Alabama Basketball: Nate Oats gets a 5-year contract and CAJ a buyout

There is more to talk about than the dollars in the Alabama basketball transition from Avery Johnson to Nate Oats. But the numbers are worth discussing.

It turns out Greg Byrne cannot control everything. On Friday, before Alabama basketball had released the details of Nate Oats’ contract, they were released by Rachel Lenzi of the Buffalo News. We are fairly confident the scoop did not result in any sudden dismissals within the University of Alabama Athletic Department.

There is no reason Greg Byrne should be anything but proud of the deal soon to be approved by the Alabama Board of Trustees. Thanks to the Buffalo News we can provide the contract terms.

• Five years at $2.462M per year. A sizable increase over the $837K Oats would have made in Buffalo from a new deal he negotiated just a few days ago.
• Alabama basketball will also pay the $750K buyout Oats owes the University of Buffalo for his exit.

Nate Oats commented about his new Alabama deal.

"I was a high school math teacher six years ago, so it’s not all about the money for us. Obviously the money doesn’t hurt. But I’d like to play for national championships.We can get to the Final Four here."

Many Alabama basketball fans had hoped the ‘Ninja’ also known as Greg Byrne, would hire a coach who had already taken a team to the Final Four. Fans disappointed in no Billy Donovan, Thad Matta or Rick Pitino have been quickly embracing Byrne’s decision to hire Nate Oats.

The new deal includes what have become pretty standard buyout clauses protecting both parties. If the University of Alabama terminates Oats without cause, the school would pay a buyout starting at $9.188M for the next year and decreasing by $1.838M each year Oats is the Crimson Tide head coach.

Should Nat Oats choose to leave Tuscaloosa before the end of the contract, he would owe the school $8M until March 2020. That amount is reduced $2M each year through 2023 and becomes $1M for an exit in the last year of the contract term.

How do the new numbers compare to Avery Johnson’s contract? Avery earned $3.06M in his last year. Avery Johnson and the University of Alabama settled on a $5.5M buyout. It is ironic the coach deemed as a solution to the Tide’s basketball woes will earn less in two years than his predecessor was paid to not coach the Crimson Tide.

It is tempting to both praise and chide Greg Byrne on the two basketball deals he has done in Tuscaloosa. He would probably agree. In the context of the massive money in college athletics, the new, good Oats deal cancels out the older, bad contract extension given Avery.

If $5.5M was the cost of starting a path to a never before achieved Crimson Tide Final Four, it was a steal. Speaking of Final Fours, Nate Oats can earn a bonus of $50K for each Final Four win. Other $25K to $50K bonuses can be earned by NCAA Tournament appearances and tourney wins.

We are calling making it to a Final Four, ‘Must Do, No. 26’ added to the list in the link above. CNO will no doubt agree. That CNO, being Coach Nate Oats, of course.