Report: Arkansas State to hire Alabama assistant Ryan Pannone as program's next head coach

Alabama is just a few hours away from a massive Elite Eight matchup. Duke is the only thing in the way of the Crimson Tide making back-to-back Final Fours. But before tip-off, some massive news has broken regarding assistant Ryan Pannone.

According to Jon Rothstein, Pannone is finalizing an agreement with Arkansas State to make him the next head coach. Pannone has been in Tuscaloosa for two seasons and is now going to get an opportunity to take over his own program.

“Sources: Alabama’s Ryan Pannone is finalizing an agreement to be the next head coach at Arkansas State,” Rothstein said via X.

Panone was a splashy hire for Alabama at the time, previously working with the New Orleans Pelicans. Nate Oats was able to bring him to the college game for the first time ever. A couple of years later, the interest has been enough to be a head coach.

This is the second consecutive Arkansas State coaching search where an Alabama assistant has been the final choice. Bryan Hodgson led the Red Wolves to success but just took the South Florida job. Athletic director Jeff Purinton went right back to the well, landing on Pannone.

Nate Oats discusses Alabama defending Cooper Flagg in Elite Eight

Cooper Flagg has been dominant during Duke‘s run in the NCAA Tournament. Leading his squad to the Elite Eight, his Blue Devils are set to take on their toughest opponent to this point in the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Before Saturday’s matchup, Alabama head coach Nate Oats was asked of the challenges someone like Flagg presents on the scouting report. He explained how his team plans to keep the star forward in check heading into the opening tip.

“He’s essentially their four man, but he plays like a two guard, so you can’t put traditional fours on him,” Oats said during an appearance on College GameDay on Saturday. “But I think we’ve got fours — Grant Nelson moves fairly well. [Mouhamed] Diabate moves really well. Jarin Stevenson is 6 foot 10, but he’s guarded guys like RJ Davis and Josh Hubbard. … We’ve got different options. We’re gonna switch up our pick and roll. He’s good, but what we can’t have him doing is going for 30 and also getting seven or eight assists and picking up a bunch of fouls and offensive rebounds.

“You’re gonna have to somehow limit him in that regard. But we can’t have him getting out in transition on us either, because I think he’s really lethal when he gets out [on the break] off of turnovers and missed shots.”

On3’s Barkley Truax contributed to this report