Nate Oats shares feelings on Chris Stewart becoming voice of Alabama football

Alabama announced on Wednesday that Chris Stewart is replacing Eli Gold as the voice of Alabama football. Stewart has performed play-by-play duties for Alabama basketball since 2002 and will now move over to football.

Crimson Tide basketball coach Nate Oats shared his reaction to the news following Wednesday’s win over Florida.

“Yea, so I always have a radio interview with him, you know, before the game. And I just found that out myself today,” Nate Oats said. “So I’ll make sure to congratulate him. It’s a pretty cool spot. I mean, Eli’s been great. I’ve got a great friendship with Chris. He’s on the road with us. He’s a good dude. So I was super happy for him.”

In total, Stewart has been with Alabama since 1998 in a variety of roles. He filled in for Eli Gold during the 2022 football season when Gold was out due to a medical issue.

Oats shared that he is extremely happy for his friend Chris Stewart

“Obviously play-by-play for Alabama football is a big deal in that industry. So he deserves it. He does great. I love listening to his calls,” Oats said. “If I could go back and have his calls with the TV view of the game, I’d probably do that every time. I’d like to know how many people turn their TV on and then have the radio on with Chris and our games. If I was watching, that’s probably what I’d do. No disrespect. The TV announcers we’ve had have been great.

“But there’s something about Chris’s voice on the play by play for our games. And he’s done it some in football. He’s really good.”

Crimson Tide Sports Network releases statement after parting ways with Eli Gold

Eli Gold will no longer be the Voice of Alabama Football after a lengthy career with the program. The UA Crimson Tide Sports Network (CTSN) decided to move on from Gold and replace him with Chris Stewart. Gold spoke following the decision and made it clear he would not be retiring and stepping away was not his decision.

On Thursday, CTSN released a statement regarding the parting of ways with Gold. They say Gold was offered the opportunity to remain and still call Alabama games on occasion. However, he declined and the broadcast will be “best served” by Stewart on a full-time basis.

“As we noted in yesterday’s release, Eli Gold has been a legendary broadcaster in a career spanning 52 years,” the statement said. “In 2023, we worked out a plan to have Eli call the home games plus Auburn, with Chris Stewart handling away games. We are incredibly appreciative of the positive things Eli has contributed to the Crimson Tide Sports Network and The University of Alabama during his time with us, which is why our desire was for him to remain part of the gameday broadcast and allow us to celebrate his UA broadcast career.

“But at this point, the interests of UA and CTSN are best served by Chris Stewart handling play-by-play for all games. After a series of conversations over a period of time, Eli was presented with an opportunity to continue his contributions to the CTSN broadcast team in the coming years in a more limited role, including the lead broadcast role for this year’s A-Day game. Unfortunately, he declined the opportunity.

“We will always appreciate Eli and wish him nothing but the best in his next endeavors. We are incredibly excited about the future of CTSN and what Chris Stewart will bring to the broadcasts in his new role.”