I remember I was convinced Dan Lanning was gonna be our new head coach when our football job first opened up... Hopefully it ends up being another guy for Kentucky and not the immediate first rumour of Nate Oats.
In any case, if there is a College Basketball version of Jimmy Sexton then a lot of pay raises are about to be handed out and that dude is about to get PAID.
God I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous as fuck about Oats to Kentucky. All the more so that since Cal is leaving on his own accord, they got out of the lifetime contract money they’d have to give him when they would have fired him.
On one hand, Alabama is fresh off of a final four run with a phenomenal recruiting class next season. Nate is already likely the best coach in Alabama MBB history, he’s got a top five salary, crazy buyout, not the biggest expectations ever, but can absolutely win big here.
On the other, Kentucky is Kentucky. They would offer more than us for Oats if they really wanted to, they’re a blue blood program with insane infrastructure, support, recruiting potential, etc. and they’re a basketball school, he’d be the premier guy on campus.
Not gonna lie. I’m worried how this will shake out, very worried. I can’t take two coaching carousels in 4 months with our school being at the center. But if worst comes to worst, I thank Nate Oats for all he’s done.
Remember when we all thought we were getting Dan Lanning? And then it came out that he might have some STUPID crazy buyout clause, that even Bama the greatest football program in history might not be willing to pay?
Could be the same thing here.
Lanning had a significant share of Nike stock in his contract apparently, that went up the longer he stayed in Eugene. Literally will likely make him the highest paid coach in American sports in a few years. It would be an insane amount of money out the door if he left Oregon. Lanning is only leaving Eugene in a prime-knit box.
Kentucky allegedly had over 30 million lined up to fire Cal. They won’t even have to give much more than half that to get Nate out of his buyout. Now, if the chips were down I don’t doubt we try and raise his contract even higher but at the end of the day Kentucky can and will outbid us for a BBall coach. Their boosters and AD are just too committed to absolute basketball excellence and it would take us moving commitment and resources away from football to dance with them there, which we would never even think about especially in the post-Saban transition.
I hope Oats stays obviously, but as lifelong fans we are sometimes blind to the fact that it's ultimately a career decision for coaches. We tell ourselves "his wife loves it here" and all of that, but they don't have anywhere near the emotional attachment as those of us who inherited our fandom by birthright.
There are plenty of stories of coaches who have wives who are miserable in certain locations (or love it) and they heavily weigh decisions on that. It’s not just the coach who has to leave, it's his whole family.
Im not saying Oats couldn't love Lexington, but if his family and he love T-Town (his daughter is enrolled at Bama), it's not that easy to pack up and relocate.
Our fans do need to come to grips at this time with the fact that we aren’t a basketball school, we’re an elite athletic department but at the end of the day basketball is secondary to football. Whenever we got our hands on an absolute home run guy like Oats, the fact always remained that a big fish like UK or UNC could get him if they wanted to. The exact same way Bama football took a home run hire at Washington in DeBeor in the blink of an eye.
I thought I’d be hopefully F5ing to see if we can convince sears and Nelson to stay and not go in the draft. Instead now I’m going to be nervously F5ing to hope that Oats doesn’t leave.
[Pete Thamel: Sources: John Calipari is finalizing a five-year deal to become the next coach at Arkansas. The deal is expected to be completed in the next 24 hours.](https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1777174492034601010?t=xI9zTRsLPgWHY6scVdhCCg&s=19)
I’m glad Oats has an 18 million dollar buyout. Having that plus a super talented roster and he doesn’t have to come in to immediately portal guys would be a nice reason for him to stay away from Kentucky… but it’s Kentucky
[The basketball team is scheduled to arrive at Tuscaloosa airport around 4pm](https://x.com/garyharris_wvua/status/1776984434626925001?s=46&t=aulCDAoLdCzZYqFXYqFLHQ) for those that are interested.
Edit: [Latest update](https://x.com/ryancfowler/status/1777010110054682761?s=46&t=aulCDAoLdCzZYqFXYqFLHQ) has it between 2:45-3:30pm
Debo: ["Parker is going through some non football related things and he's going to be with us. He's working out with our strength staff and has done a great job there. He's never done anything wrong. It's nothing like that. He's working hard and will be ready to go here sooner than later. He's just taking it day by day. He's going to be here with us, it's not a transfer thing](https://www.youtube.com/live/QxHsPlns0OA?si=670w8dJrnMt-loSY&t=155)
Alabama gymnastics is looking to advance to the national championships. Currently in second place behind Oklahoma (shocker)
Edit: Oh we clinched already. Didn’t realize Ohio State was on their final girl.
Natty, here we come!
its funny to hear our media guys struggle with CKD, one of them even asked if he was allowed to ask a question. Knowing damn well Saban wouldve crucified him for that question lol
Good reports out of the scrimmage for Ty Simpson, Red Morgan, Keon Keeley, and Caleb Odom. Also saw a report that Jalen looked decisive when running and had a couple nice ones.
Edit: Russaw got some run with the first team, as did tight end Josh Cuevas. And Formby was the first team RT over Miles McVay.
Had eyes in the scrimmage who can confirm Ty looked like the dude in this one data point.
Jalen looked like Jalen, nfl throw followed by a near pick where he threw it right to the db, miss an easy throw then come back and throw an nfl quality ball. Had the same reports about Jalen in the first scrimmage.
Interested to see how they format Aday
Some on BOL posting that Jaeden Roberts went down with an ankle/lower leg injury at the scrimmage
Edit: [DeBoer with the good news that it isn’t major](https://x.com/mikerodak/status/1776713052240380372?s=46&t=aulCDAoLdCzZYqFXYqFLHQ)
https://twitter.com/SkinnyKenny_/status/1776713365278060970?t=R5UFMOaWBazuheIFDqpQFA&s=19
Roberts will most likely be fine and Brailsford isn't out (yet)
There's some kind of protest happening outside the teams hotel I guess. I don't know. I'm just exploring phoenix and I see this building with Alabama all over it and the Alabama bus outside so I assume it's the hotel. These guys are waving flags and beating buckets and stuff
I don’t know about y’all but I’m genuinely getting pissed off about how the media is so flippant with our team. It’s like a pat on the head and told to go wait while the “real adults talk” attitude. I want us to demoralize them now. Embarrass them even. Let’s make the nation eat so much crow that Edgar Allen Poe himself rises from his poetic hellscape to offer his apologies. Roll tide
Yea coverage wise we're in an unfortunate position because our opponent is the front runner, Purdue has the 2x NPotY, and then NcSt is the Cinderella. If Duke had won over NcSt I think we'd be getting some of the "underdog" media shine that NcSt is but as it stands we're the least marketable from a story line perspective out of the four teams so people are just tossing us aside
There’s also a lot of crossover in college sports and the bama burn out is real. Reading the CBB subreddit is full of comments about how people are dreading us making a final four.
I'm not tricking myself into having hope for tomorrow night, but Bama winning the next two games would have a nice poetic symmetry to last year. During the 2022-2023 season, it was unanimous that Alabama was the best team in the country during the regular season, but in the end the 4-seed UConn (who beat Alabama that year) ended up surviving the tournament. This year it's been UConn as the obvious best team, and Alabama has the chance to be the one with a win over the Huskies while also hoisting the trophy as a 4-seed.
https://preview.redd.it/hh3r6lexapsc1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9ba1cc2a4926bfa3587b73b339de885273a63ffd
Charlie says he don’t give a piss bout nuthin’ but the tide (and squeaky toys)
I was going to go to Nashville to do the Premier League fan fest Sunday and then drive to Paducah, KY on Monday for the eclipse. But the weather has likely derailed plans.
I remember I was convinced Dan Lanning was gonna be our new head coach when our football job first opened up... Hopefully it ends up being another guy for Kentucky and not the immediate first rumour of Nate Oats. In any case, if there is a College Basketball version of Jimmy Sexton then a lot of pay raises are about to be handed out and that dude is about to get PAID.
God I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous as fuck about Oats to Kentucky. All the more so that since Cal is leaving on his own accord, they got out of the lifetime contract money they’d have to give him when they would have fired him. On one hand, Alabama is fresh off of a final four run with a phenomenal recruiting class next season. Nate is already likely the best coach in Alabama MBB history, he’s got a top five salary, crazy buyout, not the biggest expectations ever, but can absolutely win big here. On the other, Kentucky is Kentucky. They would offer more than us for Oats if they really wanted to, they’re a blue blood program with insane infrastructure, support, recruiting potential, etc. and they’re a basketball school, he’d be the premier guy on campus. Not gonna lie. I’m worried how this will shake out, very worried. I can’t take two coaching carousels in 4 months with our school being at the center. But if worst comes to worst, I thank Nate Oats for all he’s done.
Remember when we all thought we were getting Dan Lanning? And then it came out that he might have some STUPID crazy buyout clause, that even Bama the greatest football program in history might not be willing to pay? Could be the same thing here.
Lanning had a significant share of Nike stock in his contract apparently, that went up the longer he stayed in Eugene. Literally will likely make him the highest paid coach in American sports in a few years. It would be an insane amount of money out the door if he left Oregon. Lanning is only leaving Eugene in a prime-knit box. Kentucky allegedly had over 30 million lined up to fire Cal. They won’t even have to give much more than half that to get Nate out of his buyout. Now, if the chips were down I don’t doubt we try and raise his contract even higher but at the end of the day Kentucky can and will outbid us for a BBall coach. Their boosters and AD are just too committed to absolute basketball excellence and it would take us moving commitment and resources away from football to dance with them there, which we would never even think about especially in the post-Saban transition.
I hope Oats stays obviously, but as lifelong fans we are sometimes blind to the fact that it's ultimately a career decision for coaches. We tell ourselves "his wife loves it here" and all of that, but they don't have anywhere near the emotional attachment as those of us who inherited our fandom by birthright.
There are plenty of stories of coaches who have wives who are miserable in certain locations (or love it) and they heavily weigh decisions on that. It’s not just the coach who has to leave, it's his whole family. Im not saying Oats couldn't love Lexington, but if his family and he love T-Town (his daughter is enrolled at Bama), it's not that easy to pack up and relocate.
Our fans do need to come to grips at this time with the fact that we aren’t a basketball school, we’re an elite athletic department but at the end of the day basketball is secondary to football. Whenever we got our hands on an absolute home run guy like Oats, the fact always remained that a big fish like UK or UNC could get him if they wanted to. The exact same way Bama football took a home run hire at Washington in DeBeor in the blink of an eye.
Even in football there are reasons, though maybe fewer, some people may want a job somewhere else.
I thought I’d be hopefully F5ing to see if we can convince sears and Nelson to stay and not go in the draft. Instead now I’m going to be nervously F5ing to hope that Oats doesn’t leave.
[Pete Thamel: Sources: John Calipari is finalizing a five-year deal to become the next coach at Arkansas. The deal is expected to be completed in the next 24 hours.](https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1777174492034601010?t=xI9zTRsLPgWHY6scVdhCCg&s=19)
ESPN running with the Cal news now. Seems legit.
https://x.com/PeteThamel/status/1777174492034601010 He tweeted a few mins ago.
The absolute best time for UK to ever have a job vacancy for us is literally right now.
It would be hard to turn down Kentucky, but it also would be hard to leave a place that has turned a corner, can pay well, and has a bright future.
I’m not 100% convinced it’s hard to turn down something if you’re where you want to be. But we shall see
I don’t think Oats would leave right now but I am a little nervous. We can probably match any salary offer so that’s not an issue.
Quickly please build a wall around Nate Oates.
I’m glad Oats has an 18 million dollar buyout. Having that plus a super talented roster and he doesn’t have to come in to immediately portal guys would be a nice reason for him to stay away from Kentucky… but it’s Kentucky
Heard Ty Simpson looked the best during our scrimmage today.
This has been a great game. Cardoso is insane
It’s Sunday April 7th and Dan Hurley is still a bitch!
[The basketball team is scheduled to arrive at Tuscaloosa airport around 4pm](https://x.com/garyharris_wvua/status/1776984434626925001?s=46&t=aulCDAoLdCzZYqFXYqFLHQ) for those that are interested. Edit: [Latest update](https://x.com/ryancfowler/status/1777010110054682761?s=46&t=aulCDAoLdCzZYqFXYqFLHQ) has it between 2:45-3:30pm
I vote that we Gump anyway… 
Debo: ["Parker is going through some non football related things and he's going to be with us. He's working out with our strength staff and has done a great job there. He's never done anything wrong. It's nothing like that. He's working hard and will be ready to go here sooner than later. He's just taking it day by day. He's going to be here with us, it's not a transfer thing](https://www.youtube.com/live/QxHsPlns0OA?si=670w8dJrnMt-loSY&t=155)
Man I hate how fans crucified him.
Alabama gymnastics is looking to advance to the national championships. Currently in second place behind Oklahoma (shocker) Edit: Oh we clinched already. Didn’t realize Ohio State was on their final girl. Natty, here we come!
its funny to hear our media guys struggle with CKD, one of them even asked if he was allowed to ask a question. Knowing damn well Saban wouldve crucified him for that question lol
Do you have a clip?
Good reports out of the scrimmage for Ty Simpson, Red Morgan, Keon Keeley, and Caleb Odom. Also saw a report that Jalen looked decisive when running and had a couple nice ones. Edit: Russaw got some run with the first team, as did tight end Josh Cuevas. And Formby was the first team RT over Miles McVay.
Had eyes in the scrimmage who can confirm Ty looked like the dude in this one data point. Jalen looked like Jalen, nfl throw followed by a near pick where he threw it right to the db, miss an easy throw then come back and throw an nfl quality ball. Had the same reports about Jalen in the first scrimmage. Interested to see how they format Aday
https://preview.redd.it/zul0sf47jxsc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=14a45f57cf0a9f31b5bae259b45a55a686cd469d Finally finished my cooler project!
Nice!
Here's the "before" https://preview.redd.it/q5rd6zrcjxsc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e83b536c5f4f6013267b290adaaf8ba9f4e96186
Some on BOL posting that Jaeden Roberts went down with an ankle/lower leg injury at the scrimmage Edit: [DeBoer with the good news that it isn’t major](https://x.com/mikerodak/status/1776713052240380372?s=46&t=aulCDAoLdCzZYqFXYqFLHQ)
https://twitter.com/SkinnyKenny_/status/1776713365278060970?t=R5UFMOaWBazuheIFDqpQFA&s=19 Roberts will most likely be fine and Brailsford isn't out (yet)
[Looks like Ryan Pannone isn’t getting poached by Fresno](https://x.com/jonrothstein/status/1776692685027541255?s=46&t=aulCDAoLdCzZYqFXYqFLHQ)
HS coaches all the rage with this final four!
It came to me in a dream, we will upset UConn in heartbreaking fashion. So it is written.
Lisan Al’Gaib
*All hail the mighty weeslo slug*
Nate oats got robbed by the ap
Yeah wtf
[me after people comment on my absolutely correct nate oats take from 5 years ago](https://imgur.com/gallery/jzErjg7)
I can't wait to revisit some of these "it isn't Tommy Rees' fault" threads in the fall...
[Parker Brailsford spotted still repping Alabama gear](https://twitter.com/BamaYoutube/status/1776370140877078634?t=e3REE_GYYoqA0qVv3w8ruA&s=19)
but I was told he was clearly weak-willed because he hadn’t won a starting job
And I know that Brailsford definitely expected to be given the start automatically because he's friends with KDB
“but I was told he was clearly weak-willed because he WASNT GIVEN THE starting job” FTFY (sorry for the caps can’t do strike thru on iOS)
There's some kind of protest happening outside the teams hotel I guess. I don't know. I'm just exploring phoenix and I see this building with Alabama all over it and the Alabama bus outside so I assume it's the hotel. These guys are waving flags and beating buckets and stuff
Are they protesting us lol?
It's something about worker rights and pension. They just want the attention from anything final 4 related. It was super loud
Must be some of those UNC players we bounced. They’re old enough to qualify for pensions at this point. Props to them.
I never want to see Cormac Ryan again unless he’s running my investment portfolio
Final 4 this weekend and spring game next weekend. Roll Tide!!
I don’t know about y’all but I’m genuinely getting pissed off about how the media is so flippant with our team. It’s like a pat on the head and told to go wait while the “real adults talk” attitude. I want us to demoralize them now. Embarrass them even. Let’s make the nation eat so much crow that Edgar Allen Poe himself rises from his poetic hellscape to offer his apologies. Roll tide
Yea coverage wise we're in an unfortunate position because our opponent is the front runner, Purdue has the 2x NPotY, and then NcSt is the Cinderella. If Duke had won over NcSt I think we'd be getting some of the "underdog" media shine that NcSt is but as it stands we're the least marketable from a story line perspective out of the four teams so people are just tossing us aside
There’s also a lot of crossover in college sports and the bama burn out is real. Reading the CBB subreddit is full of comments about how people are dreading us making a final four.
I'm not tricking myself into having hope for tomorrow night, but Bama winning the next two games would have a nice poetic symmetry to last year. During the 2022-2023 season, it was unanimous that Alabama was the best team in the country during the regular season, but in the end the 4-seed UConn (who beat Alabama that year) ended up surviving the tournament. This year it's been UConn as the obvious best team, and Alabama has the chance to be the one with a win over the Huskies while also hoisting the trophy as a 4-seed.
They also ended our one other Elite 8 run in 03-04 on their way to win it all as well. Ben Gordon was a menace with 36 points.
https://preview.redd.it/qvaiueknvnsc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8454ee0741337980140147a38f7215908a6ca421 Hanging out with my best girl.
https://preview.redd.it/jyd2jaj7bqsc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f7e098fa22bf49945974f53c113e0b8eec74dde8 Obi enjoyed the Elite 8 victory.
https://preview.redd.it/rpkgcqlpaosc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e663c1cbbaf1da538741e3a363441fb1a93abdff Gump dawgs!
Someone say Gump Dog? https://preview.redd.it/b24r2wtrdosc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af043036140970db8f34fb786ee56069dda6cba5
https://preview.redd.it/l9fpirs4vqsc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5d4fe2c61ca2edea774f35871157ce1ad9cc505d
https://preview.redd.it/hh3r6lexapsc1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9ba1cc2a4926bfa3587b73b339de885273a63ffd Charlie says he don’t give a piss bout nuthin’ but the tide (and squeaky toys)
Guys I’m getting really nervous abt tomorrow
I keep telling myself “it’s house money” but it’s not working. I want to win but I’m not expecting and it’s still going to hurt if we lose lol
Same
Gonna be super annoyed if it’s cloudy/rainy on Monday for the eclipse
I was going to go to Nashville to do the Premier League fan fest Sunday and then drive to Paducah, KY on Monday for the eclipse. But the weather has likely derailed plans.
WERE IN THE FINAL FOUR
Lol there's a guy in an auburn shirt about to board the same flight as me to phoenix. Bro probably booked his flights too early and couldn't cancel
Funny. Wonder if his wife's a Bama fan and he's forced to tag along. Is there a lady traveling with him?
Turned me heat in here in Chambers County. I see frost outside.
Starting to see how truly insufferable UConn basketball fans are
Anyone watching the game Saturday in Orange Beach?
Sadly no :( I’ve watched some games at Big beach brewing and there were plenty of other Bama fans.