Longtime coaching friends Dusty May of Michigan and Nate Oats of Alabama to meet in Sweet 16
CHICAGO (AP) — Michigan coach Dusty May remembered when he was an assistant at Eastern Michigan watching 6 a. m. practices at Romulus High near Detroit.
At the time, Nate Oats was coaching boys' basketball and teaching physical education at the school. The two forged a friendship that's going strong 20 years later. From a high school gym to the Sweet 16, May and Oats will be on opposing sides when top-seeded Michigan (33-3) meets fourth-seeded Alabama (25-9) in the NCAA Tournament's Midwest Region semifinals on Friday.
“To get to where he is now, I don’t think you ever think that," May said. “You don’t ever anticipate them getting to this level where they’re (at the) top of the profession but you know they’re really, really good because so much has to happen. ” Oats has led Alabama to a 170-72 record and five trips to the Sweet 16 in seven seasons after a successful run at Buffalo.
The Crimson Tide are in the regional semifinals for the fourth year in a row. Oats has been mentioned as a potential candidate for the North Carolina job, though he insisted he has "absolutely no reason to leave” to leave Alabama. He led the Crimson Tide to the Final Four two years ago and got a new contract during that run.
He's now in talks with the school about another extension. Oats played at Division III Maranatha Baptist University in his hometown of Watertown, Wisconsin, and began his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater in the late 1990s. “On March 15, my salary went up $500,000,” Oats said.