Jump to content
Buffalo Bulls - UB Fan Forum

Post-Oats Discussions


UB05

Recommended Posts

Just now, everlast2504 said:

Question: Has there been any substantial press release by Oats or UB about this yet? 

Nope. Radio silence other than a brief Alnutt statement via UB's Twitter.

This whole thing just sucks as a fan (and honestly, as a small donor)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Kevin said:

We've gotten nothing, but Alabama footage of the PJ that he flew on. 

I doubt we will get anything. Left everyone in the dust at the first opportunity. Your report about players/recruits being shocked and angry is completely in line with how oats went about the vanishing act.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, UB05 said:

I doubt we will get anything. Left everyone in the dust at the first opportunity. Your report about players/recruits being shocked and angry is completely in line with how oats went about the vanishing act.

A player told me yesterday and I quote

"I'm pissed man, I was bought in, I am just as shook".

Players (at least some of them) have not been addressed. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, Kevin said:

A player told me yesterday and I quote

"I'm pissed man, I was bought in, I am just as shook".

Players (at least some of them) have not been addressed. 

That is shocking to me. I expected Oats to leave for a bigger school at some point, but I did not expect him to not address his players before he left. That is really disappointing to hear.

Hopefully it means that most of the players won't follow him there and will use it as motivation that they can have success without him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, everlast2504 said:

Still shocking is it's about noon the next day and nothing about anything from the school. Something almost doesn't seem right. Something had to happen it the past few days that totatlly soured a relationship somewhere. 

I’d say blindsiding the school, program, players, and fans will do that.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

39 minutes ago, Kevin said:

A player told me yesterday and I quote

"I'm pissed man, I was bought in, I am just as shook".

Players (at least some of them) have not been addressed. 

Seriously?  Oats didn't address his team in person before he boarded that private jet?

I'm really surprised by this.  That's the least you can do to your players.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The integrity of the staff really is in question here.

Oats leaves town without addressing his team.  He calls the top recruit to tell him to come to Alabama.  And Hodgson says you better give me the job or I am going to Alabama too and taking my players with me.

That shows a lack of respect for the program.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, dutchcountry7 said:

The integrity of the staff really is in question here.

Oats leaves town without addressing his team.  He calls the top recruit to tell him to come to Alabama.  And Hodgson says you better give me the job or I am going to Alabama too and taking my players with me.

That shows a lack of respect for the program.

Completely. This is how i look at.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If he had already signed the contract, is he even allowed to speak to the team?  Technically, speaking to players at another school would be a violation.  I'm just speculating here, but I think that's a possibility.  I mean, I wouldn't say goodbye until the ink was dry, and the deal was 100%, and maybe then he couldn't.  He certainly can't speak to the players now.  

And, of course, he offers Hawkins.  He's not the UB coach any longer.  Recruiting starts as soon as he signs the paper.  He's not going to try to improve his team because he wants to be nice to his old school?  It's not like Hawkins would come here without Nate anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, 113p said:

If he had already signed the contract, is he even allowed to speak to the team?  Technically, speaking to players at another school would be a violation.  I'm just speculating here, but I think that's a possibility.  I mean, I wouldn't say goodbye until the ink was dry, and the deal was 100%, and maybe then he couldn't.  He certainly can't speak to the players now.  

And, of course, he offers Hawkins.  He's not the UB coach any longer.  Recruiting starts as soon as he signs the paper.  He's not going to try to improve his team because he wants to be nice to his old school?  It's not like Hawkins would come here without Nate anyway.

Speak to the team the moment before you sign the paperwork, that's all semantics to me. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, MuchMany said:

Fair on Oats, but a mischaracterization of Hodgson. He can't assume that he'll have a role at UB under a new coach and he has an offer from Oats to go to Alabama. The only thing that will keep him here is the head role. We have no quotes from him. No proof that it's the hostage situation you describe. The players commitment was to Oats and Hodgson as much or more as it was to UB. Who can blame the kids for wanting to stick with the guys who they made connections with personally and basketball-wise. Hire Hodgson and the team stays mostly together organically, it isn't a conspiracy.

Is that even true though? Oats originally sold White on the ability to keep the team together, he lost every single player but Perkins and 1-year of Bearden. 

He luckily grabbed some great Juco players (from coach B)  and luckily found CJ. 

Edited by Kevin
Link to comment
Share on other sites

38 minutes ago, Kevin said:

They are looking around feeling deceived. I can tell you that with certainty. 

But if he got the team together and told them he was leaving, would they feel any less deceived?  Any time a coach leaves, he's leaving behind players.  There's no way to avoid that.  Every player thinks that their coach will be there for their entire stay.  Doesn't always work out that way.  Absolutely sucks for the players, especially because they're not free to move to another school without sitting out a year, but that's the harsh reality.  

I'm sure Oats told them that he was staying because he has no other option, but to say that.  Is he really going to tell them that he's thinking of leaving?  That would assuredly affect the play of the team.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

To be fair when a lot of players left Buffalo with Hurley I feel it was because they wanted to come to Buffalo to learn from an NCAA great and a former NBA player.  I don't think there's that level of attachment to Oats specifically although maybe I underestimate the relationships he has with the kids.

Edited by trueblue32
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, trueblue32 said:

To be fair when a lot of players left Buffalo with Hurley I feel it was because they wanted to come to Buffalo to learn from an NCAA great and a former NBA player.  I don't think there's that level of attachment to Oats specifically although maybe I underestimate the relationships he has with the kids.

The relationship with most coaches is closer to a father/son relationship.  They spend A LOT of time together.  The relationship will be different for every player and coach, but I'm assuming it's devastating for the players when a beloved coach leaves.  You envision yourself playing for this coach for another 2, or 3 years, and then it's an enormous change.  But, again, that's the unfortunate reality.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...