Alabama Basketball: Some disrespect about Nate Oats does not ring true

On Wednesday, some Alabama basketball fans took exception to a rating of new coach hires in college basketball. Nate Oats was rated one of the worst hires.

For fans of Alabama football and Alabama basketball, it is easy to take offense to negativity. The frequent anti-Crimson Tide, jealousy-driven chatter from fans of other college football programs is tiresome.

Plus there is a problem throughout the world of sports ‘journalism-entertainment.’ It is the challenge of meeting the massive demand for new daily content. In response, media outlets have turned to more ‘opinion-driven’ stories. Everybody does it. You are reading one such story now.

Sharing opinion through media is popular. But sometimes those opinions are not based on enough solid information. Instead of solid information, writers use premises as arguments. Premises are claims that do not require proof. Presenting a premise for discussion purposes is valid. Using a premise as proof of a conclusion is shaky ground.

Wednesday, eleven new coach hires in Division One were rated. The Alabama basketball hire of Nate Oats was rated as the eighth best decision among the group of 11 schools. The ratings went from ‘D’ to an ‘A’ rating. The full list is provided at the end of this post.

Alabama basketball coach, Nate Oats was rated as a ‘C-‘ hire. We strongly disagree with the rating based on the premises stated by the writer. In fairness to the writer, Rucker Haringey, the other hires appear to be credibly rated. No one can argue with Fred Hoiberg as an ‘A’ hire. Had we tried such an exercise, the Hoiberg hire by Nebraska would have been rated ‘A+’.

Haringey said Avery leaving caught “quite a few fans by surprise.” Maybe Haringey is speaking about Alabama fans who do not follow basketball. Large numbers of Tide basketball fans knew Avery would leave or be fired.

Haringey went on to say,

"Nate Oats had a really productive run at Buffalo, but he’s got zero ties to the south. He’ll face an uphill battle when trying to equal Johnson’s recruiting success for the Crimson Tide."

We are guessing Haringey is unfamiliar with Antoine Pettway. Avery did recruit well, but it was Pettway who built the deepest relationships with recruits and players. Oats was smart enough to retain him. We doubt Haringey is privy to the now widely shared knowledge the state’s top recruit was not interested in Avery-led Alabama basketball. That same recruit has renewed interest in the program after the Oats hire.

Another Haringey comment called the hire,

"reaching out to grab the “hot name” from the mid-major ranks without really concerning themselves about how he might fit at (Alabama) … the Tide is taking a massive risk. It’s just as likely that he won’t win as many games as his predecessor."

In fairness to Haringey, Oats is a bit of a risky hire for the Tide. He has a limited, college head coach record. No one can predict the future Oats’ win-loss record and the first season could be rocky. But there are probably a hundred coaches who could have produced more wins with Avery’s rosters. One particular Division 2 coach in the state of Alabama comes to mind. Fielding teams who play more competitive basketball than Avery’s 2018-19 team is not a high bar.

No doubt, Hoiberg would have been seen as a better hire. Though the chances of it working were slim and none, throwing $6M per year at Billy Donovan was intriguing to Tide fans.

But Greg Byrne chose Nate Oats. There is reason to believe the Oats’ hire was assisted by Nick Saban through his close relationship with Tom Izzo.

The more we learn about Nate Oats, the more thrilled we become with the hire. As Haringey implied there is some ‘unknown’ with Oats and because of that, we rate the hire, B+. That cautious rating does not match a strong hunch Nate Oats will have success equal to an ‘A’ rating.

Haringey Ratings

• Fred Hoiberg to Nebraska; A
• Buzz Williams to Texas A&M; A
• Mike Young to Virginia Tech; A-
• Eric Musselman to Arkansas; B
• Aaron McKie to Temple; B
• Kyle Smith to Washington State; B
• Mick Cronin to UCLA; C
• Nate Oats to Alabama; C-
• Mark Fox to California; C-
• T.J. Otzelberger to UNLV; D+
• Jerry Stackhouse to Vanderbilt; D

Haringey summed up the Oats hire as a ‘square peg in a round hole.’ We know much about searching for a catchy phrase to attract readers. So Haringey is excused and we’ll throw one back. “You can’t always get what you want … you just might find you get what you need.” And that, Crimson Tide fans, is Nate Oats.