“We’ve raised this program to a level where the standard is really high. 99% of college basketball players would trade places with these guys with the year we had, but we’re disappointed. We had bigger goals.” Nate Oats was certainly among the most disappointed after the Alabama Crimson Tide squad recently lost to the Duke Blue Devils. However, it still did not tarnish the legacy that Oats had created for Alabama over the course of 6 years. Even Charles Barkley complimented him, stating, “I want to take time to acknowledge the great job Coach Oats and Mark Sears have done for the University of Alabama”.

Yet, post the loss, one just cannot avoid the many questions regarding Oats’ tenure with Alabama. Especially now that a team has seemingly shown interest in Oats.

According to a report by college basketball journalist Rob Reinhart, Nate Oats has emerged as the frontrunner to be the next head coach of the Maryland Terrapins. Reinhart states that Oats might be tempted by the offer, since the coach has “become increasingly frustrated with the NIL situation at Alabama, as most of the funds have been diverted to football”.

The University of Alabama has historically prioritized the college’s football program. The Tuscaloosa News has described the university as “a blueblood football school”. The school reportedly boasts one of the richest athletic departments in the nation. The most recent numbers put its annual athletic department revenue at more than $214 million. With this number, the college would rank 3rd in the country, right behind Ohio State and Texas. Alabama’s football dynasty, under Nick Saban, brought 6 national championships to Tuscaloosa in 17 seasons. Therefore, who wouldn’t want to bet more on it?

What stings Oats is that they are not spending as much on their basketball program as the other schools. However, the situation was worse before Nate Oats joined the team back in 2019. After all, as highlighted by Front Office Sports, Alabama significantly upped its investment by taking a chance on Oats and signing him to a five-year, $2.45 million contract. The investment paid off. Three seasons ago, the Crimson Tide squad was able to rise to the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. It won 31 games to reach the Sweet 16. And last year’s NCAA Tournament run put Alabama’s men’s squad in the Final Four for the first time.

Yet, if Nate Oats feels that he isn’t valued enough in Alabama, it is good that he has a backup option to fall on. Unfortunately, it isn’t necessarily good that the option is the Maryland Terrapins squad. The team recently lost its head coach, Kevin Willard, after he signed with the Villanova Wildcats. It was a move that was highly anticipated over the last couple of days.

One of the main reasons he was speculated to leave was because of the team’s NIL and revenue-sharing system. In Willard’s own words, “I want this program to be great. I want it to be the best in the country, I want to win a national championship, but there’s things that need to change. … I need to make sure that where we are with (name, image and likeness) and revenue share is not where we’ve been with NIL over the past two years. We’ve been one of the worst, if not lowest, in the NIL in the last two years. So that’s first and foremost.”

Despite not securing an NCAA championship title yet, Nate Oats’ run with Alabama has been nothing short of successful. Therefore, if the head coach feels his team deserves more funding, he isn’t in the wrong. After all, Oats has already experienced what it is like building a team without proper resources.

Nate Oats Highlighted the Struggle of Building Alabama Before the NIL Era

Things were different in college basketball when Nate Oats joined the Alabama Crimson Tide team. NIL Deals were yet to help players, making it tougher for underdog teams to create an appeal for star players to join their teams. Furthermore,  Oats had inherited a team that had not even made the ‘Sweet 16’ stage since 2004. Therefore, the task of turning things around for the team was a daunting one for Oats.

“Obviously when I got the job, we didn’t have the transfer portal, eligibility immediately, NIL, so it was a little harder to turn it around immediately like you can now,” said Oats a few days ago. “So we had [Jahvon] Quinerly … But he couldn’t play. He had to sit that year. That was like the last guy the NCAA wouldn’t let play. You can’t flip your roster like you can now.”

Since Oats arrived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama has made it to the NCAA tournament in 5 out of the 6 years. The only exception was 2020, when the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. Last year, the Crimson Tide made it to the Final Four before being knocked out by the national champions, the UConn Huskies. So, it is fair to say that the same team that was once considered an afterthought in men’s basketball has boosted itself to become a force.

“When you play this way and you show everybody—even our first year, we played this way,” Oats said. “We just didn’t have as much talent to do it. And now we’ve been able to get the talent and hopefully we get to continue to get the talent, we keep the resources where we need to and keep making these runs. I think the Alabama fans like us making deep runs in the NCAA Tournament. At least I do.”

In light of the recent update, it is hard to figure out what the future holds for Nate Oats. If Alabama values him, then they might make efforts to get him to stay. If not, then Maryland should make an offer Oats simply cannot refuse.