Alabama Athletics Director Greg Byrne is never shy to share his opinion — no matter how bold. His latest idea on how to combat court storming, amid an ongoing debate about the timeless tradition, could be his most radical idea yet.
Duke star Kyle Filipowski suffered a minor injury during the court storming following Wake Forest’s win over Duke, which reignited the conversation about the practice.
Byrne suggested home teams who allow their fans storm the court after a victory should be forced to forfeit the game and that would pretty much do the trick.
“You have two kids run out there, no, but when you have a sustained rush like what just happened the other day at Wake, you lose the game, that will get people to stop,” Byrne said.
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Alabama is used to having the field of play rushed by opposing fans after a Tide loss, and it has led to several incidents that Byrne recalled over the years.
“We had a student manager we thought was gonna lose an eye after a field storm in the last few years. He ended up being concussed and the doctors were able to save his eye. We had a doctor, a female doctor, get pushed down and bruised up pretty bad. And something needs to be done about it,” Byrne told AL.com’s Matt Stahl on Monday.
While it’s probably unlikely that any kind of forfeit policy would ever be instituted, the conversation surrounding court storming will continue to create headlines as March approaches college basketball season and stormings increase.
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP
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