Bama fan, stopping by to peacefully give you my $ 0.02. You can blame Grey Byrne, our AD at Bama, for the way this whole thing went down. Greg was ADAMANT from the beginning that nothing about this coaching search was going to leak. Our last AD (a buffoon), was publicly played by Greg Marshall during the last coaching search. Greg was not going to allow any info to leak, and he specifically said if any info did leak, he would assume that coach didn't want the job. It certainly accomplished what he set out to do - find a coach who was legitimately interested in the job rather than one interested in a public spectacle that would get him a better contract at his current job. He did it so well that our normal insiders were blind-sided when Oats was announced.
The downfall of that was Nate had to do everything secretly, or risk losing the offer. You guys know him better than I do, but I also know the tendency of fans to turn on their own as soon as a coach, player, or recruit decides to go elsewhere. None of us know the specifics of what has happened behind the scenes since Nate accepted the job. I suspect there has been a lot more communication between all parties than we're privy to.
Anyway, we're excited to have him, and I hope you guys get another great coach and continue rolling. As far as how will Oats do at Bama, I'm very optimistic. Alabama isn't the bottom dweller in basketball that many seem to believe. We're second only to Kentucky in all time SEC wins, although a couple of other teams have had more tourney success. We have a pretty good string of sweet sixteen appearances in the 70's through the early 90's, but only one elite eight which was fifteen years ago now. You can never know how these things will work out, but I love Oats' style of play, and I think he brings the fundamentals we've been missing with our last two coaches. We have the potential to be a very good basketball program and there is a latent fan base that has been yearning to return to the days when tournament appearances were expected. Most of us are cautious, but very optimistic that Oats can get us back to that level.
Anyway, although I'm happy to have him, I'll say sorry for poaching your coach. I know that has to suck. If it makes you feel any better, if he does have the success we're hoping for, we'll have to worry about every blue-blood job opening in the future. That's just how it is.