University at Buffalo men’s basketball head coach Bobby Hurley rounded out his coaching staff Tuesday afternoon, announcing the hiring of Nate Oats as an assistant coach. Oats comes to Buffalo from Romulus High School in Michigan, where he taught and coached one of the top high school basketball programs in the region.
Most recently, Oats completed his 11th season at Romulus, culminating in March when the school won its first state title in 27 years and finished the season 27-1. He was named the 2013 Detroit News State Coach of the Year, the Detroit Free Press State Coach of the Year, and BCAM State Coach of the Year.
Prior honors include 2009 Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan Class A Coach of they Year, the 2008 Detroit Free Press Metro Detroit Coach of the Year and the 2005 Detroit News Metro Detroit Coach of the Year and Detroit Free Press Metro West Coach of the Year
In his time as head coach, he led the team to a 222-52 overall record and seven straight conference championships while going undefeated in conference play in the past four consecutive seasons. The team was ranked in the top 25 nationally on three different occasions (2010, 2011, 2013) and made the Michigan Class A Final Four five times. More importantly, he oversaw a program that had a 100 percent graduation rate and 40 of his 42 seniors at Romulus continuing on to college.
"Nate is as well respected as any scholastic coach in the Midwest after what he has accomplished at Romulus," Hurley said. "He’s coached a number of Division I players, and Michigan is an important area for us in recruiting, so Nate’s tremendous contacts in the area will be an immediate impact for our program."
Before coaching at Romulus, he played college basketball and eventually became an assistant at Marantha College in Wisconsin from 1997 to 2000 while earning his bachelor’s degree in mathematics. As a player, he was a captain and All-Conference performer. After that, he moved on to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater from 2000-02.
Stay with HoopDirt for the latest college basketball coaching news and rumors.
