Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats speaks at a press conference prior to the Final Four at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on April 4, 2024.
Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats speaks at a press conference prior to the Final Four at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on April 4, 2024.
Alabama Basketball head coach Nate Oats has quickly risen the ranks of men’s college basketball coaches in the country.
In five years at Alabama, Oats has led the Crimson Tide to a 117-54 record, four consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament, two SEC regular season and tournament titles, and led the program to its first ever appearance in the Final Four this past season.
Oats has been one of the fastest risers in the profession. Just 11-years ago, Oats was a no-name high school coach in Michigan. Bobby Hurley gave him an opportunity to join his staff at Buffalo, and after two seasons as an assistant coach there, Oats was promoted to head coach when Hurley took the head job at Arizona State.
Oats won 69% of his games at Buffalo in his four years, and led the Bulls to the NCAA Tournament in three of his four seasons before Greg Byrne tapped him as the replacement for Avery Johnson in Tuscaloosa.
Oats’ success at Alabama has made him regarded as one of the best coaches in the country. According to Joey Loose with Busting Brackets, Oats is the 10th best head coach in the nation. No offense to Joey or the coaches ahead of him, but I think that ranking is ludicrous.
Right now – not worrying about what happened a decade ago – there’s only one coach in college basketball that I would confidently put in front of Oats and that’s Dan Hurley, who just led UConn to back-to-back national titles. After that? I think the list starts with Oats.
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