Alabama Basketball Coach Nate Says Congress Will Need to Get Involved Regarding NIL

Alabama head basketball coach Nate Oats reveals his feelings on the NIL landscape.

Alabama head coach Nate Oats reacts to a play during the Final Four semifinal game against Connecticut at State Farm Stadium. / Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY

The NIL landscape has caused a complete change in college sports over the past few years. For programs to compete, they all essentially need to have strong NIL funding.

While it's been a positive way to help get student-athletes paid, there's also been some confusion. Fans don't understand all of it, and even coaches have struggled to figure out all the laws around it.

Alabama basketball head coach Nate Oats spoke about NIL in a recent conversation this week with Mark Gottfried.

Instead of complaining about it, Oats welcomes the change and has attacked it head-on.

“I mean none of it was here in five years ago when I started,” Oats said. “I mean the whole industry has changed since I’ve gotten to Alabama. Look, a lot of people complain about it. Here’s my thing – change is inevitable. You better figure out how to deal with it. I don’t think it’s that bad to be honest with you.”

Alabama is one of the best basketball programs in the country, producing NBA talent and some of the best players in college basketball.

In order for them to do that, Oats and Alabama NIL supporters have to hand money out to players.

Competing in the SEC is hard enough, but the expectations are even higher for the Crimson Tide. Anything short of a deep March Madness run is now looked at as a dissapointment.

Despite tackling it and trying everything he can to get the top players in the transfer portal and high school ranks, Oats admitted that there needs to be more clarity around it.

“The NIL thing and the paying the players, who’s going to pay? They need to get it figured out because it’s a little bit disjointed,” Oats shared. “Like, somebody – and it’s probably going to take Congress getting involved to actually get it all completely figured out. Somebody needs to figure that out.”

Congress taking over would be interesting for a few different reasons, but it might be what has to happen.

For now, there aren't many rules set in stone, and if there are, there's plenty of confusion around them.