What reaching the Final Four means to Alabama coach Nate Oats

LOS ANGELES – When Nate Oats was a kid, he would record “One Shining Moment” from the NCAA Tournament broadcasts on VHS tapes so he could relive March Madness all summer long. When he was climbing his way up the coaching profession, he wanted to simply be at the Final Four, spending time in hotel lobbies to potentially run into college coaches.

“It’s surreal,” Oats said on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena. “… Somehow I caught enough breaks I’m coaching in one, which is unreal. Give hope to a lot of high school coaches tonight, that’s for sure.”

In his fifth season at Alabama, Oats has led the Crimson Tide to its first-ever Final Four. Before Saturday, UA had only played in one Elite Eight, which occurred 20 years ago. But no team had made it past the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Not until this one.

The Crimson Tide defeated Clemson in the Elite Eight in Los Angeles to win the West Region and earn a trip to Phoenix where it will face No. 1 overall seed UConn on Saturday, April 6.

Before the 89-82 win over the Tigers, Oats had created an already impressive resume. He became the fastest coach to win 100 games in school history. He led Alabama to four SEC championships (2 regular season, 2 tournament). He coached in four NCAA Tournaments and three Sweet 16s. And last year, he guided UA to the top overall seed in the 68-team field.

Oats has led Alabama to new heights, but Saturday’s win in the Elite Eight was his highest achievement to date, not only because of the significance to the Tide program and himself but also given the obstacles – replacing eight scholarship players and all three assistant coaches from the 2022-23 team that entered the last tournament as the betting favorite.

“He’s just a great coach all around,” said guard Aaron Estrada. “He lost a lot from last year, starting with the coaching staff. So just for him to rebuild a group like he got us, I think it just goes to show how hardworking he is and how much of a competitor he is, as well.”

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Oats is in his ninth season as a college head coach but is only 11 years removed from working at Romulus (Mich.) High School, where he won a state title in his final year in 2013. After that, he landed a job as an assistant at Buffalo for Bobby Hurley, who he worked with for two years before replacing him as head coach of the Bulls when Hurley left for Arizona State.

Next weekend, Oats will have a full-circle moment coaching against Hurley’s brother, Dan, who is the head coach at UConn and led the Huskies to a national championship last season. 

“The Hurley family has got a lot of respect for high school coaches,” Oats said. “Their dad’s a hall of fame coach, and I caught a few breaks. It’s ironic I get to coach against Danny. I don’t know if ‘get’ is the correct word because they’ve got a pretty good team. 

“But I’m in the Final Four and get to go against Danny who helped me get in this thing. Obviously, Bobby is the one who hired me. But the two of those guys kind of came into college together and have been great to me the whole time.”

Before making plans to travel to Phoenix, Oats and his team will celebrate their historic win and fly back to Alabama. Sitting on the dais with a freshly cut net around his neck and a Final Four hat atop his head, Oats couldn’t help but chuckle when asked about the significance of the Tide advancing to the national semifinal, especially given his journey to this point.

“I don’t know if it’s truly hit me yet,” Oats said. “Probably won’t hit me until after the Final Four is over because I’m going to enjoy it tonight and we’ve got to figure out how to beat UConn.”

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