UB's new men's basketball coach, Nate Oats, admits he's a no-name coach but he believes he's inheriting a strong program that is poised to be build upon one of the best seasons in school history.
Former Coach Bobby Hurley recruited Oats away from Romulus High School in the Detroit-area where he had been very successful. UB's players reportedly told Athletic Director Danny White they wanted Oats to take over for Hurley.
"We're gonna win. Once you start winning, there's a lot of guys who were no names until they started. Nobody knew who Brad Stevens was (voice: Bo Ryan) Nobody knew Bo Ryan. He was at Wisconsin Platteville," Oats said.
"You gotta win.The bottom line is you gotta get recruits in here. You gotta win. We've got the players in here now to win. We're gonna win and then we're gonna build it from there."
Oats says the team's performance in the past season will help attract recruits, as will the university's academic reputation. He says his new assistant coaches are likely to spend more time recruiting in the basketball hotbeds of New York City where there are many young people with ties to UB, whether as students or as friends or relatives of students.
