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Pitt Talking to Buffalo Bulls Basketball Coach Nate Oats?

North Carolina v Pittsburgh Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images

Update: Nate Oats puts any rumors to rest!

I don’t know how true this is, but it’s all over twitter. Including from legit media folks.

Pitt didn’t get Danny Hurley, Hurley went to UConn instead.

The money at Pitt was good, reportedly about 3 million dollars, but Pitts’ timeline and another big offer from UConn ended the talks.

So today the scuttlebutt is that, among some other coaches, Pitt is talking to several other coaching including Nate Oats and Syracuse coach Mike Hopkins.

I don’t think Pitt swoops in and offer Oats three million, but if he is they guy they want then seven figures is almost a certainty.

Pitt would also have to give UB a million dollars per the conditions of Nate Oat’s new contract.

Now this is all twitter smoke, I’ve reached out to some sources I trust for confirmation but I’ve not heard back.

Hopefully Coach Oats realizes that next years Buffalo team is built for a deeper NCAA run than this years team.

Pitt on the other hand is a mess. They have four returning players and didn’t win a single game in ACC conference play this past season. To say it’s a “rebuilding project” is like saying the Titanic need a new coat of paint.

Hopefully he realizes that another “Bull Run” run will move his prospects from the “fix our dumpster fire ACC program” tier of coaching jobs and to the “Take over this already stable blue blood program” tier of jobs.

Oats can do better than Pitt, a program that probably needs several years of rebuilding to be successful again. If Pitt does not that kind of patience, Oats could find himself right where he doesn’t want to be, bouncing around as an assistant for some years before the next NCAA job comes back up.

If I or any of the other editors get anything back, we will let you know.