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Auburn

Bruce Pearl details immense respect for Nate Oats ahead of Auburn vs. Alabama rivalry game

IMG_6598by:Nick Kosko•02/15/25•

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Jake Crandall / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl has a lot of respect for Nate Oats and Alabama, but the two teams are still big time rivals.

That’ll be most evident Saturday as the No. 1 Tigers take on the No. 2 Crimson Tide. Pearl and Oats have a lot of respect for one another, so it’s not personal.

But it might as well be war from the top two teams in the country when they meet on the hardwood.

“Well, I think it’s respect, you know,” Pearl said on Sirius XM. “I think that, you know, I respect the job he does. He’s one of the best coaches in the league. They do a phenomenal job in recruiting and evaluating talent. Their teams get better throughout the year. I think that’s what it looks like to me. I think Alabama, they were picked one by almost everybody. They are the deepest, the most talented team in our league, and they’re playing great right now. 

“So no, I just think it’s a matter of respect. I want to beat Alabama more than anybody else on our schedule because that’s my rival. I want to beat Alabama that anybody else on my schedule, because that’s my rival. I don’t take it personally.”

The connection of Pearl and Oats is very interesting. Steve Pearl, Auburn’s associate head coach Bruce Pearl’s eldest son, unleashed a strong — but not entirely out-of-bounds — take when he suggested the second-ranked Crimson Tide (21-3, 10-1 SEC) might not have hired Oats if not for what Pearl had already accomplished at Auburn (22-2, 10-1) in the five years between their two respective hires.

“I don’t think Alabama goes and hires Nate Oats if Bruce Pearl isn’t at Auburn,” Steven Pearl said Wednesday on The Stingray Show on Tide 100.9. “That’s not throwing shade on anyone. I just think that what Coach (Pearl) has been able to do at Auburn has raised the level of expectations at other schools in this league. And they said, ‘Listen, if Auburn can do it, we can do it at a high level too if we get the right person like Auburn did.’

“Well, Alabama got the right person. Nate Oats is one of the best coaches in the game right now. And his stats and accolades back that up. He’s done an unbelievable job, and the rivalry has only gotten more intense, it’s only gotten better.”