Nate Oates Lays Out His Vision for the Culture of Alabama Basketball.
A new chapter for Alabama men's basketball is underway as Nate Oats was introduced as the 21st head coach in program history.
Oats compiled a 96-34 record with three NCAA Tournament appearances including two wins in the tournament.
In front of the cameras and various dignitaries, Alabama director of athletics Greg Byrne introduced new Crimson Tide basketball coach Nate Oats.
After recalling the hiring process that led him to Tuscaloosa, Oats detailed a blue collar vision for the program involving demanding maximum effort from his players, continual improvement and selfless love.
The Crimson Tide's new head coach elaborated on how he wants to see maximum effort displayed in every facet of his team.
"We talk about max effort. That's everything. That's every workout, every weight room session, every practice. Our guys are going to give max effort. We're going to demand it out of them." Oats said.
Another part of the culture that he wants to instill in the program is continual improvement and getting players that embrace working hard.
"We're going to get better every day. We want to be better today than yesterday. We're going to get better. We're gong to get guys that want to get in the gym and work on their own. The NCAA only allows us so many hours with the guys. If that's all the hours they want to put in, we're never going to get to where we need to get. We're going to get a culture that they're in getting better every day." Oats said.
Oats provided one final characteristic as to the culture he wants to instill in the program.
"We talk about selfless love. We're going to teach our guys (young men) how to love each other, love this community, treat each other well." Oats said.
As part of that culture of dedication and hard work away from the court, Oats envisions those principles translating into his team's persona on the court especially on defense.
"We value blue collar play as the people of Alabama will. We think taking charges, diving on the floor for loose balls. We chart that stuff. We value it. We want deflections. We value guys that get into the ball and pressure. Our defense is going to be in your face. They're going to play hard." Oats said.
This past season, Buffalo averaged almost 85 points per game en route to a 31-3 campaign. While Alabama's new basketball coach stated his desire to go up and down the floor on offense, he believes the success on offense comes from how they play on the defensive end of the floor.
"We put some numbers up on the offense end, but it's all based on playing hard on the defensive end. That's what we built. We're going to establish it in practice every day, and that's how you get it." Oats said.
As far as implementing his culture, that tasks begins now.
"We're going to establish the culture from day one. We're going to get started on individual workouts next week, and we're going to hit the ground running." Oats said.