By Joseph Goodman | jgoodman@al.com
Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats was hired on a Wednesday.
Four days later, the coach that he absolutely has to out recruit, and the program he, without question, must beat consistently became the first men’s basketball team in Alabama state history to advance to the Final Four.
And if that weren’t enough pressure on Oats to do everything in his power to win, then there’s this. Over the past two years, Auburn coach Bruce Pearl has had two assistant coaches linked to separate federal investigations into the rampant and institutionalized corruption of college basketball. And what did Pearl get?
Suspension? Slap on the wrist? Stern talking to?
No, Pearl just got a five-year contract extension last week making him one of the top 10 paid coaches in the sport. Is he worth it? Yes. He has made Auburn basketball relevant again, which few thought possible before he arrived under a show cause.
Whether you think Pearl is a safe investment is beside the point here. Auburn does, and so Oats has some catching up to do. And a few things to learn.
The SEC’s motto is, “It just means more.” Ice-T said it better: “Don’t hate the player. Hate the game.”
Auburn’s win-at-all costs persona, it seems, has titled the scales of ethics in the SEC. Apparently, the league is now going to let everything slide.
This week down in the bayou, LSU made the decision to reinstate basketball coach Will Wade despite Wade reportedly being caught on tape by the FBI talking about a “strong-ass offer” for a recruit. If this is the new reality of the SEC, then best of luck to the NCAA compliance officials at each member institution.
Why even show up to work? Just collect a paycheck, and play golf every day.
Oats walked away from a brand new contract extension at Buffalo for this? Nate, are you mad, or just plain crazy?
Seriously, though, you have to be a little nuts to leave a good basketball job in New York and move to SEC country during its new age of cut-throat coaching.
After underperforming for years, the SEC is a bona fide powerhouse of a basketball conference heading into this offseason. All that football television money is finally paying off. Over the last two years, the SEC has received 15 invitations to the NCAA Tournament. Only the ACC has more (16).
And the level of competition in the league is only exceeded by the expectations. Of the seven schools that didn’t make the NCAA Tournament in March, four of them fired their coaches. In addition to Oats, Buzz Williams left Virginia Tech to return to Texas A&M, Eric Musselman left Nevada to replace Mike Anderson at Arkansas and Jerry Stackhouse is at Vanderbilt.
Yes, that Jerry Stackhouse … from North Carolina and the NBA.
Look at the lineup of coaches the new guys have to compete against.
Up in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee’s Rick Barnes was this year’s USBWA National Coach of the Year. After flirting with UCLA, Barnes is instead returning to Knoxville for next season.
Speaking of UCLA, Ben Howland of Mississippi State took the Bruins to three Final Fours during his time in Westwood. He’s now making steady progress season after season in Starkville.
Kermit Davis of Ole Miss was this year’s SEC coach of the year. The guy at Georgia, Tom Crean, has been named coach of the year in Conference USA and the Big Ten. Florida coach Mike White has been to three NCAA tournaments in his first four years. Frank Martin at South Carolina took the Gamecocks to the Final Four in 2017.
Oh, and that school up in the Bluegrass State is still in the SEC. Kentucky just gave John Calipari a lifetime contract extension.
It’s not just the incredible collection of coaches in the league that is starting to infuriate other conferences, though. The SEC is apparently playing by a different set of rules. LSU was expected to make a coaching change after suspending Wade for refusing to answer questions about the “strong-ass offer” bombshell by Yahoo!Sports. Wade finally decided to talk, and now, after all that, he’s back on the Tigers’ bench.
Smoking guns don’t even get you fired in the SEC anymore.
Keeping Wade after allegedly being caught on tape by the FBI is an unprecedented level of audacity even for a school in the SEC. LSU director of athletics Joe Alleva must feel pretty confident that Wade is going to beat the rap. Otherwise, they could both be looking for jobs in the future.
For now, Wade’s reinstatement at LSU is already having an effect on Oats and Alabama. The Bayou Tigers are back on the short list for Mountain Brook recruit Trendon Watford. Watford’s official Top 5 as of Tuesday: Alabama, Indiana, LSU, Duke and Memphis.
Watford is a multiple winner of Alabama’s Mr. Basketball award, and he’s rated as one of the Top 25 players in the country. He’s actually better than that, though, because he’s a team-first player with first-round ability.
A player like that, in years past, would be a lock for Duke. It’s a changing world out there for college basketball, though, and the SEC schools are going to do whatever it takes to dominate it.
Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats was hired on a Wednesday.
Four days later, the coach that he absolutely has to out recruit, and the program he, without question, must beat consistently became the first men’s basketball team in Alabama state history to advance to the Final Four.
And if that weren’t enough pressure on Oats to do everything in his power to win, then there’s this. Over the past two years, Auburn coach Bruce Pearl has had two assistant coaches linked to separate federal investigations into the rampant and institutionalized corruption of college basketball. And what did Pearl get?
Suspension? Slap on the wrist? Stern talking to?
No, Pearl just got a five-year contract extension last week making him one of the top 10 paid coaches in the sport. Is he worth it? Yes. He has made Auburn basketball relevant again, which few thought possible before he arrived under a show cause.
Whether you think Pearl is a safe investment is beside the point here. Auburn does, and so Oats has some catching up to do. And a few things to learn.
The SEC’s motto is, “It just means more.” Ice-T said it better: “Don’t hate the player. Hate the game.”
Auburn’s win-at-all costs persona, it seems, has titled the scales of ethics in the SEC. Apparently, the league is now going to let everything slide.
This week down in the bayou, LSU made the decision to reinstate basketball coach Will Wade despite Wade reportedly being caught on tape by the FBI talking about a “strong-ass offer” for a recruit. If this is the new reality of the SEC, then best of luck to the NCAA compliance officials at each member institution.
Why even show up to work? Just collect a paycheck, and play golf every day.
Oats walked away from a brand new contract extension at Buffalo for this? Nate, are you mad, or just plain crazy?
Seriously, though, you have to be a little nuts to leave a good basketball job in New York and move to SEC country during its new age of cut-throat coaching.
After underperforming for years, the SEC is a bona fide powerhouse of a basketball conference heading into this offseason. All that football television money is finally paying off. Over the last two years, the SEC has received 15 invitations to the NCAA Tournament. Only the ACC has more (16).
And the level of competition in the league is only exceeded by the expectations. Of the seven schools that didn’t make the NCAA Tournament in March, four of them fired their coaches. In addition to Oats, Buzz Williams left Virginia Tech to return to Texas A&M, Eric Musselman left Nevada to replace Mike Anderson at Arkansas and Jerry Stackhouse is at Vanderbilt.
Yes, that Jerry Stackhouse … from North Carolina and the NBA.
Look at the lineup of coaches the new guys have to compete against.
Up in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee’s Rick Barnes was this year’s USBWA National Coach of the Year. After flirting with UCLA, Barnes is instead returning to Knoxville for next season.
Speaking of UCLA, Ben Howland of Mississippi State took the Bruins to three Final Fours during his time in Westwood. He’s now making steady progress season after season in Starkville.
Kermit Davis of Ole Miss was this year’s SEC coach of the year. The guy at Georgia, Tom Crean, has been named coach of the year in Conference USA and the Big Ten. Florida coach Mike White has been to three NCAA tournaments in his first four years. Frank Martin at South Carolina took the Gamecocks to the Final Four in 2017.
Oh, and that school up in the Bluegrass State is still in the SEC. Kentucky just gave John Calipari a lifetime contract extension.
It’s not just the incredible collection of coaches in the league that is starting to infuriate other conferences, though. The SEC is apparently playing by a different set of rules. LSU was expected to make a coaching change after suspending Wade for refusing to answer questions about the “strong-ass offer” bombshell by Yahoo!Sports. Wade finally decided to talk, and now, after all that, he’s back on the Tigers’ bench.
Smoking guns don’t even get you fired in the SEC anymore.
Keeping Wade after allegedly being caught on tape by the FBI is an unprecedented level of audacity even for a school in the SEC. LSU director of athletics Joe Alleva must feel pretty confident that Wade is going to beat the rap. Otherwise, they could both be looking for jobs in the future.
For now, Wade’s reinstatement at LSU is already having an effect on Oats and Alabama. The Bayou Tigers are back on the short list for Mountain Brook recruit Trendon Watford. Watford’s official Top 5 as of Tuesday: Alabama, Indiana, LSU, Duke and Memphis.
Watford is a multiple winner of Alabama’s Mr. Basketball award, and he’s rated as one of the Top 25 players in the country. He’s actually better than that, though, because he’s a team-first player with first-round ability.
A player like that, in years past, would be a lock for Duke. It’s a changing world out there for college basketball, though, and the SEC schools are going to do whatever it takes to dominate it.
