Nate Oats named possibility to replace Kenny Payne at Louisville

Kenny Payne is still the head coach at Louisville at the moment, but most expect a change to come at the conclusion of the 2023-24 season.

The Cardinals are coming off of a 4-28 (2-18) season and are currently 7-15 (2-9) with about a month left in this season.

There is already plenty of speculation about who will take over for Kenny Payne. Gary Parrish was recently asked if Alabama coach Nate Oats in particular is a possibility. Parrish believes that he is.

“If I were running the Louisville search, and I know technically they still have a coach, but they won’t next month. They’ll need to hire somebody. Nate Oats is 100 percent somebody I’d take a look at,” Parrish said on The Next Round.

Nate Oats is in his fifth season at Alabama, and all he has done with the Crimson Tide is win. Alabama made the Sweet 16 two of the past three seasons and is currently No. 5 in the NET.

Parrish believes Oats would do well at Louisville.

“He’s obviously turned Alabama into a monster. He understands modern basketball and where shots should be taken and where shots should not be taken,” Parrish said.

He added that should Louisville reach out to Oats, he believes Oats would listen.

The Cardinals have struggled mightily under Payne, but Louisville is without a doubt still a very good job.

“Louisville’s one of the 10 best jobs in America. Keep in mind, they hired Chris Mack from Xavier. This just speaks to how good of a job coaches, people in the industry, perceive Louisville to be,” Parrish said. “Chris Mack was coaching at his alma mater at Xavier, and coming off of a season where they were a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. … And even he could not turn down the Louisville job.

“So if you’ll leave Xavier for Louisville, then there’s probably only five or six jobs you would say, ‘I can’t leave this place for that place.’ And respectfully, I’m not sure Alabama is on that list.”

There are sure to be plenty of high-profile coaches involved in the Louisville search. It’s a job that will be attractive from the day it becomes open.

Parrish believes Nate Oats should be near the top of Louisville’s list.

“I don’t know who’s going to be the next coach at Louisville. There’s a lot of really accomplished guys trying to get involved there. I wouldn’t be surprised if you eventually hear names like Sean Miller and Eric Musselman,” Parrish said. “But absolutely, if I were Louisville, Nate Oats would be on my very short list of potential candidates.”