Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats publicly apologized to Mike Krzyzewski on Saturday night after criticizing the Duke coach during a Thursday Zoom call.
Oats drew national attention earlier this week when he questioned whether or not Krzyzewski would have called for a pause in college basketball if he hadn’t lost two non-conference games. Following Alabama’s 64-56 loss to Clemson on Saturday, the Tide coach made sure to clear the air before taking questions from reporters.
“I kind of want to publicly apologize to Coach K for what I said,” Oats said. “I assigned a motive to him and a decision made for his team, which I shouldn’t have done. I actually felt terrible about it as soon I got out of the press conference.
I reached out to him. He was gracious enough to return my call. We had a good talk on the phone. I got the utmost respect for him as a coach. He’s done unbelievable.”
Oats went on to state that Krzyzewski was gracious to his family when his Buffalo team went down to Durham, N.C. in 2015. He also said the Duke coach was instrumental toward getting him to where he is today before reiterating his regret in his previous statements.
“It was unnecessary, it was wrong, and I apologized to him,” Oats said. “I understand a lot more now where he was coming from. And what’s bet for one program is not necessarily what’s best for another program. So I learned a few lessons from it.”
Duke canceled the remainder of its non-conference schedule on Thursday due to “an abundance of caution due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to allow the Blue Devils’ student-athletes time over the holidays to spend with their families.” On top of his apology Saturday, Oats also made sure to note that he didn’t mean to belittle any concern over the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I definitely wasn’t trying to say COVID’s not serious either,” Oats said. “Some people may have taken that. I know the number aren’t great right now. We need to take all the precautions that we can.”
While Oats said he regrets speaking about another coach’s program, his beliefs that college basketball games should still be played remains. The Alabama coach said his players are tested three to four times a week and stated that he feels they are safer in the program than anywhere else.
“I will stand by our point that I think what’s best for our program is guys want to play,” Oats said. “We should be playing. It’s the best thing for them. Basketball’s a big part of their life. It’s great for mental and a physical standpoint both to be honest with you. I’m 100 percent confident saying that I think our team is the safest here with our medical people and not elsewhere.”
Alabama (3-2) will host Furman (5-1) on Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT in Coleman Coliseum.
Oats drew national attention earlier this week when he questioned whether or not Krzyzewski would have called for a pause in college basketball if he hadn’t lost two non-conference games. Following Alabama’s 64-56 loss to Clemson on Saturday, the Tide coach made sure to clear the air before taking questions from reporters.
“I kind of want to publicly apologize to Coach K for what I said,” Oats said. “I assigned a motive to him and a decision made for his team, which I shouldn’t have done. I actually felt terrible about it as soon I got out of the press conference.
I reached out to him. He was gracious enough to return my call. We had a good talk on the phone. I got the utmost respect for him as a coach. He’s done unbelievable.”
Oats went on to state that Krzyzewski was gracious to his family when his Buffalo team went down to Durham, N.C. in 2015. He also said the Duke coach was instrumental toward getting him to where he is today before reiterating his regret in his previous statements.
“It was unnecessary, it was wrong, and I apologized to him,” Oats said. “I understand a lot more now where he was coming from. And what’s bet for one program is not necessarily what’s best for another program. So I learned a few lessons from it.”
Duke canceled the remainder of its non-conference schedule on Thursday due to “an abundance of caution due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to allow the Blue Devils’ student-athletes time over the holidays to spend with their families.” On top of his apology Saturday, Oats also made sure to note that he didn’t mean to belittle any concern over the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I definitely wasn’t trying to say COVID’s not serious either,” Oats said. “Some people may have taken that. I know the number aren’t great right now. We need to take all the precautions that we can.”
While Oats said he regrets speaking about another coach’s program, his beliefs that college basketball games should still be played remains. The Alabama coach said his players are tested three to four times a week and stated that he feels they are safer in the program than anywhere else.
“I will stand by our point that I think what’s best for our program is guys want to play,” Oats said. “We should be playing. It’s the best thing for them. Basketball’s a big part of their life. It’s great for mental and a physical standpoint both to be honest with you. I’m 100 percent confident saying that I think our team is the safest here with our medical people and not elsewhere.”
Alabama (3-2) will host Furman (5-1) on Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT in Coleman Coliseum.
