Nate Oats on Aden Holloway marijuana arrest: ‘Look, we’ve got standards in our program’
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Nate Oats was firm but supportive of Aden Holloway on Monday night during his appearance on the Hey Coach radio show.
While the Alabama head coach would’ve rather been talking only about Hofstra, the Crimson Tide’s first-round NCAA Tournament opponent on Friday afternoon, the arrest of his second-leading scorer on Monday morning was obviously forced into the conversation on the night after Selection Sunday. Instead of breaking down Hofstra and talking about how far he believes the Tide can go this March (and maybe early April), he had to confront the arrest of Holloway on first-degree possession of marijuana and failure to affix a tax stamp.
According to reports, more than a pound of marijuana, paraphernalia and cash were found at a residence following a search that was done by the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force.
Then, late Monday afternoon, ESPN insider Pete Thamel reported that Holloway was no longer a part of the Crimson Tide team and that the 21-year-old had been removed from campus after the arrest. Thamel reported that Holloway “is not going to be with the team as the UA Office of Student Conduct investigates his case.”
Holloway will be off the team until he goes through Alabama’s investigation process and, mindful of all this, Oats had a lot to say on the untimely matter during Monday night’s radio show.
“Look, we’ve got standards in our program. We’ve got ways we’ve held our guys accountable. We try to keep everything in-house. Obviously, some of the situations you can’t. This is one of those,” Oats said. “Situation is a little different when we found out what was going on this morning — I found out this morning. I guess it all went down this morning.”
Oats was brutally honest on the touchy subject that has now taken over Alabama’s leadup to the NCAA Tournament.
“We had to suspend him pending the investigation by the UA Office of Student Conduct. We’re disappointed in his behavior,” Oats said. “With that said, we still love him. He’s still our guy. We’re going to get him the help that he needs. … We’re preparing to play without him this weekend.”
With Holloway out of the picture right now for Alabama, here is what the Kalshi market sees regarding the odds for the Crimson Tide to still advance past Hofstra on Friday:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
