The Thad Matta era at Alabama was a fun one.
For approximately 24 minutes, the former Ohio State head coach was the guy. I heard it, you heard it, everyone heard it.
But as a wise man once said: “Unless you hear it from me, don’t believe it.”
Guilty as charged.
Just when everyone was convinced who the hire was, ‘The Ninja’ swooped in to deliver the results of yet another stealth mission.
The hire wasn’t Matta. It was Buffalo head coach Nate Oats.
You know, the guy virtually no one close to the search even mentioned throughout the entire process. Sure, it was easy to list him as someone that would make sense given his success with the Bulls.
But in the group of 20-plus names that hit the rumor mill fairly hard, Oats did not pop up on the radar once.
Greg Byrne. Silent Assassin.
The initial belief was that Byrne and company would go the route of hiring a power conference coach with years and years of experience.
However, the list of available candidates meeting that specific criteria was certainly a small one considering most of those types of coaches are locked into huge contracts elsewhere.
So, Byrne went in another direction by landing the hottest mid-major name on the market in Oats.
You’ve likely already heard the main bullet points. The 44-year-old was a high school coach just six years ago before joining Bobby Hurley’s staff at Buffalo. When Hurley left to take the Arizona State job, Oats was chosen as his successor.
In his four years as head coach, the Bulls went 96-43 overall and made the NCAA Tournament three times. The most notable appearance was a year ago, as Oats’ squad delivered one of the most stunning upsets in tournament history by running popular national title pick Arizona off the floor in a 21-point upset in the first round.
The main reason for that result was the hard-to-defend style of play that’s been a staple at Buffalo.
The Bulls have finished in the top five in average offensive possession length each of the past two seasons, typically getting a shot up in less than 15 seconds. That allowed the team to rank fifth nationally with 84.9 points per game this season.
Simply put, Oats likes his teams to play fast. Really fast.
Of course, to do that in your new spot, you’ve now got to have the pieces that fit. And to win, you’ve now got to do that in what has become one of the best conferences in the country.
That has led to plenty of questions right off the bat. Will he be able to recruit 4-star and 5-star talent year in and year out? Can that same style be as effective in the SEC as it was in the MAC? And other concerns like that.
Let’s start with the first one. There are always going to be concerns about a coach with no power conference experience being able to recruit high-level 4-star and 5-star talent.
But here’s something to keep in mind: It’s not how many stars they have when they get there, it’s how many stars they have when they leave there.
While that may feel like it belongs on a motivational bumper sticker, it’s the truth.
Luckily for Alabama fans, player development is an area where Oats has thrived.
He’s regarded as a rising star in the coaching profession for a reason, and a lot of it has to do with his ability to develop players and help them meet their potential. He created a special atmosphere at Buffalo, and it was one that made players want to meet the high demands that were asked of them.
As for the style of play, of course it can work. Oats has embraced the idea of offensive freedom combined with an open shot mentality, and his quote in a recent ESPN article by Jordan Schultz tells you all you need to know:
“If you pass up an open shot that ends up in a turnover, you’re coming out of the game. I’m tired of passing up open shots. It’s stupid.”
He’s not wrong. And if you try to convince him he is, he’ll likely have hundreds or even thousands of situations on film to show you exactly why that philosophy works.
So, even within the concerns about a lack of proven success in several facets that will ultimately define his tenure in Tuscaloosa, there should be plenty of optimism about the future.
Is hiring Oats a risk? Sure it is. All new hires are a risk, no matter what the coach has accomplished at his previous stop.
If Oats really is the next big thing in college basketball, Alabama’s program will never be the same. And perhaps that was a risk worth taking.
But if there’s something I’ve learned throughout this whirlwind of a process, there’s one part of the whole equation that I probably shouldn’t doubt:
The Ninja.
For more SEC basketball coverage, follow me on Twitter @theblakelovell.