Gary Parrish critical of Nate Oats' management of Brandon Miller situation: ‘What kind of program are you running?’

With the news earlier this week that star Alabama freshman Brandon Miller was apparently involved in the Jan. 15 shooting in Tuscaloosa — which resulted in former Crimson Tide forward Darius Miles being charged with capital murder — head coach Nate Oats is facing further scrutiny for continuing to play Miller. CBS Sports basketball analyst Gary Parrish went scorched earth while addressing the subject on a recent podcast.

So far, Miller has not been charged with any crime and based on statements from his lawyers and various Alabama officials, he was supposedly unaware the gun was in his car — despite a text from Miles asking for it as he was driving over — and the shooting started moments after get arrived on the scene. Oats, at his Tuesday press conference, said that Alabama knew of Miller’s presence at the scene from the start but had continued to play him; Miller continued to play even after the latest revelations, scoring 41 for Alabama on Wednesday.

Parrish struggled to see how Miller was kept in the lineup this whole time.

“Like if you don’t have a rule that something like that would fall under, then what kind of program are you running? It is outrageous that Brandon Miller has not been at least disciplined in some way. Suspended in some way. And I think you could make a pretty compelling argument that he shouldn’t be a member of the basketball program at all, anymore. He did, quite literally, bring a gun to a scene that led to the death of a woman,” Parrish said.

Jamea Harris, a 23-year-old mother, was the lone victim of the shooting.

Parrish also called out Oats for his “embarrassing” press conference on Tuesday.

“I couldn’t believe those words came out of his mouth. ‘Wrong place, wrong time.’ What? No, no, no. Wrong place, wrong time, is if you’re at a party, and you’re minding your own business, you’re having a good time, you’re holding a drink, you’re talking to whoever, and then over here on the other side of the room something like this pops off. Bang bang bang. Wow, now you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. You were just having a good night and something wild happened in your vicinity. That’s wrong place, wrong time,” Parrish said.

He continued: “Brandon Miller wasn’t in the wrong place at the wrong time. He helped create the wrong place. He enhanced the wrong place. He brought the gun to the place. Which immediately turned it into the wrong place, wrong time for a lot of other people who were out in Tuscaloosa that night. But Brandon Miller was not wrong place, wrong time. He didn’t just happen to be somewhere where gunfire erupted. He brought the gun that led to the gunfire erupting.”

Parrish wasn’t done, though. He continued his impassioned stump, stating that he was more or less dumbfounded at how the Alabama athletic department effectively swept this issue to the side.

“I don’t know how this can just be swept to the side the way the Alabama athletic department just tried to sweep it to the side. Again, there’s a long list of basketball players and football players who have been suspended for far less. Far less than carrying a gun to an altercation and then having that gun be used in what is now an alleged murder. In the shooting death of a young mother. That left a 5-year-old little boy without his mom. And it is embarrassing that Alabama has just kept playing Brandon Miller without any interruption,” Parrish said.