They don't call it a family at the University of Alabama for nothing. The connections in those halls of power are woven together like ... houndstooth.

Just look at them.

Karen P. Brooks, who replaced Paul Bryant Jr. as president pro tempore on the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees, is on the board of directors at Bryant Bank - founded by Paul Bryant Jr., son of legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant.

Gov. Robert Bentley serves by virtue of his office as ex officio president of the UA Board of Trustees. His son, John Mark Bentley, is a vice president at Bryant Bank.

Angus Cooper II is a longtime member of the UA Board of Trustees, and now a trustee emeritus. His son, Angus Cooper III, is a member of the board of directors at Bryant Bank.

Barbara Humphrey, a member of the UA Board of Trustees and the board's athletic committee -considered a UAB-friendly appointee because of her time as an athlete and coach there -- is married to UA football legend Bobby Humphrey. Bobby Humphrey is a vice president at Bryant Bank.

Paul Bryant Jr. is listed as chairman of the Crimson Tide Foundation, which in 2004 reported $34 million in revenue but has since stopped reporting to the IRS in public documents. The elder Cooper served on the board of directors of that group, as does current trustee William Britt Sexton. Treasurer of the foundation, which "provides a channel through which gifts are solicited" for UA athletic programs, is Scott M. Phelps, who is a founding member and director of Bryant Bank.

The ties reach into other departments, too. UA Senior Associate Athletics Director Finus Gaston is a member of the board of directors at Bryant Bank.

UA Associate Director of Planned Giving William "Butch" Hughes also is a member of the board of directors at Bryant Bank.

The Houndstooth Family runs deep. And wide.

Paul Bryant Jr. in 2012 (The Birmingham News/Tamika Moore)

A Bryant Bank spokeswoman said there is no conflict in those relationships, and that none of the bank employees were hired because of their UA affiliation. But the problem does not rest with the bank. It is, after all, a private institution.

The problem is with the board of trustees itself: a public board representing a public institution on behalf of the people of Alabama, who built it and bought it and supported it and continue to cheer it on.

Asked about the relationships, Board of Trustees spokeswoman Kellee Reinhart issued a statement saying only this: "The Board has rules and procedures in place to protect against conflicts of interest. These include Board Rules 106 and 106.2, both of which can be found on our website."

But it doesn't address the real issue of influence and power. This board doesn't act like a public institution. It acts like a family business, interrelated and dependent, compromised and compromising. It is a family business that, too often, considers its business none of your business.

The Houndstooth Family runs silent.

This board for decades has operated in the smoke and the shadows, thumbing its nose at public records and open meetings laws, discouraging conversation among board members in the light of day. It has operated with a patrician's belief that it knows best, answering only to itself.

It did not start with UAB and its quest to keep and expand football, but the secrecy is demonstrated there. It has been widely known that Bryant - who led the UA board for a maximum three terms - long opposed UAB football along with a core group of trustees. And all have been silent. It was no surprise last week when AL.com called all 17 University trustees about that issue, and got meaningful responses from absolutely none.

That's the way business works in this family. With these relationships, it is easy to see how it happens.

These trustees, remember, are given the extraordinary power to re-appoint themselves and their successors. They are a self-perpetuating body. Which means less-opinionated and less-powerful trustees can go along, or they can get along out the doorway.

For years trustees went into executive session to choose their members as if for fraternity rush. When told 15 years ago that it broke the open meetings law, then board Chairman Jack Edwards said he didn't know anything about that.

"We have historically voted this way for trustees," he said.

The result has been a board in which a powerful cabal of trustees - names like Finis St. John IV, Joe Espy and for years Paul Bryant Jr. himself - not only make decisions, but fill out the board with a malleable majority of less-invested trustees who simply enjoy the perks and promises that come with resisting the urge to make waves.

They've been called out time and time again for holding secret meetings, shrugging off public records requests, ignoring or sidestepping the law. In 2001 a committee of trustees met in secret a day after a court barred Auburn's board of trustees from doing the same thing.

Later, when Guy Bailey resigned as UA president, trustees held a closed meeting the next day and came out with a new president. Bam. A unanimous vote for Judy Bonner sealed the deal.

And of course when UAB supporters went to Tuscaloosa in support of a Southside stadium, trustees did not even give them the courtesy of a hearing. They simply ignored the students from Birmingham and killed the plan without a word.

Because they don't believe they answer to anyone.

The Crimson Tide Foundation - which two years ago bought Nick Saban's house for almost $3.1 million -- is a perfect example. In February AL.com sought IRS filings on that foundation as well as Auburn's similar Tigers Unlimited Foundation. Auburn complied, but Alabama said they no longer file IRS 990s.

When Deborah M. Lane -- assistant to the president and associate VP for University Relations - finally explained that decision this week she said the group believes it does not have to file the form because it is affiliated with a government entity: The UA Board of Trustees.

Which would make that foundation's books ... public. Yet the dance goes on, as the family tries to keep it all in the family.

They have been allowed to do it so long, by politicians and by media too scared, too cheap, or too homer to challenge it.

But this is not about team loyalty. It is not about Alabama's success on the field or Auburn's or UAB's. It is about a system that is insidious and incestuous, a tradition of unlimited power that trades unfairly on Alabama loyalty.

In the Houndstooth Family, the will of a powerful few becomes the mandate for all. And you can take that - and all the public money that goes into it - to the bank.

As long as you know which one.

AL.com Opinion