we called some of his former players, they loved him," said the University of Alabama Athletic Director Greg Byrne. "They respected him and thought he had a great baseball mind and he fit with what we were looking for, so I think that that student athlete experience is a critical component of it."

Coach Bohannon wants to initially coach to what the Crimson Tide program has to offer, but he does have a plan moving forward.

"Over time we are going to strive to be balanced. I love 3-run home runs but you also need to be able to score without getting a hit, cause it's tough to string together 5 hits on a Friday night in our league when you're facing a future big leaguer. I've finished first in the league and I've finished last and I'm very clear on the difference and it all starts on the mound," said Bohannon.

Due to the fact that Alabama baseball only won 5 conference games all season, Bohannon knows that building this program back up may have its challenges.

"There's a lot of work to be done, we all know that, and there's no short cuts. I don't have any shortcuts but I can't wait to roll my sleeves up and get to work.

Coach Bohannon is currently in Tallahassee helping the Tigers. If they win tonight, he'll revisit whether or not he'll stay with the team in the postseason.

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