re: Alabama Basketball Megathread | 26-7 (16-2)

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Random thought: Credit to Alabama AD Greg Byrne. Locked up Nate Oats well before the coaching carousel began. Had he not, Oats would be arguably the top candidate at both Indiana and Texas. Now, with a $12 million buyout, he aint going anywhere. Except maybe the Elite 8 with Bama

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Yeah, going to be interesting to see how this plays out vs some coaches who are going to get paid but ADs/Coaches are waiting till their season is over.

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I'm with everyone else and just kind of assume Beard will be the guy, but I wonder if Texas would consider Beilein? Somebody should definitely hire the guy.

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He'd do wonders for a program like Indiana or Penn State that is just in desperate need of a stabilizing presence at this point.

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I came across either an article or radio segment some time ago with CNO talking about how much his family liked lake life down here so hopefully they found their forever home on lake Tuscaloosa

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My totally hipshot thought is that Oats likes Alabama, feels like he has a great AD and gets all the support he needs and also feels like the toughest initial build work is behind him and they're about to be where he wants to be. I don't see him walking away from that after Year 2 or Year 3 for anything less than an NBA job (if he wants to do the NBA thing).

Now - if we don't build an arena, he's here 3-4 years and we are good not great and things get "stale" (relative).......then I could see him leaving for another college job.

But I'd be pretty shocked to see him leave right now or even after next year. Really shocked, honestly.

Finally getting around to listening to the Oats interview on Pardon My Take - at the part where he's talking about LSU.

Pretty sure he was weighing his options in real time as to how much he should say and how much he wanted to say.

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Finally getting around to listening to the Oats interview on Pardon My Take - at the part where he's talking about LSU.

Pretty sure he was weighing his options in real time as to how much he should say and how much he wanted to say.

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LOL and Big Cat told him the worst part about him was that he apologizes for saying hilarious and awesome things

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I think there's more to it than just Wade buying Watford. I bet some shite happened during football season with Watford trying to rep Alabama football despite being an LSU mercenary and it caused some serious bad blood between him and Herb/Petty/Reese.

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I don't know, pretty sure I saw Herb and Reese both hug and show respect to Watford after the SECT final. They jawed at each other a lot during the game, but I think that was really just healthy shite talking in the heat of battle and then things were cool and respectful afterwards.

What I do wonder though - and think is at least possible - is if somebody on the LSU staff got a little too personal or out of line from a professional standpoint with someone on our staff or our players. If that is the case, I could see Oats taking something like that personal, holding a grudge and becoming even more emotionally invested.

Remember the little scuffle that happened prior to the game? There was a lot of chatter online from people in the arena saying that an LSU assistant was mostly responsible for instigating it by walking to half court and saying some things in our general direction, which is what caused Pettway to react the way he did.

Not saying that is for sure the case, but I could see where maybe some things were built up from some previous meetings and then the altercation in the SECT took it up another level and now Oats feels like those are the guys I want to beat no matter what. And Oats does seem like the type to hold a little bit of a grudge, use it as motivation to beat you and then shite talk after he does it. That's one thing I love about him.

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the worst part about him was that he apologizes for saying hilarious and awesome things

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Yep.

Who made the Spurrier comp - was it Robot? I think that could end up being pretty close to true. I don't think Oats would ever be quite as cute or witty with his one liners like Spurrier was, but I could definitely see Oats making comments about how many times he's beaten someone or they haven't done this since i've been here or something along those lines.

One thing that gets overlooked a bit when talking about Oats being a "midwest guy" is that culturally the Oats family actually fits somewhat more in Alabama than Michigan given their religious and political beliefs. Even so I think in this day in age that's a lot less of a factor than it used to be.

Hell, just look around the SEC. Pearl is a Jewish guy from Boston. Calipari is an Italian kid from Pennsylvania. Musselman grew up in Minnesota, San Diego, and Ohio. Frank Martin grew up in Miami as the son of Cuban immigrants. And so on. It's not like it was 25-30 years ago when it seemed like most coaches had some type of direct past link to their school.

Kevin Steele got two buyouts in one offseason.

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Kevin Steele got two buyouts in one offseason.

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That motherfricker is my hero. He keeps getting paid not to work.