Georgia Southern set to hire Alabama assistant Charlie Henry as new head coach

Nate Oats and his staff have done a phenomenal job with their Alabama team this season. They’ve been dominant on both ends of the ball, posted a 29-5 record, and just won the SEC regular season and SEC Tournament en route to the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Now, as they prepare for their March Madness run, the Crimson Tide are now dealing with a shift sent through their staff as assistant coach Charlie Henry has been hired as a head coach. Per Pete Thamel at ESPN, Henry will take over at Georgia Southern after being a critical piece of Alabama’s defense.

Sources: Georgia Southern is set to hire Alabama assistant Charlie Henry as the school’s next basketball coach. He's the assistant in charge of Alabama's elite defense and has been a linchpin of Nate Oats' staff during his time there.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) March 14, 2023

This is Henry’s fourth season altogether on Oats’ staff in Tuscaloosa. Before that, he worked alongside Oats at Romulus High School in Detroit, Michigan back in 2009-2010.

At Alabama, Henry has been explicitly placed in charge of the Tide’s defense. With several years of coaching experience in Division I, the G-League, and the NBA, Oats credited Henry and his work with Charles Bediako as a key piece of why Alabama’s defense has been one of the best analytically.

“With the way we’ve designed our defense? Charlie Henry, my assistant that runs the defense, came from the NBA,” Oats said. “We’re third in the country in defensive efficiency two years ago without a rim protector like (Bediako). We did it differently that year. This year with Charles at the rim, we’re trying to send everything — run them off the three-point line and run him downhill to the rim.”

This will be a major change as Oats and Alabama will have to replace Henry following this run with him headed to the Sun Belt. They’ll have to worry about that another day, though, as they prepare to start their path to the Final Four on Thursday afternoon.

Pearl discusses success from Auburn, Alabama, what it means for the state

For the second consecutive season, in-state SEC rivals Auburn and Alabama have both made the NCAA Tournament. The Crimson Tide and Tigers won’t be rooting for each other any time soon, but there’s no question that the achievement is important for the state of Alabama, which Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl discussed ahead of the tournament.

“Yeah, I think it’s very significant,” Pearl said during his press conference. “Congratulations to Alabama for being a great champion. They were the best team in our league and they very well may be the best team in the country.”

“Both basketball programs have worked really hard at trying to get competitive. And I think there’s been a lot talked about the fact that both Auburn and Alabama have become very competitive and winning championships,” Pearl said. “So it does mean a great deal to the state.”

“And then right there you have UAB that played in their championship game and could have been in the field. You had Samford win their regular season. I think Huntsville had a great year. North Alabama had a really good year. Troy had a good year. South Alabama was in the championship game of their tournament,” Pearl said. “I don’t mean to leave anybody out. But there was a lot of really good basketball played in the state of Alabama this year.”