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Bama News
The story behind Nate Oatsā tailored sport coats
Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats tells the story about his upgraded wardrobe.
There was a time when Nate Oats was a suit-and-tie coach, stalking the sidelines in suburban Detroit high schools after teaching math.
Less than a decade ago, they were different times.
āThose,ā he said, ādefinitely came off the rack.ā
And few were commenting on the fashion choices of the Romulus High School coach. Skip ahead in his timeline and, well, a lot has changed.
The Alabama coach who just agreed to a contract extension worth $3.225 annually is no longer in the 2-for-1 game at the local strip mall. The suits have transitioned into dress slacks with a sport coat and those jackets get a fair share of attention.
Now customed tailored, Oatsā sport coats come in a variety of colors -- mostly with a checkered pattern. Some, itās fair to say, are better liked than others.
āI remember when we played in Huntsville last year, this man walked out with an all-blue Buffalo suit,ā Alabama senior Britton Johnson said. āI was like āThis isnāt Alabama colorsā and we won by, I think, 17. So I was like, if itās rolling then we just have to keep it going.ā
Oats wore navy blue dress slacks with the sport coat featuring a blue pattern over his white shirt and blue tie. Alabama beat Belmont by a little more than Johnson remembered, 92-72, in Huntsvilleās Von Braun Center that December day.
Oats explained the whole color selection that caught the walk-onās eye.
āIāve got blue eyes,ā he said. āSometimes you have to match your own body type, right? The blue matched the blue eyes. It had nothing to do with ā¦ I try not to wear blue when weāre playing Kentucky, though. If I wear blue, itās when we play somebody else thatās got red in their uniform.ā
The jackets arenāt an every-game thing, either.
In a more business-casual, COVID-19 season, the Alabama coaching staff has gone with a solid black golf shirt at times. They stuck with the short-sleeved shirts throughout the 10-game winning streak, Oats said on his TV show in early February but dusted off a crimson sport coat for the Feb. 3 home game against LSU a few days after losing at Oklahoma.
When it is a jacket kind of game, the checked-pattern influence should be clear. Oats paid tribute to former Crimson Tide coach Wimp Sanderson in his first Tide Tipoff event before the 2019-20 season. Tide senior Tyler Barnes said they were āsorta taken abackā when Oats came out in the oversized crimson jacket for the season kickoff event. Itās more standard now.
Oats said he actually borrowed one of the coats worn by Sanderson during his tenure from 1980-92 for the 2019 midnight madness-style event.
āThatās why it was a little bigger,ā Oats said with a grin. āIt didnāt quite fit me. Heās a little bit bigger than I am. Then after that, I got a few myself.ā
To do that, Oats traveled to the Birmingham suburbs to visit Kripalani Tailors. The family business open since 1978 tailored all but one of the sport coats in Oatsā closet.
That includes the blue one thatās been an occasional lightning rod.
āI know weāre crimson down here but you canāt wear red every single day out,ā Oats said. āSometimes you have to mix it up a little bit. I kinda like the sport coats. Up at Buffalo, we had the suits. I donāt even know if I wore a sport coat up there so any blue sport coats I have are new since I got down here.ā
Oats went with the same crimson coat Saturday game with visiting Vanderbilt. Alabama won its 18th game that afternoon, 82-78 over the Commodores but Oats knew he wouldnāt win a hypothetical red carpet.
With Jerry Stackhouse and his three-piece suit on the other sideline, Oats knew he was outgunned.
Still, Alabamaās second-year head coach is a long way from ill-fitting suits from his days on the high school level. His clothing budget only figures to rise from here and his players appreciate the effort.
āIt brings energy and he likes to drip out in the suits,ā Barnes said, āso we like it.ā
