Nate Oats on NIL, transfer portal making coaching miserable: 'I don't buy that at all'

College athletics are what you make it now when it comes to all the changes to it over the last several years. For example, Nate Oats, who’s currently coaching at the level, has no issue with it because of his opportunity and how he has adjusted to it over his near decade, specifically the last five years.

Oats spoke about the shifts in collegiate sports and how it has impacted his job during an interview with Seth Davis. To him, he’s not unhappy at all because, to begin with, he’s a college basketball coach that is compensated well to be that. The rest that comes with it is easier to manage when that is true to begin with.

“It’s not making it miserable. I don’t buy that at all,” Oats stated.

“I get paid a lot of money to coach basketball. I was coaching basketball while having to do a full-time job teaching for over 15 years. So I don’t think you’re ever going to hear me complain about my job,” said Oats. “I get paid way more money than I ever thought I was going to get paid and I get to coach basketball. Not required to turn in lesson plans, all that stuff and grade papers. I love my job.”

Still, Oats, like essentially all coaches, think things could be better. That starts with the powers that be being clearer about the rules and evolutions that are coming. That would allow programs to adjust faster do their work more efficiently each day and for each season.

“What does it look like? What’s the revenue sharing going to look like? What’s the collectives going to look like? Where are we at NIL-wise?” Oats asked. “I think there’s a lot of changing parts, a lot of changing rules that you have to figure out on the fly.”

“That’s a little maybe frustrating, I’d say, because the rules change all the time now. I mean we’re in the biggest change in college athletics in the last, probably, forever every year to year to year. So can you predict the changes?” thought Oats. “Before you get the one time and you had to sit – period. So you didn’t recruit any two-time transfers because they weren’t going to grant any waivers. Then, all of sudden, we get in the fall and everybody can play again. So should we have recruited some two-time transfers like other people that were thinking? Like, maybe. It’d be nice if you knew what the rules were far enough in advance to make adjustments.”

However, again, Oats doesn’t mind the transformations whatsoever, especially when it comes to the transfer portal. That one is a tool that can be very useful, as it has been for Alabama, if staffs at schools embrace it from the right viewpoint.

“I don’t mind the rules,” Oats said.

“Look, the free agency every year? Yeah, I mean, it’d be nice if it wasn’t because it’d help you solidify your roster. But it goes two ways too,” explained Oats. “Like, if you don’t like your roster as much, you’ve got the opportunity to flip it over. Like, we got in here and were able to flip things pretty quick. You know, we made the Final Four but, you know, some guys that wasn’t just as good of a fit. I mean good kids, basketball didn’t fit. We were able to bring in who we thought would be better fits. I think we’ve got a better roster this year than we did last year. If it wasn’t for the portal being the way it was, we wouldn’t have been able to get some of the guys we got in here.”

We can all understand where some are coming from with their frustrations with the new look to college athletics. In Oats’ opinion, though, it’s all about adaptation because it is what it is and it’s not going back to what it was.

“I don’t mind it. I think you’ve got to adjust,” said Oats. “They’re not going to change it either. Like, to me, if you’re complaining about something that’s not going to change? You’re wasting your breath, you’re wasting your time, and you’re wasting your energy.”

“The rules are what they are now. Figure them out and move on.”