Nate Oats Addresses the North Carolina Head Coaching Vacancy

The Alabama head coach speaks on the Tar Heels job opening after Hubert Davis was fired.

Dec 4, 2024; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats greets North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Hubert Davis before the game at Dean E. Smith Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

CHICAGO — When Arkansas head coach John Calipari moved on from Kentucky after 15 years, analysts considered Alabama's Nate Oats a candidate to fill the Wildcats' role.

Nevertheless, Oats denied the rumors in April 2024, as he announced that he was "fully committed" to Alabama after he received an extension less than a month before. Fast forward to Tuesday, North Carolina, another Blue Blood program, fired head coach Hubert Davis after its first-round loss to VCU.

Once again, Oats, who has helped lead the Crimson Tide to its fourth consecutive Sweet 16 appearance, has been listed by analysts as Davis' potential successor. Before 4-seed Alabama plays 1-seed Michigan, Oats addressed the hot topic during Thursday's press conference in Chicago.

"Yeah, it's not the first time [my name has come up]," Oats said. "Look, a lot of respect to the other programs that may open and they've got great basketball tradition. As a young high school coach, maybe — shoot, I didn't think I'd even be in this spot to be honest with you that long ago.

"If you've gotten to know me, I'm not a guy that's trying to always jump around. The grass is not always greener. I love Alabama. My girls love Alabama. They're here with me. I love working with the administration that I work with. I think Greg Byrne is the best AD in the country. I love working with him. Would be great if I was able to work with him the rest of my career.

"They're doing everything they can to make sure that we've got a competitive program. And as long as we're able to compete to win championships here, SEC — National Championships, we haven't done that here yet. I'd love to be the coach to bring us our first National Championship. We got to a Final Four. To me there's absolutely no reason to leave here.

"While it's flattering that a high school guy that caught a couple breaks would be mentioned with some of these jobs, because they've got a lot of tradition, I'm not a guy that's looking to get out of here anytime soon. I love it here and my girls love it here. I love working with the people at Alabama.

"Yeah, names are going to get mentioned. I'm probably one of 10 or 12. Like whatever. It is what it is. That's the business. I haven't talked to anybody, nor do I plan on talking to anybody."

As previously stated, this is Oats' fourth straight Sweet 16 appearance. The only other teams that have reached the third round of the NCAA Tournament that many times in a row are Houston and Tennessee.

Alabama is the only program in the country to reach the Elite Eight in each of the last two seasons, and an upset win over the Wolverines in the Midwest Regional semifinal would add another tally to that remarkable achievement.

This story will be updated.

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