Alabama rewards Oats with long-term extension

Jeff Borzello, ESPN Staff WriterMar 15, 2024, 07:19 PM ET

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• Basketball recruiting expert.
• Signed up with ESPN in 2014.
• Graduate of University of Delaware.Alabama and basketball coach Nate Oats have settled on a brand-new agreement extension, the school’s athletic director said.A source informed ESPN on Friday that Oats ‘extension is a long-lasting offer that will make him one of the 5 highest-paid college coaches in the country.Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne revealed in a social networks post that Oats’agreement is set to precede the school’s Board of Trustees next week.”We are thrilled about the success of our males’s basketball program and Nate’s ongoing dedication to the University,” Byrne said in his post.

  “We anticipate him leading our males’s basketball program for many years to come. “Because showing up in Tuscaloosa in 2019, Oats has led Alabama to two SEC regular-season championships and 2 SEC competition titles. In his 2nd season at the helm,

  the Crimson Tide won their first regular-season title because 2002, making a 2-seed in the NCAA tournament and making a go to the Sweet 16. Alabama made the NCAA tournament in 2022 and then earned the No. 1 general seed in the 2023 NCAA tournament– the very first 1-seed in program history– after once again winning both the SEC regular season and competition champions. They beat Texas A&M -Corpus Christi and Maryland before suffering an upset in the Sweet 16 to eventual nationwide runner-up San Diego State.This season, Alabama is on track for a top-four seed in the NCAA competition. It heads into Choice Sunday with a record of 21-11( 13-5 in the SEC )after losing to Florida 102-88 in Friday

  ‘s SEC quarterfinal game.” Clearly, we want to be playing (Saturday ), betting an SEC Tournament championship, however we’re in the NCAA competition,”Oats stated. “You know the 13 years before we got here, they ‘d just played two.

  This will be 4 straight for us, so we have actually got the program headed in the ideal direction. “Oats has likewise improved Alabama’s recruiting, landing 4 five-star potential customers and 13 ESPN 100 employees because taking control of the program. Brandon Miller, last year’s No. 2 pick, was the highest Alabama player selected in the NBA draft

  since Antonio McDyess in 1995. Prior to changing Avery Johnson in 2019, Oats was the head coach at Buffalo four seasons, guiding the Bulls to three NCAA competitions and back-to-back first-round wins in 2018 and 2019. Oats last signed a contract extension in February 2023, an offer that paid him$4.5 million each year and kept him in Tuscaloosa until 2029. Details from The Associated Press added to this report.