How Nate Oats’ hire of Ryan Pannone still fuels Alabama basketball

Nate Oats hired Ryan Pannone to make him 'better,' and that impact still shapes Alabama basketball.

On Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, Oats will have to figure out how to beat him.

Pannone spent two seasons on Oats' staff at Alabama.

Now he is the head coach of Arkansas State.

The game will tip off at Coleman Coliseum.

It is Alabama's second game of the 2026-27 season.

Ahead of the matchup, Oats reflected on what Pannone brought to the program.

"When I hired him, I hired to learn from him," Oats said on Thursday, Nov. 5.

"I want to hire good guys that are smarter than me, that I can learn from and make me a better coach."

Pannone joined Alabama's staff in 2023.

He filled one of three vacancies left by assistant coaches who left for head coaching jobs.

Those openings appeared after Alabama earned a No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

In Pannone's first season, Alabama reached its first Final Four in program history.

The year after, the Crimson Tide made an Elite Eight appearance.

Both seasons, Alabama led the nation in scoring.

The Crimson Tide averaged 90.1 points per game in 2023-24.

They averaged 90.7 points per game in 2024-25.

Oats credited Pannone with helping create more scoring opportunities through off-ball movement.

Specifically, Pannone emphasized cuts to the basket.

"The most efficient field goal you can get is a cutting two," Oats said.

"We didn't get nearly enough cutting and movement in our offense."

Alabama already emphasized spacing.

But Oats said Pannone helped generate more assisted baskets at the rim.

Pannone also improved how the team studies after-timeout plays.

Beyond in-game adjustments, Pannone influenced how Alabama organizes its offseason offensive preparation.

Oats described the approach in detail.

"Like, let's cover just straight switch attacks for like two weeks, and here are all the different ways you can attack switching," Oats said.

"Then we're gonna go how to attack aggressive coverages and blitz."

Oats pointed to Alabama's 2025 victory over St. John's in Madison Square Garden.

Before that game, the Crimson Tide prepared assuming Rick Pitino's team would blitz.

Instead, St. John's did not blitz Alabama once.

They switched for 40 minutes.

Because of Pannone's influence, Alabama had answers for that look.

Oats said the team now has more answers for opponents regardless of what defenses they face.

Now Pannone will try to use that same preparation against Alabama.

He knows the system from the inside.

He knows how Oats thinks about timeouts, adjustments, and offensive sets.

That makes Friday a unique challenge for the Crimson Tide.

Alabama opened the 2026-27 season with a win against Sam Houston on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Attendance for that game was just over 11,000 fans.

Coleman Coliseum holds a little over 15,000 people.

Oats issued an urgent message to fans ahead of the Arkansas State game.

"We need the student section completely full on a Friday night," Oats said, as reported by Charlie Potter of On3.

"And then we need everybody else that's got tickets to make sure that they're using the tickets."

"We need this place to be full and support our guys."

"I think we've got a really good roster."

"I think we're a fun team to watch."

Alabama enters the game ranked No. 20 in the AP top-25 men's basketball poll.