Alabama coach Nate Oats has the Crimson Tide playing elite basketball during SEC play this season. The Tide are currently 17-5 overall and 12-1 in SEC action.

Now, Oats is being rewarded in Year 2 of his tenure in Tuscaloosa, as he agreed to a contract extension with the Tide.

The extension will keep him in Tuscaloosa through 2027, according to a release from the school. His annual salary will increase to $3.225 million, as well.

Oats said he and his family are excited to be hanging around at Alabama for a few more years to come:

“We are excited to agree to a contract extension with The University of Alabama,” Oats said. “Crystal and our daughters love it here, and we are committed to The University of Alabama. We feel like we have a lot of positive momentum going with our team and have the program headed in the right direction. Our administration is making a major statement with this extension as we all work on building a successful program for the long term. I know the winning history we’ve had with Alabama basketball, and I feel like we can add to that and accomplish great things here. We appreciate the opportunity Greg Byrne and our athletics administration, President Stuart Bell, Chancellor St. John and The Board of Trustees have provided us. This is really a reflection of the outstanding job that our players, coaches and basketball staff have done the last two years. Now we need all of our focus to be on finishing this season the right way and giving our team the best chance to succeed down the stretch.”

Can Oats lead the Tide to an SEC regular season and tournament title in the same season? We’ll find out as Alabama heads into the stretch run of this season.