Can Nate Oats make Alabama a basketball school? Or does football loom too large?

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The Tuscaloosa News
Can Nate Oats make Alabama a basketball school? Or does football loom too large?

Emilee Smarr, Tuscaloosa News · The Tuscaloosa News

Mon, Feb 10, 2025 ·

17 min read

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Alabama, a blueblood football school, is navigating a new era.

Even in the wake of the retirement of coaching legend Nick Saban, the city of Tuscaloosa still buzzes with the excitement of gameday at Bryant -Denny Stadium in the fall. Lately, however, winter hasn't been much different on campus.

Hackberry Lane and Paul W. Bryant Drive have been bumper to bumper with traffic some weekday evenings and Saturdays while bundled-up droves make their way to Coleman Coliseum .

Alabama's football dynasty under Saban, which brought six national championships to Tuscaloosa in 17 seasons, is over, underscored by the Crimson Tide failing to make the expanded College Football Playoff in its first season after his retirement.

Could Alabama, with a 100-year tradition of championship football, become a basketball school? Does last season's trip to the Final Four and coach Nate Oats' four combined SEC regular-season and tournament championships in five seasons mean Crimson Tide basketball can take a place alongside football in national perception and in the hearts of fans?

A lot of folks around the sport already think it has.

More: A night of Crimson Chaos: Covering Alabama basketball from rowdy student section

More: Alabama basketball's Nate Oats has team's full attention after Sears benching | Goodbread

What even is a basketball school?

There are basketball schools and there are blue bloods. The two categories are separated by national championships and history.

"To me, when people think of blue bloods, they're thinking of the guys that traditionally have been great, won multiple national championships, go to the Final Four every few years," Oats said.

Generally, North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky and Kansas are consensus blue bloods.

A few others are up for debate: UCLA and Indiana have deep basketball history but are in championship droughts. Two-time defending NCAA Tournament champion UConn is making a case. Oats nominates Villanova for consideration.

What it means to be a blue blood differs from fan to coach and player to analyst. The same can be said for defining a basketball school.

"We're definitely not a blue blood," Oats said, "because we've only been to the one Final Four and haven't won a national championship here, but a basketball school? ... I think there's five schools in the country who reached three out of the last four Sweet 16s. It's Gonzaga, Houston, UCLA, Creighton and us."

College basketball betting expert Thomas Casale of SportsLine.com thinks Alabama has an additional hurdle.

"It's almost impossible for them to be a basketball school because of their history," Casale said. "Alabama has had two of the five greatest coaches in the history of the sport for football (in Saban and Paul W. "Bear" Bryant). ... College football is bigger in the South than pro sports. It's the only area in the country where that's true."

By Casale's definition, basketball schools are characterized by "sustained success over a decade of time." With only six seasons with Oats, Alabama's ineligible by that measurement.

Analyst Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68 Media Network also thinks Alabama's football shadow is too long for basketball to escape.

"When you're talking about Alabama, what do you think about? You think about Nick Saban and football," Goodman said. "You don't think about basketball.

"I think what Nate Oats has done is incredible. But again, you've got to do this over a longer period than Alabama has done it."

Tubby Smith cut down a national championship net at Kentucky and ended more than four decades on the college sideline in 2022. He started his college coaching career as an assistant in 1979 and has seen what Alabama basketball can be.

"Alabama has always had great success in basketball," he said.

Bruce Pearl coaches Alabama's rival, which has spent much of this season ranked No. 1. He believes he's taken Auburn to basketball-school status and says the Crimson Tide belongs in the club.

"Well, Nate Oats has Alabama there," Pearl said. "They're one of the top teams in the nation. The way they play, the way they recruit, the way they schedule and their coaching staff: They're as good as anybody in the country."

More: Hey SEC: Send Duke to Alabama basketball in next year's SEC/ACC challenge | Smarr

Alabama basketball's rise under Nate Oats

Alabama's case for basketball-school consideration started three seasons ago when it was the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and won 31 games to reach the Sweet 16. Last year's surprising NCAA Tournament run put Alabama in the Final Four for the first time (the women's team did it in 1994).

Oats took Alabama to SEC regular-season and conference championships in his second season and has made the NCAA Tournament four straight seasons, with this season looking like a lock for a fifth in a row.

This season, Alabama started ranked No. 2 and has been in or around the top 10 ever since.

Nate Oats has cut down a net to take the Crimson Tide to the Final Four, but can he make Alabama a basketball school? — Mar 30, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats cuts the net after defeating the Clemson Tigers in the finals of the West Regional of the 2024 NCAA Tournament at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Alabama basketball history: Peaks and valleys

The notion that Alabama could become a basketball school took hold for Oats in his first season on Jan. 15, 2020.

"We proved to the fans that we could beat Auburn," Oats said.

Alabama was 8-7. Auburn was ranked fourth with a 15-0 record. The Crimson Tide won in Tuscaloosa, 83-64, snapping a three-game losing streak to its cross-state rival.

The Crimson Tide finished ninth in SEC play, but the Auburn win provided a spark.

"It gave our guys some confidence, like you can play with anybody. I know this year we're probably going to have two top-five matchups (with Auburn). ... That's a real rivalry. That's big-time," said Antoine Pettway, a former Alabama assistant coach and player who is now head coach at Kennesaw State.

Alabama had a few exceptional teams in the 1950s, highlighted by the 1955-56 Rocket 8 team that was the first to go undefeated in SEC play.

It wasn't until 1976, however, that the country would take notice. Coach C.M. Newton had just led UA to its first NCAA Tournament appearance a year earlier and followed with a Sweet 16 run. Indiana, on the way to an undefeated national championship season, had its closest call in the NCAA Tournament in a 74-69 victory over an Alabama team led by Leon Douglas and Reggie King, both of whom became first-round NBA draftees.

After a dozen seasons under Newton, longtime assistant Wimp Sanderson was promoted and Coleman Coliseum was nicknamed the "Plaid Palace" after Sanderson's loud blazers, giving the program an identity.

Crimson Tide teams made six runs to the Sweet 16 (one vacated due to NCAA sanctions) in Sanderson's 12 seasons, which saw UA win the SEC Tournament five times and earn 10 March Madness bids.

After Sanderson, there were ups like the school's first Elite Eight appearance in 2004 but more down years before athletics director Greg Byrne hired Oats from Buffalo.

Between the end of Sanderson's tenure in 1992 and Oats' arrival, Alabama made the NCAA Tournament nine times in 28 years. It has taken Oats fewer than six seasons to match Sanderson's school-record 25 wins against AP Top 25 opponents.

How is the university investing in Alabama basketball?

Oats has impacted winning at Alabama, and the athletic department's bank account in turn.

After the Final Four, the university sold out its season-ticket allotment for the first time in 2024-25 with 9,351 sold. Alabama sold 8,169 season tickets the season before.

Alabama is filling Coleman Coliseum at a 92.3% clip this season, averaging 13,358 for home games to rank fifth in SEC attendance, according to conference figures.

How does Alabama's spending on basketball compare to some other top basketball programs? In fiscal year 2024, UA basketball's operating expenses as reported to the NCAA were more than $15.3 million. That's in line with Auburn ($15.8M) and Arkansas ($15M), more than UCLA ($14.4M) and North Carolina ($13.4M) but below Michigan State ($17.6M), Kansas ($19.7M) and UConn ($20.4M), based on information gathered by the USA Today Network in partnership with the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database.

Each school uses its own accounting process to derive these numbers, as reflected in Kentucky's whopping $30.3 million in operating expenses that included more than $8.5 million in combined debt service and other unidentified miscellaneous costs incurred.

School	2024 men's basketball spending
Alabama	$15.3M
Arkansas	$15M
Auburn	$15.7M
Kansas	$19.7M
Kentucky	$30.3M
Michigan State	$17.6M
North Carolina	$13.4M
UConn	$20.4M
UCLA	$13.4M

Data via USA Today Network/Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database.

As for facilities, Alabama has invested $59 million in a 48,000-square foot player development and practice facility expansion that is under construction and expected to open in 2026.

"It will send an incredible message to our recruits that we take our basketball seriously here in Alabama," Byrne said.

More: Grant Nelson offering consistency Alabama basketball needs to reach Final Four again

How Alabama basketball has become a 'destination' for recruits

Saban's string of top-ranked football recruiting classes hasn't been matched on the hardwood. Basketball at Alabama hasn't had the same allure.

But blue-chippers have taken notice of late.

"Football doesn't really come up very much when I speak with basketball recruits," said On3 basketball recruiting insider Joe Tipton. "... The basketball program now speaks for itself."

Pettway, who played on Alabama's 2004 Elite Eight team, became an assistant in 2008 and served under four head coaches. He observed Oats' recruiting approach up close for four seasons before leaving for Kennesaw State.

"I would say just a unique thing about him being there, when he got the job, he embraced (football) ... like the resources they provide to Alabama because of the football program," Pettway said. "He embraced the whole football-school thing."

Featuring five-star signee Derrion Reid and three four-stars in Labaron Philon, Aiden Sherrell and Naas Cunningham, Alabama's 2024 recruiting class was ranked No. 2 nationally per the 247Sports Composite. Alabama's 2023 transfers, including Grant Nelson from North Dakota State and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. from Cal State Fullerton, rated fourth in portal hauls.

Oats also brought in five-stars Brandon Miller — as part of a recruiting class that ranked No. 4 — and JD Davison . They are the program's highest-ranked recruits since Collin Sexton in 2017.

Six of Oats' Alabama players have been drafted by the NBA, with others playing on G League teams or overseas.

"The three most attractive things about Alabama basketball for recruits is the winning, play style and a pathway to the NBA," On3's Tipton said.

Alabama basketball sold out season tickets for the first time for the 2024-25 season, a sign of how fans are embracing the hardwood success.

Auburn's Pearl recalled trying to recruit Alabama natives DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe when he was at Tennessee.

"There was a feeling among some of Alabama's great high school players — unlike Charles Barkley or Chuck Person, who stayed in state — that you had to go to someplace like Kentucky to be able to become a pro and compete for a championship," Pearl said.

"Now, the best players in this part of the country, including the state of Alabama, can stay at home and make history and realize all their goals and dreams."

Both Sanderson and Smith worked off the "Bear" Bryant philosophy of focusing on recruiting the state of Alabama.

Sanderson figured more in-state players would increase attendance because fans had seen them play. As head coach and as an assistant under Newton, Sanderson was able to bring in star players from the state like King, Douglas, Wendell Hudson, Bobby Lee Hurt, Buck Johnson, Ennis Whatley and Robert Horry.

Alabama's current roster includes home-born talents Mark Sears , Labaron Philon and Chris Youngblood, although Sears and Youngblood started their careers elsewhere and transferred to UA.

Smith, the former Kentucky coach, first encountered Alabama in 1985 when he was an assistant at Virginia Commonwealth. The Crimson Tide beat VCU in the NCAA Tournament with a roster that included future NBA players Derrick McKey, Buck Johnson and Jim Farmer along with a few others who played overseas.

"Doggone," he said. "All of them were pros."

Smith added that the 1985 Crimson Tide team was the most comparable to the one Alabama has today.

Martin Newton, son of Hall of Fame coach C.M. Newton and athletics director at Samford, said his father always knew the potential for elite basketball status was there for Alabama.

The biggest part of realizing that vision came in a vow made to Newton by Bryant, according to Sanderson, who told Crimson Chronicles podcast hosts Rick Morton and Tommy Ford that Newton would only take the job if he could recruit Black players.

After integrating his previous program at Transylvania, Newton did the same at Alabama when he recruited Hudson, the university's first Black scholarship athlete, in 1969.

But there's a new factor these days, as NIL is the newest piece of the puzzle. Money for players under Name, Image and Likeness deals steer recruits, and Alabama seems to be holding its own.

The 2025 recruiting cycle saw Alabama in the mix for the nation's No. 1 prospect, A.J. Dybantsa. That wouldn't happen without a competitive NIL collective.

More: Did Alabama basketball make $5M offer to No. 1 recruit AJ Dybantsa? AD Greg Byrne reacts

"If you want to be one of the best programs in the country, you have to go after the best recruits in the country," Oats said. "I think the fact that we've been in there with them is a big deal."

Alabama players are known for professional-level length and athleticism, but playing for Oats requires what the coach calls a blue-collar mentality, exemplified by a hard hat given each game to the player with the most hustle-and-grit plays.

The willingness is something NIL money can't buy. Oats assesses recruits for those attributes.

"He's one of the most competitive people that you ever going to meet," Pettway said, "and I think that transcends down his team. Every single drill, everything's competitive. You got a winner and a loser."

What happens if Nate Oats leaves Alabama basketball?

Oats' first practice as coach at Alabama saw players falling out and throwing up, and he'll tell you it was a fraction of what his guys were doing at Buffalo. His style is up-tempo and metrics-driven, with players shooting 3-pointers and layups. Mid-range jump-shots are not part of his plan.

The question is whether Alabama basketball could thrive without him.

"Well, if I had to go to a funeral or something where I couldn't make a game, I would think that the team would play pretty well," he chuckled. "We don't just have a team year to year. We have a program."

Oats has seen four Alabama staffers move on to head coaching jobs. In a single season, Charlie Henry left for Georgia Southern, Bryan Hodgson for Arkansas State and Pettway for Kennesaw State.

"I've got really good assistants now," Oats said. "I would hope that they would continue to keep having success here."

The only time Alabama sustained success from coach to coach came during the transition from Newton to Sanderson.

Alabama is doing what it can to keep Oats. He signed an extension through the 2030 season last March that pays him $5 million this season with annual raises that reach $7.55 million in the final year of the deal. All of it is guaranteed.

Should Oats leave for another coaching job, his buyout is $18 million for the current season and the next, dropping to $10 million in 2026 and scaling down to zero in 2028. For comparison, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd's contract, signed in February 2024, includes a $12 million buyout for the 2024-25 season that drops to $9 million in 2026, scaling down to no buyout in 2029. The buyout for UConn's Dan Hurley is $6 million if he leaves for a college job and $2 million if were to leave for the NBA.

"The job that he has done leading the program and bringing a different dynamic to college basketball and being a leader there helps separate us from our competition, and that's encouraging to see," Byrne said. "But that doesn't mean that we don't continue to evolve with him as the game evolves, and that's what we're doing."

Oats' compensation is the same as that of Kentucky's Mark Pope, making him the fourth-highest paid SEC coach behind John Calipari at Arkansas, Auburn's Pearl and Tennessee's Rick Barnes based on the latest available contracts for league coaches.

Before his extension, Oats was already among the nation's 10 highest-paid public-school men's basketball coaches.

From coaching staff to infrastructure, Byrne said Alabama is committed to continue to invest in Oats so he feels he can "compete at the highest levels, year-in, year-out."

Those who know Oats off the court don't expect an exit anytime soon.

"Of course, I don't know, I'm not in his brain, but I think he's happy," Pettway said. "They need to treat him well, keep paying him well and we can keep him as long as we can."

Mark Sears hoists the NCAA Tournament's West Regional championship trophy in 2024 as Alabama celebrates making the Final Four, a milestone for the program.

So can a football school also be a basketball school?

Sanderson remembers his days as an assistant coach in the 1960s when Alabama basketball practiced and played at Foster Auditorium.

Unless there was bad weather. When that happened, Bryant would commandeer the facility to bring his football team indoors for drills. That meant the basketball team would have to wait.

It's not that way anymore.

Oats said Alabama is a football school "for sure," but he thinks "you can be both." He cited the days of Billy Donovan and Urban Meyer at Florida, which won two football and two basketball national titles from 2006-08.

On3's Tipton concurs.

"Alabama is much more than a football school now, and Nate Oats has made sure of it," he said. "The Crimson Tide making the Final Four has a significant impact on how it is looked as as being a basketball school, along with a football school of course."

SEC men's basketball associate commissioner Garth Glissman said Alabama's success has aided the league's ascension in the sport. He is adamant that the league known for football can double as a basketball conference.

"There's this incredible camaraderie and excitement that comes with rooting for your team or your schools, and that doesn't have to stop when football season is over," Glissman said. "We're going to do everything we can to try to give fans reasons to be excited."

CELEBRATING SABAN Check out The Tuscaloosa News' book commemorating Alabama football's Nick Saban dynasty

But there will always be non-believers.

Field of 68's Goodman said the SEC has two "true basketball schools at the highest end," Kentucky and Arkansas.

"Football is still king at Alabama," he said. "Football is probably still king at Auburn, even though they're not that good."

Ask the people who grew up courtside from the Foster Auditorium days to when Coleman opened as Memorial Coliseum in 1968 to the present, and they'll testify to the transformation.

Martin Newton believes his dad would be thrilled to see what Crimson Tide hoops has become.

"When he got there, it was a football school, and that was all it was," Newton said. "To see what Nate Oats has been able to do, taking that next step and getting to a Final Four, I think he would just be absolutely ecstatic.

"Football is what drives the train. But basketball, the popularity of the game, what you're seeing within the state – not just with Alabama, but with Auburn, with Samford, with UAB – I mean, this has become a basketball state."

Oats isn't dodging the question.

"We're a championship school," he said, "and I think we've become a basketball school."

Emilee Smarr covers Alabama basketball and Crimson Tide athletics for the Tuscaloosa News. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Can Alabama be a basketball school under Nate Oats?

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