Alabama men's basketball coach Nate Oats on Wednesday addressed why he has remained in Tuscaloosa even as speculation has ramped up in recent years about whether he would accept another head-coaching job in college basketball or the NBA.
"Look, a few things," Oats told The Paul Finebaum Show from the Regions Tradition Pro-Am celebrity golf tournament in Hoover, Alabama. "One is the people have been great to me. [Athletics director] Greg Byrne gave me the chance when nobody else in a high-major hired me out of Buffalo. There's a lot of loyalty in that.
"I haven't seen the need to move, to be honest with you. We've been the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament. We've made the Final Four. We've won more SEC championships in the SEC since we've been here. We can win at the highest level here.
"The NBA -- there may have been some rumors, but there's been no real offers. I'm not sure -- I've got daughters still in high school. I'm not sure I want that travel schedule right now, to be honest with you. I like our travel schedule in college a lot better than what the NBA's is. There hasn't been a real need for me to move. I enjoy it where I'm at. The people treat us at. We're winning at a high level. I'd like to win the whole thing here, sooner rather than later. That's the goal."
Oats was asked by CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein last October about possible interest in NBA coaching opportunities and said that league "intrigues me" and he studies it, but preferred his current lifestyle with three daughters in school.
Added Oats to Finebaum on Wednesday: "The season is shorter [in college], which -- I love coaching -- but it is nice to have a little bit of an offseason, if we can ever get the roster filled. I love watching the NBA, but it's definitely a different deal up there."
Oats, who is the SEC's third-longest tenured men's basketball coach with his current school and entering his seventh season, has an $18 million contract buyout as part of an extension signed last year. The buyout will drop to $10 million in 2026, then $4 million a year later.
Oats was among the speculated candidates for Kentucky's head-coaching job when it opened last year, but issued a statement confirming his commitment to Alabama.
"The job was never offered in the first place. I don't want people thinking I turned it down, that wasn't the case," Oats told Bleacher Report last summer. "I took my name out of consideration before it would have ever gotten to that point."