Alabama Basketball: Nate Oats hardest challenge of ’23-24 season is now

To state the personnel resources of the Alabama Basketball program are thin is an understatement. With Antoine Pettway’s elevation to Head Coach of Kennesaw State, Nate Oats has no assistant coaches.

Charlie Henry was the first Alabama assistant to leave, to become the Head Coach at Georgia Southern. A few days later, longtime Oats’ assistant, Bryan Hodgson was hired as the Head Coach at Arkansas State.

Suddenly Nate Oats is in a situation where he has no established recruiters on his staff. Pettway and Hodgson are two of the best recruiters in college basketball. Nate Oats can still identify prospects and land players without Hodgson and Pettway. But recruiting is very different in the Portal era. Relationships are important, but coaches are forced to cast wide nets, meaning massive hours of research and follow-up.

Recently it was reported over 1,000 scholarship players have entered the Transfer Portal this cycle. As a point of reference, one report stated the Arkansas basketball program had contacted 84 of them.

What apparently has become common is many top players making a new team decision before entering the Portal. For the top players not locked down in advance, a new school choice is often made quickly.

Beyond the Nate Oats needs help burden of not enough hours in a day, there are the lost relationships. In the nearly constant pursuit of player talent, coaches build relationships with prospects for years. At least formally, a whole bunch of those relationship years are no longer in the Alabama Basketball offices. Nate Oats has built relationships as well, but with the Portal, he also has to build new ones quickly.

Alabama Basketball has much to offer

What Oats and Alabama are selling potential players is quite attractive. A pipeline to the NBA has been shown. The style of play matches what many top players are seeking. In that sense, long relationships don’t mean as much as they have in the past.

However the process of roster building is defined today, Nate Oats has a massively heavy load. Other current staff members can help, but none of them can make up for the loss of Pettway and Hodgson.

How well Nate Oats can handle the current situation got a quick test. One ranking of the top Transfer Portal players has Kel’el Ware as the No. 3 prospect overall. The former 5-Star, McDonald’s Al-America was expected to be in Tuscaloosa in the coming days. Friday night it was reported Ware will not visit Tuscaloosa. It is a coincidence that Ware’s decision came only hours after Antoine Pettway was announced as the Kennesaw State Head Coach?

Other visits are expected. The two names most mentioned are Denver Jones and B.J. Mack. Nate Oats must just keep working.

Many Alabama basketball fans lament the loss of the Tide’s assistant coach trio. The most prevalent response is being happy for them, and most of all Antoine Pettway, who not only played for the Crimson Tide but was on the Alabama staff of three head coaches.