Nate Oats Has to Tell Daughter ‘Ignore the Idiots’ on Social Media

Crimson Tide coach has sit-down talk with 15-year-old daughter after weekend tweet

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It was a teaching moment for Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats, only this time it came at home with one of his kids. 

Oats has three daughters, the oldest of which is 15. Apparently Lexi was traveling with her volleyball team when she saw some of the comments about Alabama and her family following the disappointing 69-50 loss at Missouri. 

She took exception and responded on Twitter. 

"Nobody's happy with the results of the last two games," Oats said. "I'm as irritated and frustrated as anyone. For fans to be frustrated is one thing, but for them to say that what they said, whoever the irresponsible fans were, it is what it is. I tried to explain that."

Alabama is limping into this week's SEC Tournament in Nashville, where the Crimson Tide will be seeded ninth or 10th for the sixth time in seven years. The Crimson Tide opens against eight-seeded Tennessee on Thursday at noon (SEC Network).

Although Alabama hasn't won back-to-back games since January, it needs to string together a run this week to land an NCAA Tournament spot. 

Coming off a 87-79 home loss to Vanderbilt, the Commodores' only league win in two years, the Missouri loss was the low point of the season. Even Oats commented, "When the other team plays harder than you, that’s when I can’t sleep at night.”

Thus, the negative criticism on social media, which unfortunately has become the norm. 

"We just block that stuff out," freshman guard Jaden Shackelford said. "People are going to say what they're going to say."

Shrugging it off comes with the territory, and with the job. 

"Some of these people probably have no followers, who cares?" Oats said, noting that the spotlight is obviously a lot brighter than at his previous career stop, Buffalo.

"There's perks to having this job and there are idiots. When you respond to idiots you actually give them some credence, like someone's paying attention to them. Just don't pay attention to them." 

His advice to her was pretty simple: "Ignore the idiots."

"I thought her actual tweet was good," he said. "We do love it here."

"I don't mind if she sticks up for the family. We also told her she's going to have to ignore some idiots with your dad being in the job he's in."


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Christopher Walsh
CHRISTOPHER WALSH

Christopher Walsh is the founder and publisher of BamaCentral, which first published in 2018. He's covered the Crimson Tide since 2004, and is the author of 26 books including Decade of Dominance, 100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die, Nick Saban vs. College Football, and Bama Dynasty: The Crimson Tide's Road to College Football Immortality. He's an eight-time honoree of Football Writers Association of America awards and three-time winner of the Herby Kirby Memorial Award, the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s highest writing honor for story of the year. In 2022, he was named one of the 50 Legends of the ASWA. Previous beats include the Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, along with Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks. Originally from Minnesota and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, he currently resides in Tuscaloosa.