Is Nate Oats Worth a Top-5 Salary in College Basketball? Just a Minute

Welcome to BamaCentral’s "Just a Minute," a video series featuring Alabama Crimson Tide on SI's beat writers. Multiple times per week, the writers will group up or film solo to provide their take on a topic concerning the Crimson Tide or the landscape of college sports.

Watch the above video as BamaCentral assistant editor Katie Windham discusses whether or Nate Oats' results at Alabama so far justify him being one of the top-five highest paid coaches in college basketball.

The details of Nate Oats' new contract were made public on Wednesday with the Alabama men's basketball coach getting extended six years through 2032 with an average annual salary of $7.25 million.

This makes Oats one of the highest-paid coaches in college basketball. Only Kansas' Bill Self, UConn's Dan Hurley, Arkansas' John Calipari make more than Oats, and Michigan State's Tom Izzo sits just behind him with an annual salary of $7.2 million.

Highest-paid coaches in college basketball:

1. Kansas' Bill Self ($8.85 million per year)
2. UConn's Dan Hurley ($8 million)
3. Arkansas' John Calipari ($7.75 million)
4. Alabama's Nate Oats ($7.25 million)
5. Michigan State's Tom Izzo ($7.2 million) https://t.co/bJqgNTAv85
— Hunter De Siver (@HunterDeSiver) April 22, 2026

All the other coaches in that list have won at least one national champion. (Calipari's national title was not at Arkansas. He won it at Kentucky in 2012.)

While Oats hasn't won a national title yet at Alabama, he has taken the program to new heights. Prior to Oats' arrival in Tuscaloosa, the Crimson Tide had made the NCAA tournament once in the previous seven years. Alabama has now made six straight NCAA tournament appearances with four consecutive trips to the Sweet 16.

Oats took Alabama to its first ever Final Four in 2024 and also won the SEC regular season and tournament titles in 2021 and 2023. Multiple Crimson Tide players have been selexted in the NBA draft during Oats' tenure and have gone on to have success in the league.

Alabama's administration certainly feels like Oats is this much to the school. Oats has repeatedly said that he feels like he can bring the program its first national title, and Alabama believes that as well. This commitment to Oats shows that.

His name comes up whenever a job opens at the top college basketball programs around the country, and Alabama is trying to do everything it can to keep Oats happy and in Tuscaloosa. Some might say its presumptuous to pay him this much before winning a title, but Oats' track record at Alabama shows he's worth it in my opinion.

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