Alabama AD Suggests Forfeits for Storming Courts After Injury to Duke's Filipowski
Alabama athletics director Greg Bryne has seen enough when it comes to college fans rushing the field or court after a victory.
"Kids aren't going to be in the stands saying, 'Oh, I don't want to do this because the school is gonna get fined $200,000,'" Byrne said when advocating for teams to forfeit games if their fans storm the playing surface, per Matt Stahl of AL.com.
"That doesn't enter their mindset. But if they knew the game that they just had been a part of, celebrated a great win that led to that, if they knew that they were going to lose that game immediately, that would stop them."
Bryne's comments come after Wake Forest fans stormed the floor Saturday after their school's men's basketball team upset Duke. Blue Devils big man Kyle Filipowski was injured during the ensuing chaos.
Stahl noted the SEC fines schools $100,000 for a first offense, $250,000 for a second offense and $500,000 for subsequent offenses with the money going to the visiting school that just lost.
Bryne is no stranger to seeing the Crimson Tide on the other end of a field storm, as Stahl pointed out schools have been fined seven times each for storming the field or court against Alabama football and Kentucky basketball since the fine system was put in place in 2004.
No other SEC team has been on the opposite end of more outcomes, and Alabama has never been fined for such a violation.
There has certainly been more discourse about the topic this basketball season since Filipowski suffered the injury and a fan made contact with Iowa's Caitlin Clark after Ohio State defeated the Hawkeyes in a women's game. ESPN's Jay Bilas advocated detaining or even arresting fans who storm the court after wins.
Alabama football is one of the powerhouses in all of college sports, so it is in a position where opposing teams are going to storm the field after a win. One of the most famous recent incidents happened in 2022 when fans stormed the field after Tennessee defeated the Crimson Tide in a dramatic 52-49 victory.
Tennessee President Randy Boyd wasn't too worried about the fine:
If Bryne had his way, the Volunteers would have forfeited that game.
