Greg Byrne admits Nate Oats has surpassed his expectations

Over five seasons under Nate Oats, Alabama has become one of the best in the Southeastern Conference and among the best in the nation. Those in Tuscaloosa have enjoyed that success from their program on the court but may not have been what they ever expected when he took over, even for AD Greg Byrne.

Byrne spoke about Oats’ achievements as the Crimson Tides’ head coach during an interview on ‘The Game’ on Friday. He admitted that these heights aren’t what he expected to see the team reach under Oats, especially considering their recent history within their league.

“Oh yeah,” Byrne acknowledged as far as Oats exceeding his expectations.

“I mean to have the last six SEC Championships, between regular season and postseason or tournament? Four of the last six have come to the University of Alabama. That’s remarkable,” said Bryne. “That’s an incredible thing.”

Oats is 110-49 (.692) over five seasons leading ‘Bama. Remove his first season after coming in from Buffalo and that improves to 94-34 (.734) over the past four years. Those past four seasons also include two regular-season conference titles, two wins of the SEC Tournament, and three berths in the NCAA Tournament.

Most of those accomplishments have come via their offensive outbursts. They’ve averaged 82.7 ppg. in his tenure with Top-25 finishes on that end in all five seasons. That includes a best of 90.7 this season where the Tide are leading the nation on offense.

At 18-7, Alabama is currently on pace to win their third regular-season title in the league of the past four years. They’re also set to earn their fourth straight tournament berth on Selection Sunday for the first time since they made five straight in the early 2000s.

That success has since pushed Byrne’s hand as far as potential improvements in order to keep that run going. That includes possible upgrades to Coleman Coliseum as well as the facilities that they use on a regular basis.

“Even going back about the arena? One of the things that Nate and I talk about regularly, and I talk to Coach Curry about as well and Ashley (Johnston) with gymnastics, is what are those long-term priorities?” Byrne said.

“One of the things, actually, that he and I have been talking more about is day-to-day operations. We have a good practice gym. Some of our infrastructure, I think, we could continue to get better at,” said Byrne. “Just internally, day-to-day where the kids are working out, developing who they are. That has actually been some of our focus. We have some ideas that we’re working on there as well that I think he is very positive about.”

Oats’ name has become a hot commodity in college basketball, including when it comes to other jobs across the country. However, if he and Byrne both have their way, he’ll remain on the sidelines at Alabama for the foreseeable future in hopes of adding even more history to the stretch that the Tide are currently on on the hardwood.

“He has done an incredible job leading our program. We want him to be the coach for a long time,” said Byrne. “I think he has shown that he wants to be here. He agreed to, I think, maybe the largest buyout in college basketball, if not one of the top two or three, to have his commitment that he wants to be here. We’ve been aggressive with continuing to raise his compensation and investment in the program.”

“The job he has done is remarkable. You look back at our history? You know it and we have had a lot of really good history in men’s basketball. But I think one can certainly say that we’re having as much success as we’ve ever had,” said Byrne. “That’s an excellent thing. We need to take advantage of that to continue to move the program forward and we’re going to do that.