The University of Alabama has agreed to a contract extension with head men’s basketball coach Nate Oats, just days after Oats’ wild revelation that he is engaged to a former staffer.
“Nate Oats has signed a new contract that will make him one of the top five compensated men’s basketball coaches in the country,” athletics director Greg Byrne said in a statement released Sunday, April 5. “Appropriate members of The Board of Trustees have been notified of the proposed terms of the new agreement and it will soon be formally approved through the Board process.”
CBS Sports reports that the deal will keep Oats, 51, in Tuscaloosa through the 2031-32 season. Financial terms have not been released but his previous deal would have paid him $6.02 million for 2026-27.
Oats’ contract extension comes after the head coach appeared on Sirius XM’s college sports channel, where he revealed that he and his wife of 26 years, Crystal, quietly divorced in 2023 and that he is now engaged to Alex Accetta, Alabama’s former director of basketball operations.
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“Me and Alex — my fiancée now, she was my girlfriend at the time — we were at a Knicks playoff game, and I’m sitting there at [Madison Square] Garden,” he said during the Friday, April 3 appearance. “I’m like, ‘Hold on.’ I’m a high school coach and I got an opportunity to coach in here, and I’m gonna say no?”
Acceta, 30, began working in the Crimson Tide athletic department while she was a student at Alabama, staying on after graduation to join the men’s basketball staff during coach Avery Johnson’s tenure. She stayed on when Oats was hired in 2020, leaving for a job with the Dallas Mavericks in 2022, according to her LinkedIn page.
The contract extension also comes while Oats was seen as a candidate for the same position at the University of North Carolina. (The Tar Heels are reportedly set to hire former Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone instead.)
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“A lot of respect to the other programs that may open, and they’ve got great basketball tradition,” Oats said about the rumors, according to 247Sports. “As a young high school [coach], shoot, I didn’t think I’d be in this spot to be honest with you, not that long ago.”
He continued, “If you’ve gotten to know me, I’m not a guy that’s trying to always jump around — like the grass is not always greener. I love Alabama. My girls love Alabama. They’re here with me. I love working with the administration that I work with. I think Greg Byrne is the best AD in the country. I love working with him. Great if I was able to work with him the rest of my career. They’re doing everything they can to make sure we’ve got a competitive program.”
Nate and Crystal share daughters Lexie, 22, Jocelyn, 16, and Brielle, 13.
