Recent News: Nate Oats of Alabama Basketball is rated as the tenth best college basketball coach.

Nate Oats of Alabama Basketball is rated as the tenth best college basketball coach.

Nate Oats, the head coach of Alabama Basketball, has quickly ascended through the ranks of men’s college basketball coaches around the nation. Over Oats’ five years at Alabama, the Crimson Tide have finished 117-54, made four straight trips to the NCAA Tournament, won two SEC regular season and tournament championships, and this past season saw the program make its first-ever Final Four appearance.

In the industry, oats has risen to prominence among the quickest. Oats was a little-known high school coach in Michigan just eleven years ago. Oats was given the chance to work with Bobby Hurley at Buffalo, where he served as assistant coach for two seasons before Hurley accepted a position as head coach at Arizona State, promoting Oats to head coach.

Before Greg Byrne selected Oats to replace Avery Johnson in Tuscaloosa, he took the Bulls to the NCAA Tournament three of his four seasons at Buffalo, where he won 69% of his games.

Oats is considered one of the top coaches in the nation according to his accomplishments at Alabama. Oats is ranked as the tenth best head coach in the US by Joey Loose of Busting Brackets. With all due respect to Joey and the coaches that came before him, I find that ranking absurd.

Dan Hurley, the college basketball coach who recently guided UConn to a championship, is the only one I would confidently place in ahead of Oats right now, disregarding what happened ten years ago.

Oats led the Bulls to three NCAA Tournament appearances in his four seasons at Buffalo, where he won 69% of his games, before Greg Byrne chose him to take Avery Johnson’s job in Tuscaloosa.

Oats’s achievements at Alabama have made him regarded as one of the best coaches in the country. Joey Loose of Busting Brackets has placed Oats as the eighth best head coach in the United States. I think that ranking is ridiculous, with all due respect to Joey and the coaches that came before him.

Putting aside what transpired a decade ago, the only college basketball coach I would safely rank ahead of Oats at this time is Dan Hurley, who recently led UConn to a championship.