Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Phone:
- 205-348-4551
When Nate Oats was formally introduced as head men’s basketball coach at The University of Alabama on March 28, 2019, he promised fans would see an entertaining, up-tempo and fast-paced style of play. And that’s exactly what he has delivered during his time at the helm of the program.
In just two short years, Oats has returned the Crimson Tide men’s basketball program to national prominence. A finalist for the 2021 Naismith National Coach of the Year, Oats guided Alabama to one of the best turnarounds in the nation and into one of the best stories in all of college basketball.
His offensive style helped Alabama lead the nation in three-point shots made and attempted across the past two seasons while breaking several school and conference records along the way. Combining an exciting offensive style of play and a hard-nosed defensive intensity that takes on the coach’s personality with an established set of core values that make up the pillars on which the team’s culture is built has created a recipe for success – something that has been a part of every stop along Oats’ career path.
“We have three core values, and we established a culture playbook a few years ago,” Oats said at his introductory press conference. “We talk about maximum effort – that’s every workout, weight room session and every practice our guys are going to give max effort, and we’re going to demand a lot out of them. Continuous growth is another core value. We’re going to get better every day. We need guys that want to get in the gym and work on their own. We’re going to get a culture in which they want to get better every day and that goes for academics and growing as young men as well. Selfless love. We’re going to teach our guys how to love each other and love this community and treat each other well.”
The 108th season of Crimson Tide hoops was one of the most memorable in its storied history. Under Oats’ tutelage, Alabama claimed both the Southeastern Conference regular season and tournament championships – the only power five program to sweep both the regular season and tournament titles in 2021 – and reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2004. Alabama would go on to finish the year with a 26-7 overall record, a 16-2 mark in Southeastern Conference play and a final Associated Press ranking of No. 5 in the nation, matching the best end-of-season ranking in program history.
Oats was named the 2021 SEC Coach of the Year, making him the fourth Alabama head coach to earn the recognition. He was also honored as the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) and the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District Coach of the Year and was one of four finalists for the Naismith National Coach of the Year.
Oats guided the 2021 Tide to the program’s first regular season title in 19 years (dating back to 2002), first tournament championship in 30 years (dating back to 1991) and first Sweet 16 showing in 17 years (dating back to 2004). Moreover, the Tide’s 16 SEC wins and No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament both matched program records while the 26 victories ranked second-best in program history and a 10-game winning streak midway through the year was the longest in 25 years (dating back to the 1996-97 campaign).
The breakthrough 2020-21 season came after Oats finished his first season at the helm with a 16-15 mark and an 8-10 record in SEC in 2019-20. Despite the record, the Crimson Tide made a huge leap offensively. After ranking near the bottom of the SEC in most offensive statistics the previous year, Alabama led the league in six offensive categories, including points per game (82.0), three-point field goal percentage (34.9 percent) and threes made per game (10.8), among others.
Nationally, the new-look offense ranked No. 3 in points and threes made per game, while also ranking sixth with 334 total threes made and fourth with 957 three-point attempts – both of which set program records until that record was broken in 2021. The Tide’s pace of play also ranked among the fastest in the country, as UA was fourth in raw tempo (76.1) and average possession length (15.2).
Oats has transitioned the Crimson Tide into one of the most dangerous offensive teams in the nation, as Alabama has averaged 80.8 points per game across Oats’ two years at the Capstone while also leading the nation in total threes made and attempted over the stretch. Additionally, UA has recorded 35 games of scoring 80 or more points, including a school-record 19 such contests in 2020-21, and 13 games of 90 or more. And no one benefited more from the new-look up-tempo style than the players.
Individually, point guard Kira Lewis Jr. thrived in the system and vaulted from a questionable 2020 NBA Draft first round pick into an NBA Lottery selection as he was selected with the No. 13 overall to the New Orleans Pelicans – the seventh UA player to be taken with a top-15 pick. Lewis finished the 2019-20 shortened season by averaging 18.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game for Oats’ up-tempo offense, including earning first team All-SEC honors and becoming just the second player in program history to record a triple-double.
After landing four all-conference members in 2020, Alabama boasted four additional student-athletes who earned 2021 league awards. Herbert Jones became the third Alabama men’s basketball player to nab SEC Player of the Year honors and the first-ever to claim the league’s Defensive Player of the Year when he earned the recognition in 2021. Jones (2021 First Team, 2x All-Defensive Team: 2020, 2021) is part of the 12 total postseason awards handed out across Oats’ first two years at the helm, which includes: Kira Lewis Jr. (2020 First Team), John Petty Jr. (2021 First Team, 2020 Second Team), Joshua Primo (2020 All Freshman), Jahvon Quinerly (2021 SEC Tournament MVP) and Jaden Shackelford (2021 Second Team, 2020 All Freshman).
Oats’ efforts didn’t just end on the court. Off the court, Oats has taken pride in the classroom. Under Oats’ tenure, a total of seven Crimson Tide players have earned their diploma in the past two years while a total of 20 men’s basketball players earned a spot on the SEC Academic honor roll. He and his staff were relentless on the recruiting trail as well, signing back-to-back consensus top-15 classes in 2020 and 2021.
Oats was rewarded midway through the 2020-21 season with a contract extension that extended his contract by three seasons to six years and keep him in charge of the Crimson Tide basketball program through March 14, 2027.
"We are excited to agree to a contract extension with The University of Alabama," Oats said. "Crystal and our daughters love it here, and we are committed to The University of Alabama. We feel like we have a lot of positive momentum going with our team and have the program headed in the right direction. Our administration is making a major statement with this extension as we all work on building a successful program for the long term. I know the winning history we've had with Alabama basketball, and I feel like we can add to that and accomplish great things here. We appreciate the opportunity Greg Byrne and our athletics administration, President Stuart Bell, Chancellor St. John and The Board of Trustees have provided us. This is really a reflection of the outstanding job that our players, coaches and basketball staff have done the last two years. Now we need all of our focus to be on finishing this season the right way and giving our team the best chance to succeed down the stretch.”
Prior to arriving in Tuscaloosa, Oats spent four seasons at the helm of the University of Buffalo where he took the men’s basketball program to unprecedented heights. While there, Oats led the Bulls to a 96-43 (.691) record, three MAC tournament championships and three NCAA tournament appearances, including reaching the round of 32 in 2018 and 2019. As a result, he was named the league's coach of the year and National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 14 Coach of the Year in back-to-back seasons (2018 and 2019).
During the 2018-19 campaign, Oats guided Buffalo to a 32-4 overall record and a 16-2 mark in conference play, leading the program to its second consecutive MAC regular season and tournament championships. The Bulls were ranked for 20 weeks in the Associated Press Top-25 during the 2019 season, which marked the first time in school history the program had earned a national ranking. Buffalo went on to climb as high as No. 14 in the nation which was the highest ranking by any MAC team over the previous 40 years. Additionally, the 32 victories not only set a program record, but were the most ever by any Mid-American men's basketball program. Oats would go on to finish fourth in voting for the Associated Press Men's College Coach of the Year.
During the 2017-18 season, he led the Bulls to a record of 27-9 overall and 15-3 in the MAC. In doing so, he secured the Buffalo's first victory in the NCAA Tournament, defeating No. 4 seed and PAC-12 Champion Arizona, 89-68, in Boise, Idaho.
Over that two-year span, Buffalo finished with a combined record of 59-13 (.819), while earning a pair of MAC Tournament and regular season championships, two NCAA Tournament Round of 32 appearances and consecutive MAC Coach of the Year honors.
Oats was named head coach of the UB men's program on April 11, 2015 after spending two seasons as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator for the Bulls. He came to Buffalo from Romulus High School in Michigan, where he taught and coached one of the top high school basketball programs in the region.
In his two seasons as an assistant coach under Bobby Hurley, Oats helped lead the Bulls to a 42-20 record, back-to-back MAC East Titles, a MAC Regular Season Title, a MAC Tournament Title and UB's first ever trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Prior to joining the Bulls, Oats spent 11 seasons as head coach at Romulus High School in Michigan, winning the school's first state title in 27 years in 2012-13, finishing the season at 27-1. He was named the 2013 Detroit News State Coach of the Year, the Detroit Free Press State Coach of the Year, and BCAM State Coach of the Year.
Oats honors also include 2009 Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan Class A Coach of the Year, 2008 Detroit Free Press Metro Detroit Coach of the Year, and 2005 Detroit News Metro Detroit Coach of the Year and Detroit Free Press Metro West Coach of the Year.
In his time as head coach, he led the team to a 222-52 overall record and seven-straight conference championships while going undefeated in conference play over four consecutive seasons. The team was ranked in the top-25 nationally on three occasions (2010, 2011, 2013) and made the Michigan Class A Final Four five times. More importantly, he oversaw a program that had a 100 percent graduation rate with 40 of his 42 seniors at Romulus continuing on to college.
Before coaching at Romulus, he played basketball at Maranatha Baptist University in Wisconsin where was a captain and all-conference performer, while earning his bachelor's degree in Math Education. Oats went on to become an assistant coach at Maranatha from 1997 to 2000. After that, he moved on to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater from 2000-02.
Nate and his wife Crystal are the proud parents of three girls – Lexie, Jocie and Brielle.
