Nate Oats
| Sport(s) | Basketball |
|---|---|
| Current position | |
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | Buffalo |
| Conference | MAC |
| Record | 24–18 |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | October 13, 1974 |
| Playing career | |
| 1993–1997 | Maranatha Baptist |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1997–2000 | Maranatha Baptist (asst.) |
| 2000–2002 | Wisconsin–Whitewater (asst.) |
| 2002–2013 | Romulus HS |
| 2013–2015 | Buffalo (asst.) |
| 2015–present | Buffalo |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 24–18 |
Nathanael "Nate" Oats (born October 13, 1974) is an American basketball coach. He is currently the head basketball coach at the State University of New York at Buffalo, following two seasons as an assistant coach under Bobby Hurley.[1][2] Oats was named head coach on April 11, 2015 after Hurley was hired by Arizona State as head coach. In only his first season as head coach, he took the Buffalo Bulls to their second straight NCAA Tournament bid after winning the Mid-American Conference Championship.
Education and playing career
Oats grew up in Watertown, Wisconsin where he was a three year starter on a high school basketball which went 24-0 in his senior year.[3] He stayed in Watertown after high school, playing college basketball at Division-III Maranatha Baptist University. He was an all-conference player and served as a captain of the Crusaders while earning a Bachelor’s degree in Math Education.[4] He subsequently received a Master of Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in kinesiology and exercise science.[5]
Coaching career
After finishing his playing career at Maranatha Baptist, Oats became a member of the team's coaching staff in 1997, where he remained until 2000. He then served as an assistant men's basketball coach for the Division-III University of Wisconsin–Whitewater. After the 2002 season, Oats left Wisconsin–Whitewater to become the head basketball coach and a teacher[5] at Romulus High School in Detroit.[4]
Over 11 years at Romulus, Oats accumulated a 222-52 record and reached the semifinals of the state tournament five times. In 2013, Oats led the team to a 27-1 record and a state Class A championship en route to winning multiple coach of the year honors from the local press. He won similar coaching awards in 2005, 2008 and 2009.[4] While recruiting Romulus guard E.C. Matthews on behalf of Rhode Island in 2013, Bobby Hurley was impressed by Oats' coaching.[6] Shortly thereafter, Hurley was named the head coach at Buffalo and hired Oats as an assistant on his staff.[7]
During his two-year tenure as an assistant, Buffalo had a 42-20 record, won their first Mid-American Conference Tournament and made their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance. As an assistant at Buffalo, Oats was credited with recruiting Justin Moss, who would go on to win the 2014-15 MAC Player of the year award.[4]
On April 9, 2015, the same day that Bobby Hurley announced that he would be leaving Buffalo to take the head coaching job at Arizona State, Oats was named the interim head coach at Buffalo.[8] On April 13, he was officially given the head coaching job. The Buffalo roster for his first season as a head coach featured two former Romulus players: Christian Pino and Raheem Johnson.[6]
In Oats' first season as head coach of Buffalo, he led the Bulls to a 3rd place tie in the Mid-American Conference standings. In the MAC Tournament, Buffalo defeated Miami University, Ohio, and then top-seeded Akron to claim the 2016 conference tournament championship.[9] This has been regarded as an impressive feat due to the offseason turnaround that Oats faced. 2015 MAC Player of the Year Justin Moss was dismissed from the University and second leading scorer Shannon Evans transferred to Arizona State to play for the then-departed Bobby Hurley.[10][11] On May 18, 2016, Buffalo Athletic Director Allen Greene announced that the school had agreed on a new five-year contract with Oats.[12]
Personal life
Oats and his wife Crystal have three daughters, Lexie, Jocie and Brielle.[4] In November 2015, Oats announced on his Facebook page that his wife had an aggressive form of lymphoma and would be undergoing chemotherapy. With his wife's encouragement, he confirmed that he would not be renouncing his coaching duties.[13]
Head coaching record
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo Bulls (Mid-American Conference) (2015–present) | |||||||||
| 2015–16 | Buffalo | 20–15 | 10–8 | T–3rd (East) | NCAA First Round | ||||
| 2016–17 | Buffalo | 4–3 | 0–0 | (East) | |||||
| Buffalo: | 24–18 (.585) | 10–8 (.556) | |||||||
| Total: | 24–18 (.585) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
References
- ↑ "Buffalo replaces Bobby Hurley with top assistant Nate Oats". ESPN.com. April 11, 2015. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
- ↑ Gaughan, Mark (April 13, 2015). "Oats pledges forward progress for UB basketball". The Buffalo News. Archived from the original on July 15, 2015. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
- ↑ Haynes, Quentin (November 13, 2015). "UB head coach Nate Oats is a student of the game". The Spectrum. University at Buffalo. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Nate Oats bio". Retrieved April 17, 2015.
- 1 2 "Nate Oats". LinkedIn. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
- 1 2 Goricki, David (April 16, 2015). "Ex-Romulus coach Oats realizes 'lifelong dream' with Buffalo job". Detroit News. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
- ↑ "UB hoops hires Oats as assistant". Buffalo News. June 19, 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
- ↑ "Nate Oats Named Interim Head Coach". UBBulls.com. University at Buffalo Athletics. April 9, 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
- ↑ "Buffalo wins second straight MAC title". espn.go.com. March 12, 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
- ↑ Riordan, Tim (2015-08-10). "Buffalo's Justin Moss expelled, pending appeal later this month". Retrieved 2016-07-15.
- ↑ Riordan, Tim (2015-04-24). "Now that's over: Shannon Evans has committed to Arizona State". Bull Run. Retrieved 2016-07-15.
- ↑ "Oats Signs New Five-Year Contract". University at Buffalo. 18 May 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
- ↑ "Wife of UB coach Nate Oats facing battle with lymphoma". Buffalo News. November 4, 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2015.