Nate Oats explains why he had Nick Saban speak to Alabama basketball team

When Nick Saban was the head football coach at Alabama, he was known for bringing big-name speakers to talk to the team. This past season, for instance, he notably brought in Pete Rose and Michael Strahan to address the players.

Friday, the tables turned. Nate Oats asked a now-retired Saban to talk with the basketball team ahead of Alabama’s matchup against Texas A&M.

Oats told the Crimson Tide Sports Network about Saban’s appearance prior to tip-off, and after the game – a 100-75 victory – he explained why he called the GOAT and asked him to make an appearance.

“He’s, to me, maybe the best team coach of any team sport in modern college sports history, and he’s right here,” Oats told reporters. “I talked to him shortly after he retired, he told me when he’s going to come back to town and I asked him if he wouldn’t mind speaking to the team when he came back to town. This was in the window. We had the week off between games, I thought it’d be good for our guys to hear from a respected coach like him on what it took to win. He was great at churning out NFL players.

“He’s great. He said, I don’t know much about basketball, but here’s what can apply from football. I thought he was really good.”

Nate Oats: ‘I tried to learn as much as I could’ from Nick Saban

Oats worked alongside Saban for the last five years after arriving in Tuscaloosa from Buffalo. In that time, he was able to bend Saban’s ear and learn as much as he could from the seven-time national champion. The 2023 season turned out to be his last as Alabama returned to the College Football Playoff.

Afterward, Saban decided to step away, but he’s not going anywhere as Kalen DeBoer takes over as the next head coach. He will still have an office at Bryant Denny Stadium, and it’s safe to say he’ll be back quite a bit as he joins College GameDay as an analyst.

That means Oats – just as he did over the last few years – will likely continue to give Saban a call.

“He’s, obviously, won a ton of games,” Oats said. “I’ve tried to learn as much as I can from him. I was fortunate that I was able to spend five football seasons with him here and learned a little bit. Shoot, if he’s around here, I’m going to keep picking his brain, see if he can keep talking to our team as the years go on.”