Details for Nate Oats' Historic Contract Extension Revealed
Alabama men's basketball head coach Nate Oats signed a contract extension on April 5. However, the full details of the deal were unknown.
That is until today, as the University of Alabama Board of Trustees compensation committee approved his new salary on Wednesday afternoon.
Oats' new contract will go through the 2031-32 season. The 51-year-old will have an average salary of $7.25 million annually. The buyout with be $15 million through March 2027 and then $12 million through March 28.
His previous contract was supposed to run through March 2030 and was set to pay him $6.02 million next season. Nevertheless, this new deal makes him the fifth-highest paid college basketball coach in the country, according to USA Today. Only trailing Kansas' Bill Self ($8.85 million per year), UConn's Dan Hurley ($8 million), Arkansas' John Calipari ($7.75 million) and Michigan State's Tom Izzo ($7.2 million).
"Listen, I say this a lot - I am a high school coach that caught a couple breaks in life, and there's probably high school coaches better than me out there that just didn't get the breaks," Oats said before facing Michigan. "As a matter of fact, I know there's high school coaches better than me.
"When my salary goes up a half million dollars every year - you know how long it took me to make a half million dollars at Romulus [High School]? I got paid 4,700 a year to coach basketball for 11 years. So I'm not going to them asking them to redo - we redid the contract and I went to a Final Four. And we didn't redo it, because they got good faith in me and I got good faith in them."
Oats has acquired Alabama's most NCAA Tournament wins and victories over AP Top 25 opponents. Additionally, the Crimson Tide has had an AP All-American on its roster five times during his tenure. Alabama accomplished this just eight times before Oats' arrival.
And if those numbers don't convince you, here's a stat regarding Alabama's March Madness success since the NCAA Tournament increased to 64 teams in 1985:
Before Oats (35 years):
Alabama Reaches Sweet 16: six times
Alabama Reaches Elite Eight: one time
Alabama Reaches Final Four: zero times
With Oats (seven years):
Alabama Reaches Sweet 16: five times
Alabama Reaches Elite Eight: two times
Alabama Reaches Final Four: one time
In addition to Oats, Alabama assistant Preston Murphy received a two-year contract through the April 30, 2028. He'll be making $950,000 per year. This is his second extension in as many years, as he received one in March 2025 that was set to pay him $675,000 annually through April 2027.
"He's really the one managing the roster, putting it together for next year," Oats said before facing Duke in the 2025 Elite Eight. "I think he's the best recruiter in the country. Alabama is showing that they're going to put the resources into being an elite basketball program.
"We need to keep Preston around. He's highly sought after across the country and likes the Alabama family, likes it here. We wanted to make sure we kept him here, so that was big that we got that done. I've known him a long time. It's a pleasure for me to get the opportunity to actually work with him... I love working with him. I'm glad the school values him like I do, and it's good to have him around with us proving forward."
Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Twitter/X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Threads and Blue Sky for the latest news.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/alabama as Details for Nate Oats' Historic Contract Extension Revealed.
Copyright ABG-SI LLC. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. All Rights Reserved.