Nate Oats, Dan Hurley share jokes, mutual respect ahead of Final Four matchup

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Nate Oats wasn’t responsible for UConn’s plane issues on Wednesday, he joked, which kept the Huskies from arriving at the Final Four site until Thursday morning. 

“I didn’t send anybody over there to mess with the mechanics. I’m sure he’s conjured that up in his head already,” said Oats of UConn head coach Dan Hurley with a smile. 

That’s because Oats knows the Hurley family well having been introduced to Dan when he was a high school coach in Detroit and working under his brother Bobby Hurley at Buffalo.

Leading Alabama to the program’s first-ever Final Four berth has led to Oats participating in a lot of interviews, which have brought up the fact that he was at Romulus (Mich.) High School, where he taught math and coached basketball just 11 years ago. His rapid ascent has allowed the fifth-year Crimson Tide coach to reminisce on his journey to the Final Four.

He will coach No. 4-seed Alabama against Hurley and UConn, which are the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, have won 11 straight games and are looking to repeat at champs.

“It’s ironic that my first Final Four that I make, the first one Alabama makes, coaching against Danny Hurley, whose brother Bobby is the one that got me in this business,” Oats said. “If it wasn’t for Danny and Bobby, I wouldn’t be here. We’re playing each other in Bobby’s town down here in Phoenix. Kind of funny how it comes full circle.

“It would be nice if I wasn’t having to play against Danny’s team because it’s a pretty good team.”

Consider Hurley in the same boat. In his sixth year as the head coach at UConn, Hurley has been on record in the past as saying he would prefer not to play against his brother, who is at Arizona State, or any other coaches that he knows well, which Oats falls into that category.

But this weekend is different.

“I would say you would rather not play Bob or Nate or anyone that you’re close to maybe in the first round of the tournament, or maybe in an Elite Eight game,” Hurley said on Thursday.

“This one, I think I’m excited to compete against a friend in such a big spot. This is like the Final Four. I think it kind of changes it a little bit for me because we’ve both done something incredible with the season. Somebody that I really care about is going to play for a national championship – preferably me. I also care about Nate, too, to a much lesser degree.”

Oats and Hurley are two of three Final Four coaches who have spent part of their careers on a high school bench. The third is NC State’s Kevin Keatts. Hurley first met Oats when he was at Romulus, and not only Dan but the entire Hurley family was impressed by the math teacher.

“He was running a college program in high school, just like my dad,” Hurley said. “… That was the thing I noticed about Nate when we recruited E.C. (Matthews) was like this guy’s wired different, No. 1. Different level of energy about him. Just the way he shows up when you meet him. Then just the way he ran his program.

“I went and watched them the Florida State tournament game. One of the most detailed video scouts that you’ll see. In the back, they had spaghetti cooking on the stove. You could see he was a high-level guy that just happened to be coaching in (high school).”

There is a mutual respect between the two coaches who will square off Saturday night at State Farm Arena (7:49 p.m. CT on TBS). While they both had jokes in their time in the main interview room on Thursday, they’re looking forward to their teams’ semifinal matchup.

“I did get a good night’s sleep last night, so that’s nice,” Oats said. “I’m sure he’ll be fired up and ready to go Saturday. It will be fun. We’ll touch base after the game.”

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