This is an opinion column.

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The capital murder conviction for Michael Davis in the shooting death of Jamea Harris puts new scrutiny on the roles and responsibilities of Alabama’s coaches and administrators.

After a night of partying with members of the Alabama basketball team, Davis shot and killed Harris in the early morning hours of Jan.15, 2023. Basketball player Darius Miles supplied the gun used in the slaying and was also charged with capital murder.

An email last week, the mother of Harris made an important point. Is Alabama partially responsible for the death of her daughter?

Here’s the column I wrote after Davis’ conviction, “Guns and murder stain the legacy of Alabama basketball.” We’ll let Harris’ mother, DeCarla Heard, have the last word on Davis’ conviction of murder.

DeCarla Heard writes …

I just wanted to personally thank you for all the articles you have written about my daughter’s case and your continued coverage.

You have been so courageous to write about your views on Alabama basketball and how they choose not to accept any responsibility in this matter. I had to reach out to you this morning after I read your [column] to tell you that you hit the nail on the head when you said “coaches and administrators around those athletes tell parents back home that they’re going to be like parents to those children.”

They hand pick those athletes and they should accept responsibility for the trouble they bring with them. Michael Davis testified to living in Tuscaloosa for over a year and having access to the team practices, locker room and lived with a player. That is truly unacceptable in my book!

He was hanging around like one of the gang and when he got in trouble they had no knowledge. Asia Humphrey was a student at the University of Alabama at the time. What if it had been her? What would they have done? I’m not going to get on a rant.

I truly just wanted to give you my sincere thanks for all you do! Keep up the good work!

ANSWER: To clarify for readers, Asia Humphrey was in the backseat of the vehicle with her cousin, Jamea Harris, when Michael Davis approached them and shot into the front seat. Humphrey was a student at Alabama at the time of the murder of her cousin.

Should Alabama’s coaches and administrators carry any responsibility for the shooting death of Jamea Harris? A grieving mother makes a strong point that the adults employed by Alabama who are responsible for Alabama’s basketball players should be aware of the players’ friends, associates and roommates.

Why was Davis living in Tuscaloosa with his best friend and is that common for players? Maybe Davis came to Alabama with Miles to get away from trouble in his hometown of Washington, D.C. It’s not unreasonable for coach Nate Oats and his assistants to vet the people around their program. With a little research, Alabama’s coaches and administrators could have determined that Davis posed potential problems for the basketball team.

Did Miles’ parents know that Davis was a potential problem for their son, his teammates and the students at Alabama? Did Oats and athletics director Greg Byrne? Alabama attempted to distance itself from Davis, but Davis testified that he was a close friend of the team. There was a future murderer in Alabama’s locker room, according to the murderer himself.

Could Davis have used the opportunity of being around Alabama basketball to positively affect his life? Maybe that’s how he sold his relationship with Miles, but being childhood friends with an Alabama basketball player doesn’t mean Davis had any real purpose of living in Tuscaloosa and being around the basketball team.

College football and basketball basketball players earn significant sums of money playing for their teams. For the last few years, third-party NIL collectives associated with schools have been paying players, but the money is about to begin flowing directly from schools to players.

The money should come with stipulations and well-established policies. No guns. No friends from home. The policy “the less I know the better” doesn’t work anymore. I still can’t get over the fact that Miles would so casually have a loaded gun in teammate Brandon Miller’s car after a game, and especially with someone like Davis around.

Winning games isn’t more important than a safe environment for students.

BE HEARD

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Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”