Nate Oats admits he considered Kentucky job, explains why he remained at Alabama

Alabama coach Nate Oats pulled his name out of consideration for the Kentucky job early on during the search to replace John Calipari. However, that doesn’t mean that Oats didn’t consider going after the position.

He recently spoke with Seth Davis about the Kentucky job and how much he considered it. Oats was being discussed as a potential candidate for the position before announcing in a statement that he would be staying in Tuscaloosa.

“That’s a good question, because for a guy like me that’s fortunate to be where I’m at — and I’ve caught a lot of breaks in life, to be even in the conversation – I mean the job was never offered to me. It didn’t get to that point at all,” Nate Oats said. “But there was a lot of speculation circulating around the country for part of a day there that maybe I’d be in the mix. I actually thought about it.”

Ultimately, Oats decided that he and his family would be happier staying at Alabama than leaving for Kentucky.

“I’ve got three daughters. They all like it here in Tuscaloosa. My oldest Lexie is going into her junior year here. I haven’t had to move a ton in my profession. A lot of these guys are moving every couple of years. I’m fortunate, I didn’t have to do that,” Oats said. “I didn’t really want to move my family.”

Oats has only coached at two places since 2013 — Buffalo and now Alabama.

He added that he feels like Alabama is ready to compete to win a national championship in basketball. Oats wants to be the guy to bring one to the Crimson Tide, and he has a roster capable of winning big.

“I also felt like we’d just made a Final 4. Greg Byrne’s one of the best ADs in the country. I’d love to work with him the rest of my career, to be honest with you. And he took care of me,” Nate Oats said. “I mean I’m not the highest paid coach in the league. I didn’t ask for that. But I’m making a lot more money than I ever thought I would make, and they’ve made it clear that they want to keep me here.

“So I think we’ve got a chance to win a national championship at Alabama. And I think it would mean a lot more winning one here than maybe it would mean winning one somewhere where they’ve won with lots of different coaches over a period of time. It’s almost expected at a place like Kentucky.”

Oats insists that he isn’t afraid of the expectations that come with being the head coach at Kentucky. In fact, he would embrace the role.

But right now, he feels like the best place for him is at Alabama, even if he is well aware how big of a deal being the Wildcats head coach is.

“I’d really like to win one here. And I think we’ve got a roster put together that can. … So we’d like to try and be the best team and win it,” Oats said. “If things don’t shake out, well, I’d still like to give myself a chance. We’ve built this thing up to where we’ve got a chance to win it. I’d like to give myself a chance to win it here.

“I like working with the people I have here. I was comfortable here, my family’s comfortable here. I decided I wanted to stay here. And like I said, the job was never offered in the first place. I don’t want people thinking I turned it down. That wasn’t the case. I took my name out of consideration before it would’ve ever got to that point.”

Oats wanted to make sure everyone knew that he was all in with Alabama for the 2024-25 season — for his players, recruits and even donors.

“We had a lot of donors stepping up at the time, which was big. And I didn’t want them thinking I’m playing. They were serious about us winning. I wanted to let them know I was serious,” Oats said. “We had recruiting going on. The quicker you squash some of that stuff the better off it is for you and the place that you’re at, and I just thought that was a smart move.”