Alabama and basketball coach Nate Oats have agreed on a brand new contract extension, the college’s athletic director stated.
A supply advised ESPN on Friday that Oats’ extension is a long-term deal that can make him one of many 5 highest-paid school coaches within the nation.
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne introduced in a social media put up that Oats’ contract is ready to go earlier than the college’s Board of Trustees subsequent week.
“We’re excited in regards to the success of our males’s basketball program and Nate’s continued dedication to the College,” Byrne stated in his put up. “We stay up for him main our males’s basketball program for a few years to return.”
Since arriving in Tuscaloosa in 2019, Oats has led Alabama to 2 SEC regular-season championships and two SEC event titles. In his second season on the helm, the Crimson Tide received their first regular-season title since 2002, incomes a 2-seed within the NCAA event and making a run to the Candy 16.
Alabama made the NCAA event in 2022 after which earned the No. 1 general seed within the 2023 NCAA event — the primary 1-seed in program historical past — after once more successful each the SEC common season and event championships. They beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Maryland earlier than struggling an upset within the Candy 16 to eventual nationwide runner-up San Diego State.
This season, Alabama is on monitor for a top-four seed within the NCAA event. It heads into Choice Sunday with a a document of 21-11 (13-5 within the SEC) after dropping to Florida 102-88 in Friday’s SEC quarterfinal sport.
“Clearly, we would prefer to be enjoying (Saturday), enjoying for an SEC Match championship, however we’re within the NCAA event,” Oats stated. “You realize the 13 years earlier than we acquired right here, they’d solely performed two. This might be 4 straight for us, so we have this system headed in the fitting route.”
Oats has additionally improved Alabama’s recruiting, touchdown 4 five-star prospects and 13 ESPN 100 recruits since taking on this system. Brandon Miller, final 12 months’s No. 2 choose, was the very best Alabama participant chosen within the NBA draft since Antonio McDyess in 1995.
Previous to changing Avery Johnson in 2019, Oats was the pinnacle coach at Buffalo 4 4 seasons, guiding the Bulls to a few NCAA tournaments and back-to-back first-round wins in 2018 and 2019.
Oats final signed a contract extension in February 2023, a deal that paid him $4.5 million per 12 months and saved him in Tuscaloosa till 2029.
Data from The Related Press contributed to this report.