Louisville Basketball: 10 candidates to replace Chris Mack as head coach

Nate Oats

Let’s jump right into the vague metaphors with this one; Oats is someone who’s done incredible work in less than a decade as a D1 coach. If Louisville is looking for someone who’s won big at the power conference level, then he checks the box. If they’re looking for someone who knows how to recruit and who knows how to put his players in position to succeed, then look no further.

A decade ago, Oats was a high school coach in Michigan. He joined Bobby Hurley’s staff at Buffalo before succeeding him as head coach. He led the Bulls to a pair of NCAA Tournament first-round upsets before becoming head coach at Alabama in 2019. Last year’s Crimson Tide team won the SEC regular-season and conference tournaments and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. It took two seasons to change Alabama from a middling team to a champion; could he do that kind of transformation at Louisville, a team certainly middling in the SEC?

Would Oats leave Alabama after just three seasons? If the money is right, there’s nothing tying Oats to the Crimson Tide, as the ACC would give him a remarkable shot to make an impact in one of the best basketball conferences in the nation. What makes this even more impressive is that Oats has done all this at Alabama, where football absolutely comes first; imagine how he could thrive at a basketball school like Louisville, especially with the current down state of the ACC.