NCAA Basketball rewind: Most impactful coaching hires after 2015 season

By Joey Loose | Jul 2, 2021

DENVER, CO - MARCH 17: Chris Beard, head coach of Arkansas Little Rock Trojans reacts during the game against the Purdue Boilermakers during the first round of the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at the Pepsi Center on March 17, 2016 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images) /

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NCAA Basketball Nate Oats Buffalo Bulls (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /

2. Nate Oats (Buffalo)

2015 was a great year for Buffalo. Led by coach Bobby Hurley, the Bulls made the first NCAA Tournament in program history. They had been a solid program in the MAC for several years, but Hurley had helped put the program over the top. After that, he departed for Arizona State. With Buffalo suddenly needing a new head coach, they didn’t have far to look.

Nate Oats had been part of Hurley’s staff that had helped lead this program to the Promised Land. He didn’t have a ton of experience beforehand, spending only these last two seasons at the D1 level. Oats had been a high school coach in Michigan for eleven years and had yet to be a collegiate head coach.

Suffice to say, he was the right man to carry the success for this Buffalo program. He led the Bulls to three more NCAA Tournament appearances, winning 96 games in just four seasons at the helm. His final two teams each won opening round Tourney games, blitzing 4-seed Arizona in 2018 and knocking off Hurley and Arizona State the following year. Success followed Oats as he took over at Alabama; meanwhile, the Bulls are still looking to replicate that insane stretch of success.

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