News Article: Alabama Hires Nate Oats From Buffalo

[CrimSonami]

Unless Pitino was caught in bed with a live boy or dead girl, he should have received a blank check. Byrne’s one job was to hire the best basketball coach out there, and he failed miserably.

It’s amazing to me that anyone would want to hire a coach who comes with open invitation to have the NZAA set up shop on campus. The guy is a cancer. No way he didn’t know. Byrne would’ve been exiled had he gone rogue outside his principles and hired Pitino. Absolutely no way that was gonna happen. And I, for one, would’ve abandoned Bama B-Ball had it happened.

 

[BAMARICH]

Not trying to continue a back and forth (so please don't feel obligated to respond, not trying to argue), but I also don't want to end things on a note that might make it seem like I don't support Oats, it's the way the program is run I don't support. I find it indefensible that Alabama has the most resources of any athletic department in the SEC, and yet they let programs like Auburn and Tennessee show more support for their basketball programs. I also think the resources they have used haven't necessarily been used wisely. Any frustration I have is not meant to be directed at Oats personally, none of this is his fault.

Some of the fans can be fickle, and yet they want success. They want the wins without the work. I desperately hope Oats is the guy to get them to wake up and support the program properly. That's all I want, that's what I wanted to see, and a good coach can at best mask those issues. I have my concerns he might not have enough influence initially. I hope Oats terms to Byrne were that he was going to get the facilities he needed, and not simply have what he was going to get dictated to him.The support Oats needs will exist outside of just players on a basketball court, and may be he's the one to get that through to people. Support isn't just hoping your team wins, support is saying ok I want them to have everything they need for success.


There is a reason for that, and it's because the underlying support for the program isn't what it should be. Alabama has a rich athletic department and they seem to throw just enough money at the program to do something kind of splashy every now and then. However, there never seems to be the kind of focus and hard work it takes to really build something special. Even under Wimp, he wasn't winning because the Alabama basketball program was giving him the best of everything. He was winning despite basketball being relegated to second tier. Then, when Alabama basketball struggles, the fans vanish entirely and demand change, yet they don't consider that change has to involve more than just a new face coaching the team.

I remember the debate under Hobbs over whether or not Alabama even wanted to go to the NIT because it cost money. I remember a similar debate under Grant about the CBI. You can't have that kind of tepid, reluctant support for a program and expect big things. My frustration with this whole process is because I've seen this all before. The truth is we don't really know what some of these guys could have done if they had a program that was fully committed to their success, because we don't know what that looks like. There's no good reason why Alabama can't do that. There is a reason, Alabama just haven't shown enough commitment.

Lol... we’ll try to arrange a meeting with you and Greg Byrne so you can show him exactly where he’s “mismanaging things”. You must have some serious inside information to make a charge like that.

You do understand donation $$$ are going to be decreasing due to the new tax laws right? You do realize baseball just dipped into that surplus too... right? I’m sure you have some pat answers for these two things since you’ve pretty much become entrenched on taking shots at our AD.

 

[RTR91]

Our man doing work...


https://twitter.com/wm_galloway/status/1112034289435242497?s=21


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[CrimsonNagus]

Anyone dumb enough to hire Pitino mind as we’ll go straight to the players and hire them to play. That’s what Pitino would do.

 

[rolltide7854]

Were you even around when Bama was great under Wimp? SEC Championships and Sweet 16 appearances just about every other year? Damn near made it to The Elite 8 if that basket would have fallen against UNLV. It’s been way to long and I’m hungry for that success again. And I’m telling you, this Oats guy isn’t going to cut it.

I was around when CM was hired, Bama basketball before him was embarrassing. He turned it around and when he left Wimp took it over and did pretty good wouldn't you say. Considering where they came from would you have been happy with those hires?

 

[CrimsonTitles]

So if it’s football, it’s ok to hire coaches with skeletons in the closet such as Kiffin and Sark?

Byrne said "compliance issues". I don't recall any NCAA violations from Kiffin or Sark. Drinking on the job might be a bad idea, but it's not an NCAA violation.

 

[TrampLineman]

I like the hire except the lone fact that he has never recruited the South. Other than that he seems like a guy I would enjoy playing for because he's not scared to tell anyone how he feels. Kind of like Coach Saban in that he'll tell you how he feels and that's it, whether you like it or not. He also seems like a coach many kids would like to play for.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

I like the hire except the lone fact that he has never recruited the South. Other than that he seems like a guy I would enjoy playing for because he's not scared to tell anyone how he feels. Kind of like Coach Saban in that he'll tell you how he feels and that's it, whether you like it or not. He also seems like a coach many kids would like to play for.

Particularly in basketball, the majority of the kids you're recruiting are African American. That was true at Buffalo as well as at Bama. Wherever you're recruiting, you have to be aware of family values and ethnic specificities. Remember that Saban recruits African American kids from the South and, really, all over. He doesn't have a shred of a southern accent. Neither does coach K, but they both recruit the South very well. IOW, I think this is a red herring...

 

[KrAzY3]

I’m sure you have some pat answers for these two things since you’ve pretty much become entrenched on taking shots at our AD.

TLDR: I want the program to succeed and I want Oats and Byrnes to get the support they need to enable that.

The only issue I have with the AD at all, is that I'm not entirely sure the choice he made to remove Avery was done without duress and with full understanding of what his options were. My only issue with firing Avery is I didn't see how merely firing him was going to fix the issues, that it will take bigger steps to do that. It's up to Oats to lay out what he needs for success and it's up to Byrne to see that he gets that. Oats might work out, but Oats is playing from behind in terms of issues within the program that you, yourself outlined. The biggest reason, and I said this a full ten years ago, I wanted a more experienced major program guy was because I thought they would be best qualified to rebuild the basketball program (not just coach the players better). We both know basketball needs more support, and we both know if things are not going well they'll tune Byrne and Oats out quickly.

Some of your statements indicate a more negative connotation than I intended, and I apologize if I let my frustration sound like personal attacks. Byrne inherited a program, and once again you've alluded to this a number of ways, along with others, that simply hasn't had the best support. Mismanagement in terms of stuff that happened prior to Byrne obviously isn't on Byrne, that would be ludicrous for me to blame that on him. But it's still the same program, it's still the same facilities, and it's still the same boosters that are behaving in basically the same manner. I don't think I ever said he mismanaged things though my frustration might not have always been well focused. I was however critical of a coaching search that seemed built more around going big on a fire than going big on a hire, but I'm not sure he was given a choice unfortunately (and I recognize Oats might be the best option available to him).

You outline the problems, you point out that the program can't even attract certain candidates, so on so forth and when I say the program needs more support, it's not because I have something against the AD. I've been saying this stuff before he was ever hired. It's that the team needs more than people who can come up with 5.5 million (payable almost immediately) to fire a coach but not much else.

To give another take on the finances, last year I saw the revenue total was around 170 million. Around 30 million was from donations, leaving 140 million. It isn't that I think they have a ton more money to spend on basketball, but as I understand it things like basketball facilities should actually be Title IX neutral since they'd be for both male and females. Furthermore, while basketball last time I saw was profitable to the tune of around 10 million a year, there are programs that profit over 20 million a year while spending more than Alabama. So Alabama could actually invest more in basketball and make that right back if it's done well.

I never said that was an easy task for Byrne. He inherited this mess. I never said this was an easy thing for Oats (my concern actually was that it would be too hard), he inherited this. But, it is a mess. The only way it gets better, and I'm speaking in particular of the people who demanded change, is if those people decide they want to be a part of making something better. My issue is not with Oats or Byrne, it's with the paradox of an expectation of basketball success without investing in basketball success (and to reiterate that investment isn't purely financial, it's patience, it's non-financial forms of support, etc...).

I hope Byrne and Oats are the ones to break this trend (they can't do it by themselves), because I fully believe Alabama has everything in terms of capacity, to reclaim the spot as the #2 SEC team and in the process make a lot more money in basketball as well. I will also add that I do think that intellectually Byrne and Oats have the capacity to figure out what the program needs, but that's just the start of the challenge.

 

[BAMARICH]

TLDR: I want the program to succeed and I want Oats and Byrnes to get the support they need to enable that.

The only issue I have with the AD at all, is that I'm not entirely sure the choice he made to remove Avery was done without duress and with full understanding of what his options were. My only issue with firing Avery is I didn't see how merely firing him was going to fix the issues, that it will take bigger steps to do that. It's up to Oats to lay out what he needs for success and it's up to Byrne to see that he gets that. Oats might work out, but Oats is playing from behind in terms of issues within the program that you, yourself outlined. The biggest reason, and I said this a full ten years ago, I wanted a more experienced major program guy was because I thought they would be best qualified to rebuild the basketball program (not just coach the players better). We both know basketball needs more support, and we both know if things are not going well they'll tune Byrne and Oats out quickly.

Some of your statements indicate a more negative connotation than I intended, and I apologize if I let my frustration sound like personal attacks. Byrne inherited a program, and once again you've alluded to this a number of ways, along with others, that simply hasn't had the best support. Someone needs to get them more motivated, that's all there is to it. Mismanagement in terms of stuff that happened prior to Byrne obviously isn't on Byrne, that would be ludicrous for me to blame that on him. But it's still the same program, it's still the same facilities, and it's still the same boosters that are behaving in basically the same manner. I don't think I ever said he mismanaged things, I was however critical of a coaching search that seemed built more around going big on a fire than going big on a hire, but I'm not sure he was given a choice unfortunately (and I fully recognize Oats might be the best option available to him).

You outline the problems yourself, you point out that the program can't even attract certain candidates, so on so forth and then when I say well yeah the program needs more support, it's not because I have something against the AD. I've been saying this stuff before he was ever hired. It's not that at all, it's that the team needs more than people who can come up with 5.5 million (payable almost immediately) to fire a coach but not much else.

But, to give another take on the finances, last year I saw the revenue total was around 170 million. Around 30 million was from donations, leaving 140 million. It isn't that I think they have a ton more money to spend on basketball, but as I understand it things like basketball facilities should actually be Title IX neutral since they'd be for both male and females. Furthermore, while basketball last time I saw was profitable to the tune of around 10 million a year, there are programs that profit over 20 million a year. So Alabama could actually invest more in basketball and make that right back if it's done well.

I never said that was an easy task for Byrne. He inherited this mess. I never said this was an easy thing for Oats, he inherited this mess. But, it's a mess, you've alluded to that, others has alluded to that. The only way it gets better, and I'm speaking in particular of the people who demanded change, is if those people decide they want to be a part of making something better. My issue is not with Oats or Byrne, it's with the paradox of an expectation of basketball success without investing in basketball success.

I hope Byrne and Oats are the ones to break this trend (and they can't do it by themselves), because I fully believe Alabama has everything in terms of capacity, to reclaim the spot as the #2 SEC team and in the process make a lot more money in basketball as well. I will also add that I do think that intellectually Byrne and Oats have the capacity to figure out what the program needs, but that's just the start of the challenge.

I’ll state again - we had no choice but to let Avery go. His players had quit on him and if you let that go another year, you not only see all your players leave but you also loose what was left of your basketball support. I don’t get how you’re still beating that drum.

What you seem to want is for the program to be championship caliber. Try to answer this one for a moment... what schools play both championship caliber football and basketball? There’s a reason Kentucky, North Carolina, Indiana, etc. have trouble fielding a top flite football program. I’m not saying you can’t have it for a short run... if you get an excellent coach you can do what Florida did for a few years. But to consistently be championship level at the NCAA level, history suggests you can have one or the other but not both. I’ll assure you schools excelling in one would like to add the other, but it’s obviously difficult.

I don’t think UA wants excellence without any investing. Rather, I just think the majority of our fans/boosters don’t really care about the basketball program as long as football is in good shape. If you look back to the “Wimp years”, that was during a time when football was on the decline. I think most casual fans want (1) good effort, (2) sound fundamentals, and (3) a trip to the NCAA tourney more years than not. For the current investment, I think that’s pretty reasonable to expect. IMO, the part about reclaiming #2 in the conference is not going to happen. Different world in the SEC than when we enjoyed that position.

 

[Ldlane]

I’ll state again - we had no choice but to let Avery go. His players had quit on him and if you let that go another year, you not only see all your players leave but you also loose what was left of your basketball support. I don’t get how you’re still beating that drum.

What you seem to want is for the program to be championship caliber. Try to answer this one for a moment... what schools play both championship caliber football and basketball? There’s a reason Kentucky, North Carolina, Indiana, etc. have trouble fielding a top flite football program. I’m not saying you can’t have it for a short run... if you get an excellent coach you can do what Florida did for a few years. But to consistently be championship level at the NCAA level, history suggests you can have one or the other but not both. I’ll assure you schools excelling in one would like to add the other, but it’s obviously difficult.

I don’t think UA wants excellence without any investing. Rather, I just think the majority of our fans/boosters don’t really care about the basketball program as long as football is in good shape. If you look back to the “Wimp years”, that was during a time when football was on the decline. I think most casual fans want (1) good effort, (2) sound fundamentals, and (3) a trip to the NCAA tourney more years than not. For the current investment, I think that’s pretty reasonable to expect. IMO, the part about reclaiming #2 in the conference is not going to happen. Different world in the SEC than when we enjoyed that position.

And when you keep someone that the players have "quit" on, you end up with 3 years of not being able to "press break" or "inbound the ball" because they are doing their own thing!

 

[KrAzY3]

I don’t get how you’re still beating that drum.

Really not trying to go back to that well, I'm resigned to how things have happened. I tried to qualify that my issue is not with Oats and then I tried to qualify that the underlying issues are not with Byrnes either. I don't want to leave things at the belief I wish ill of either or think poorly of either because I don't. I hated how it went down because nothing played out any differently than in the past, and I believe there's a need for change. All I'm trying to do is qualify those previous statements though, not reinforce them.

What you seem to want is for the program to be championship caliber. Try to answer this one for a moment... what schools play both championship caliber football and basketball?

I do think championship caliber on a regular basis is too much to ask, but a trip to the Final Four once every couple decades? I don't think that's too much to hope for. Sweet 16 more often than a coaching change? That should be possible. But I recognize that just hoping for that won't get it done. It will, I fully admit, take people richer than me and closer to Tuscaloosa shelling out more money and going to more games. It will take a lot of people doing a lot of things and Alabama isn't the richest or most populous state so I know that won't be easy.

I don’t think UA wants excellence without any investing. Rather, I just think the majority of our fans/boosters don’t really care about the basketball program as long as football is in good shape.

I do know a lot of people that are dismissive when I try to talk Alabama basketball to them. They don't seem engaged at all, but I also see them as potential customers. They do things during basketball season, they could very well be engaged in basketball, but the program has to get their attention. I think it is possible to reach that threshold though, and that's why I think more investment could bridge that gap. But I also recognize that investment can't really come entirely from the university. It needs to come from the people that are basketball fans now, becoming even more engaged and supportive. I would like to hope at least that people like you and I, could via our support and enthusiasm help move the program further, inch by inch to the point that some of those other fans become interested in what's going on.

May be that's unrealistic, but I am hopeful and that is the context of my previous statements. The cycle of being happy if they make the tournament and being mad when they miss the tournament just lacks vision. I'd like to see a Final Four in my lifetime for example, and I've seen some great players at Alabama, some pretty good teams, and a darn good coach. I'd just like to see it all come together for once, and I'm not giving up hope for that. We both know that the chances of that happening without more support manifesting itself seem rather slim though.

I think the biggest difference in how I view things and how some others do is as I see it a lot of people are just trying to get over a hill they've made muddy with all their failed attempts at climbing it and I feel like just a little more effort than what Alabama keeps putting into climbing that hill (and subsequently slipping and rolling down it, only to give it a try again), could be focused and put to work better and get to greater heights that haven't been hopelessly muddied by failed attempts.

 

[Tide Rev]

Can we just move on? Everybody has stated their opinion.

 

[RTR91]

Can we just move on? Everybody has stated their opinion.

You must be new here.


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[bamacpa]

Cliff Notes - Coach Oats is our guy, Roll Tide !


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[CrimSonami]

Any question now about a promoted mid-major coach being successful?

Here’s my prediction. Coach Oats will have Bama in the the tournament by his 3rd season (prolly before) and sweet sixteen by his 4th. Book mark it and come at me later if ya want.

RTR!!!

 

[TIDE-HSV]

I'll say this one last thing. If the big money guys were as interested in basketball as football, Coleman would have been replaced long ago. They're not and there's no point in coming on here and railing about the fact that the money's not there. Second, millions will not be siphoned from football to basketball. See reason one above. So, Coleman will be remodeled. Again. Eventually...

 

[colbysullivan]

Can Oats kick field goals?

 

[JustNeedMe81]

Can Oats be the face of Oatmeal ?

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[NationalTitles18]

It is what it is.

Alabama is not a top school in basketball, but it has potential to be a quality program.

I hope CNO is able to get the program back on good footing and that all the fans support him in that effort instead of crying over what isn't.

The guy is in his 4th day on the job and has already gotten a commitment from a solid big man and gotten a valuable player to return from the transfer portal. I hope he can get Kira to stay if Kira is willing to put in the effort. If he can do that he should have a good core coming back. In any case he's off to a good start.