General News

General

Byrne: ‘No truth’ to rumors of Nate Oats considering Maryland job

After Kevin Willard’s messy departure to Villanova opened the Maryland head coach job, Alabama basketball’s Nate Oats was one of the rumored candidates. Oats never showed any sign of potentially departing the Crimson Tide, and none of the rumors came from reputable sources, but still, UA athletics director Greg Byrne shot them down on Monday.

During an appearance on a Fox News podcast, Byrne was asked about the talk that his coach could relocate to College Park.

“I can absolutely tell you that there’s no truth to that,” Byrne said on the Will Cain Show.

News of Willard’s impending departure to Villanova broke before Maryland lost in the NCAA Tournament. He had previously been disgruntled with the Terps’ focus on football over basketball.

Oats received an extension last year, after the Michigan job opened. He would owe Alabama $18 million if he left in the first two years of the deal.

The Crimson Tide’s 2024-25 season came to an end on Saturday. Alabama, led by Oats, cruised through the first two rounds, then put up a record breaking shooting performance in the Sweet 16 to beat BYU.

Then, Duke got out in front of the Tide in the Elite Eight and Alabama was never able to catch up. UA fell a game short of its second Final Four in school history. After arriving back in Tuscaloosa, Oats and his staff got to work in the current transfer portal window.

Alabama lost Naas Cunningham, who redshirted his freshman year, but got a big pickup in the Patriot League’s reigning player of the year. Noah Williamson reportedly committed to the Crimson Tide Monday evening.

The transfer portal remains open through April 22.

Read More
General

Decatur police officer failed to prove he killed Steve Perkins in self-defense, judge rules

An Alabama judge ruled on Monday that a police officer did not prove that he was acting in self-defense when he shot an armed Black man who was standing in his own front yard, after body camera footage revealed the officer firing 18 bullets less than two seconds after identifying himself as law enforcement.

Mac Marquette, 25, is charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Steve Perkins shortly before 2 a.m. on Sept. 29, 2023, while accompanying a tow-truck driver to repossess Perkins’ pickup truck at his home in Decatur.

Morgan County circuit judge Charles Elliott denied Marquette’s motion to dismiss the case in a self-defense immunity hearing. The new trial date is set for June, but the defense can appeal Elliott’s decision with the state appellate court.

Alabama’s “stand your ground” law grants immunity from prosecution to any individual who uses deadly force as long as they are in a place they have a right to be and reasonably believe they are in danger.

Elliott wrote that the jury will have to consider whether Marquette was “acting in his capacity as a police officer” when he shot Perkins.

“It is on this hinge that the door of this case swings,” he said.

Tow-truck driver Caleb Combs was authorized by Perkins’ creditor to repossess the truck because Perkins was months behind on his payments, according to lien documents entered into evidence. But the ruling said that Marquette wasn’t authorized to assist Combs based on an Alabama law that requires a court order for law enforcement to be involved in a repossession, which the officers didn’t have.

The judge heard conflicting testimony in an earlier hearing about why Marquette and the two other officers, Joey Williams and Christopher Mukadam, were at Perkins’ house in the first place.

Marquette, Mukadam and Williams were dispatched to help Combs after Perkins pointed a gun at his chest when the tow-truck driver first tried to take Perkins’ vehicle, according to testimony from Williams and Mukadam. Combs met the officers at a nearby tow-yard.

Combs waited for the three officers to set up covertly around Perkins’ house before Combs’ returned to repossess Perkins’ vehicle for a second time. All three officers were intentionally hidden from Perkins’ front door when Combs returned and Perkins’ again emerged from his house with his gun, pointing it at Combs.

Body camera footage revealed that Marquette unloaded all the bullets in his gun less than two seconds after he emerged from where he was hiding on the side of Perkins’ house. Even then, the judge wrote, Marquette was partially obstructed by the bed of Perkins’ truck. Perkins turned to face Marquette, and briefly tried to move his gun away from the officer before Marquette started shooting, according to Elliott.

Before Combs returned to Perkins’ house, the order said that the officers should have told Combs “that he could take whoever he wanted with him to assist with the repossession, but it could not be law enforcement without judicial process.”

Both officers who were with Marquette testified that they were there to “keep the peace” and to “investigate” Perkins for pulling a gun on Combs, which could be a misdemeanor charge of menacing if Combs had decided to press charges.

The state agent who investigated the case testified that it was standard practice for officers to accompany people to help maintain order. But he also said that typically “visibility” is required to keep the peace, and that the way that the officers set up was “unusual” for investigating menacing because it is a method typically “used for an active crime scene.”

Because there was no active crime scene when the officers arrived, Elliott ruled that Marquette was “acting outside of the scope of his authority” to investigate a menacing allegation “and was therefore a trespasser” when he waited outside of Perkins house.

Elliott said that the jury will have to decide whether Marquette was at Perkins’ house to keep the peace.

Based on that determination, the ruling read, the jury will have to decide both whether that means Marquette was acting within the scope of his responsibilities as a police officer, and whether a “reasonable” officer would have killed Perkins in the same situation.

Read More
General

Alabama AG cannot prosecute those who help women travel out of state for abortion, judge rules

Alabama’s attorney general cannot prosecute people and groups who help Alabama women travel to other states to obtain abortions, a federal judge ruled Monday.

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson sided with an abortion fund and medical providers who sued Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall after he suggested they could face prosecution under anti-conspiracy laws. Thompson’s ruling declared that such prosecutions would violate both the First Amendment and a person’s right to travel.

Marshall has not pursued any such prosecutions. However, he said he would “look at closely” whether facilitating out-of-state abortions is a violation of Alabama’s criminal conspiracy laws. The ruling was a victory for Yellowhammer Fund, an abortion assistance fund that had paused providing financial assistance to low-income people in the state because of the possibility of prosecution.

Alabama bans abortion at any stage of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape and incest.

“It is one thing for Alabama to outlaw by statute what happens in its own backyard. It is another thing for the state to enforce its values and laws, as chosen by the attorney general, outside its boundaries by punishing its citizens and others who help individuals travel to another state to engage in conduct that is lawful there but the attorney general finds to be contrary to Alabama’s values and laws,′ Thompson wrote in the 131-page opinion.

Thompson said it would be the same as the state trying to prosecute Alabamians planning a Las Vegas bachelor party since casino gambling is also outlawed in the state.

Yellowhammer Fund, an obstetrician and others had filed lawsuits seeking a court declaration that such prosecutions are not allowed.

“Today is a good day for pregnant Alabamians who need lawful out-of-state abortion care,” Jenice Fountain, executive director of Yellowhammer Fund, said in a statement. “The efforts of Alabama’s attorney general to isolate pregnant people from their communities and support systems has failed.”

A spokesperson for the Alabama attorney general’s office said i, “the Office is reviewing the decision to determine the State’s options.”

Read More
General

Alabama basketball lands huge transfer portal addition in Bucknell star: Report

Early on Monday, Alabama basketball saw its first transfer portal departure, in Naas Cunningham. Later in the day, the Crimson Tide made its first pickup since falling in the Elite Eight, when Noah Williamson committed to the Crimson Tide, according to Joe Tipton from On3.

Williamson, who began his college career at Bucknell, will provide a presence in the middle that UA was set to lose with Cliff Omoruyi out of eligibility. The 7-foot-0, 250-pound forward/ center from Latvia was the Patriot League’s player of the year last season.

Williamson averaged 17.6 points and 7.6 rebounds last season for the Bison. Bucknell won the regular season championship in the Patriot League, but fell in the conference tournament and did not make the NCAA Tournament.

The addition of Williamson means he is currently the tallest player on Alabama’s roster, just ahead of Aiden Sherrell and Jarin Stevenson. His presence could be huge for a Crimson Tide team that relied heavily on Omoruyi’s inside attack during the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

Williamson spent three seasons at Bucknell, leaving him with one year of eligibility for Alabama. In addition to the conference’s player of the year honor, he made the Patriot League all-defensive team for his efforts during the 2025-25 campaign.

He made 53.8% of his field goal attempts last season, and 61.7% of his free throws.

Alabama cruised through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, leading to a Sweet 16 matchup with BYU. The Crimson Tide broke the all-time tournament record for threes in a single game during that matchup, and advanced to the Elite Eight.

However, the magic ran out against No. 1-seeded Duke. The Blue Devils got out ahead of Alabama, which could never close the gap and fell one game short of the Final Four.

Cunningham left the Crimson Tide after redshirting his freshman season. The transfer portal remains open through April 22.

Read More
General

‘Full House’ star cancer-free just 5 months after Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma diagnosis

Dave Coulier, of “Full House” fame, is cancer-free, a representative confirmed to PEOPLE on Monday.

The actor, 65, received the good news five months after he revealed that he had been diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.

“Full House” co-star Candace Cameron Bure shared the news in an Instagram post.

“DAVE IS CANCER FREE!!!!” the actress posted to Instagram with a picture of herself, Coulier and his wife Melissa. “Join me in celebrating this AMAZING news — let’s shower him with all the love in the world!”

On Monday, Coulier revealed in an interview with Parade he had a biopsy on a lymph node in his neck.

“Melissa and I waited for a week to get the biopsy results back, and there is no sign of cancer,” he told the Parade. “One of the few times in my life when ‘zero’ has been a great number to hear. …

“I’ll tell you this. Today is the first day that I really feel like, ‘Wow, I’m feeling pretty darn good. I feel like myself.’ And it’s today. So I get to celebrate that with you.”

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a type of blood cancer that starts in the lymphatic system.

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.

Read More
General

Texas takes down TCU to advance to first Final Four since 2003

Vic Schaefer’s Longhorns keep on making history.

Texas advanced to its first Final Four since 2003 with a wire-to-wire 58-47 victory over TCU on Monday in Birmingham.

Following a 3-pointer by Rori Harmon with 5:25 left in the first quarter to make it a 501 game, Texas led the rest of the matchup.

A smothering defensive effort from the Longhorns saw them hold a high-octane TCU team to its lowest point total of the season.

The Horned Frogs shot just 26.7% from the field in the matchup and went 4-for-20 from beyond the arc as Texas forced 21 turnovers.

SEC Player of the Year Madison Booker keyed the Longhorns with a game-high 18 points and tied for the team lead with 6 rebounds; she shot 8-for-17 from the field and added 2 steals.

Rori Harmon added 13 points — 11 coming in the first half of the matchup — and dished out a team-high 5 assists, while Taylor Jones added 7 points and 6 rebounds.

The loss marked the final game for star Hailey Van Lith, who scored a team-high 17 points and grabbed 8 rebounds for the Horned Frogs.

Madison Conner scored 9 points and dished out 3 assists for TCU.

Read More
General

Greg Byrne: Alabama not as ‘flush’ financially as Texas, other top schools

Alabama athletics plans to add 40 scholarships across all of its sports following the House vs. NCAA settlement’s presumed approval later this year. However, Greg Byrne made clear during a Fox News podcast appearance on Monday that he doesn’t think the Crimson Tide will be in the same zip code as some of the schools fans would consider peers, including Texas.

“Chris Del Conte is one of my best friends, the AD at Texas” Byrne said on the Will Cain Show. “They’re a bit of an outlier in terms of how they’re managing the scholarship number because they have the financial flexibility to do that. I’m Alabama, which people think we’re flush. We don’t have that same flexibility, OK?

“We’ve had some challenging conversations with some of our coaches in saying,’ You’re gonna have this number of scholarships to work with. There will be schools that have more than you do.‘”

Texas announced in February that it plans to add around 200 scholarships across its sports. Elsewhere in the SEC, Georgia plans to put an additional 100 athletes on scholarship.

The House settlement would eliminate scholarship limits, in favor of roster limits, eliminating walk-ons. While the NCAA will limit football rosters to 105 players, the SEC announced it will limit its teams even further, down to 85, which was the previous scholarship limit.

“As much as sometimes people think we have an unlimited supply of money, there are limited resources,” Byrne said. “And so we’re gonna have to make decisions on what takes place.”

Byrne also said he was concerned about some athletic programs disappearing after the house settlement goes through. The settlement would allow revenue sharing with players for the first time.

“And I’m at Alabama, and we’re committed to have as many sports as we can,” Byrne said. “But at some point, you’ve already seen some schools– St. Francis, I believe I’m saying the university right– Just went from Division I to Division III the other day. I know Loyola Marymount, which again, isn’t maybe the same brand as some others, but still a Division I school, they just cut a number of sports.

“It will be interesting to see, if in fact the House settlement does go through, some of the financial decisions that people are going to have to make. And I’m at Alabama, again, we’re having to make some tough financial decisions in what we do on a daily basis to support our young people.”

Byrne said Alabama spends around $195,000 per year on each of its scholarship athletes.

Alabama athletics brought in $234.8 million in Fiscal Year 2024, but spent $262.8 million, according to its latest NCAA revenues and expenses report, obtained by AL.com via an open records request. That’s more revenue than at least 10 other SEC schools, though Texas and Georgia are among those with more, with the Longhorns reporting $331.9 million in revenue and the Bulldogs bringing in $241.8.

Read More
General

‘Free Doroudi!‘: Crowd gathers to protest detainment of Alabama graduate student

“Say it once. Say it twice. Free Doroudi. No more ICE!”

Those were some of the chants heard as more than 100 people marched and chanted in front of Tuscaloosa’s Richard Shelby Federal Courthouse on Monday to protest the detainment of an Iranian doctoral student from the University of Alabama.

Organizations including UA’s College Democrats, Tuscaloosa County Democratic Party, UA’s International Student Association and Grace Presbyterian Church gathered to speak about Alireza Doroudi’s detainment.

Doroudi, a mechanical engineering student, was detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement at about 3 a.m. on March 25 in an apartment he shared with his fiancée, Sama Bajgani.

“We decided to put boots on the ground and get ready, because we knew something like this would have to happen,” said Braden Vick, a senior studying political science and president of UA’s College Democrats.

He said the ultimate goal is to free Doroudi and get him back to his fiancé. He said the “most terrifying part” is they don’t know why a respected researcher like Doroudi is in custody.

“We can only speculate that this was a fundamentally racist and bigoted act by ICE,” Vick said.

A mathematics and computer science senior heard about the protest in the student newspaper, The Crimson White.

“I have been wanting to get more politically active for a while, and (because of school) it’s something I’ve kind of pushed aside,” he said. “So I’ve decided to come out.”

Doroudi was sent to Pickens County Jail then transferred to a federal detention center in Jena, La.

“ICE HSI made this arrest in accordance with the State Department’s revocation of Doroudi’s student visa. This individual posed significant national security concerns,” a DHS spokesperson has said.

Doroudi’s attorney, David Rozas also said ”he is legally present in the U.S., pursuing his American dream by working towards his doctorate in mechanical engineering.”

Bajgani organized a GoFundMe fundraiser for her fiancée’s legal fees and raised more than $25,000.

In an update to donors, she said Doroudi had an F-1 visa “unexpectedly revoked” six months after he came to the United States.

“As soon as he got the revocation email, he inquired with the university officials, who assured him that his student status would remain valid, allowing him to continue his studies at the University of Alabama legally,” Bajgani said.

While several students from college campuses nationwide have been detained for supporting pro-Palestinian causes, a student organization said Doroudi wasn’t involved in their protests.

Students for Justice in Palestine said in a statement on Instagram that they were “outraged to learn” about Doroudi’s detainment but wanted to “express that Doroudi was not involved, nor has he ever been involved, in any organizing or protest related to our organization.”

Read More
General

Mobile County teen allegedly driving 100 mph faces murder charge in crash that killed college student

A Mobile County teen previously charged with manslaughter now faces a murder charge after allegedly driving drunk during a fatal crash in November.

The upgraded charges for the 17-year-old were confirmed by the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office.

“We presented all of the evidence to a Mobile County Grand Jury and they chose to indict as murder,” the district attorney’s office said.

The fatal accident occurred Nov. 23 when Nolan McDavid, 19, collided head on with the 17-year-old, officials say.

McDavid was pronounced dead at the scene of the wreck. At the time of his passing McDavid was attending college at the University of South Alabama.

According to Fox10 News, an Alabama Law Enforcement Agency state trooper testified that the teen was allegedly drunk at the time of the accident.

The 17-year-old allegedly had a blood alcohol content level of .111 and was driving 100 miles per hour, according to court testimony.

Read More
General

New England Patriots expecting former Alabama defensive tackle back after illness

New England Patriots defensive tackle Christian Barmore is expected to begin the NFL team’s offseason program on time after a health issue wrecked his 2024 season, coach Mike Vrabel said on Monday.

“By all accounts, he’s going to participate in the voluntary offseason program,” the Patriots’ new coach told reporters at the AFC coaches breakfast at the annual league meetings in Palm Beach, Florida.

On July 28, New England announced Barmore had been diagnosed with blood clots. The former Alabama standout did not practice again with his teammates until Nov. 14, and Barmore played 21 defensive snaps in the Patriots’ 28-22 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 17 in his 2024 debut.

Barmore played 66 defensive snaps across the next two games, and he got his first sack of the season on Nov. 24, when he took down Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, a former Alabama teammate.

But on Dec. 19, Barmore’s fourth NFL season ended when the Patriots placed him on reserve/non-football injury because of “recurring symptoms that required further evaluation” related to the ailment.

“He popped in the other day to see the doctors,” Vrabel said on Monday. “I knew Christian from when I saw him at Alabama. Haven’t really had any interaction with him. And when he walked into the training room, just his energy and presence, so I know that he’s feeling better. We’ll continue to evaluate him. It’s something very serious.

“We take the health of our players extremely serious, especially when you’re talking about something like blood clots, and we’re going to have a great plan for him. We’re going to do right by him whatever is necessary, however we can get him to help us based on days of practice, based on everything that he needs. And we don’t have that plan yet, but we’re continuing to work through it.”

Barmore joined New England from Alabama’s 2020 undefeated CFP national-championship team in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft. After playing in every game as a rookie, Barmore played in 10 in 2022 because of injuries.

In 2023, Barmore reached career highs with 64 tackles, 8.5 sacks, 13 tackles for loss, 16 quarterback hits and six pass breakups.

After that season, New England signed Barmore to a four-year, $83 million contract extension.

This offseason, the Patriots signed free agent defensive tackle Milton Williams from the Philadelphia Eagles to a four-year, $104 million contract.

New England’s offseason program is scheduled to start on April 7.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.

Read More