Nate Oats says he’s ‘super disappointed’ in Charles Bediako ruling
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Nate Oats addressed the ruling against Charles Bediako on his weekly “Hey Coach” radio show on Monday night.
“Obviously super disappointed,” the Alabama head coach said, via AL.com’s Mike Rodak. “Disappointed in the whole thing, to be honest with you. I didn’t think it ever should have gotten to court.”
Oats went on to echo comments made in an official statement by the university, stating that Bediako’s situation isn’t a singular one.
“I thought the NCAA should have made him eligible based on over a hundred current college basketball players — former professionals, most of them over in Europe. Some in the G-League. Guys being drafted. Rights owned by NBA teams, as in James Nnaji being eligible to play,” he said.
Now, the Crimson Tide will appear to be without Bediako’s services moving forward. To Oats, the denial of Bediako’s injunction and the NCAA’s response represents a double standard. NCAA president Charlie Baker issued a statement on the decision, saying that “common sense won” while adding that a “mess of state laws” needs to be resolved by Congressional intervention.
“To me, the NCAA’s point of why Charles shouldn’t be eligible was all these rules that they have, but they’re not applying those rules to all these other players they’ve made eligible,” Oats said. “To me, it was very disappointing in the whole case. Disappointing for Charles.”
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
