CHICAGO — Michigan coach Dusty May remembered when he was an assistant at Eastern Michigan watching 6 a.m. practices at Romulus High near Detroit.
At the time, Nate Oats was coaching boys’ basketball and teaching physical education at the school. The two forged a friendship that’s going strong 20 years later.
From a high school gym to the Sweet 16, May and Oats will be on opposing sides when top-seeded Michigan (33-3) meets fourth-seeded Alabama (25-9) in the NCAA Tournament’s Midwest Region semifinals on Friday.
“To get to where he is now, I don’t think you ever think that,” May said. “You don’t ever anticipate them getting to this level where they’re (at the) top of the profession but you know they’re really, really good because so much has to happen.”
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Oats has led Alabama to a 170-72 record and five trips to the Sweet 16 in seven seasons after a successful run at Buffalo. The Crimson Tide are in the regional semifinals for the fourth year in a row.
Oats has been mentioned as a potential candidate for the North Carolina job, though he insisted he has “absolutely no reason to leave” to leave Alabama. He led the Crimson Tide to the Final Four two years ago and got a new contract during that run. He’s now in talks with the school about another extension.
Oats played at Division III Maranatha Baptist University in his hometown of Watertown, Wisconsin, and began his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater in the late 1990s.
Michigan head coach Dusty May looks on during the second half against Saint Louis in the second round of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 21, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. Credit: AP/Jeffrey T. Barnes
“On March 15, my salary went up $500,000,” Oats said. “I still can’t believe I’m getting paid this much. I’m coaching basketball. Guys, I did this thing free at Maranatha for three years. I got paid $500 out of the Warhawk fund at (Wisconsin-Whitewater) a year for the next two years. I made $4,700 a year for 11 years. … Glorified PE teacher making too much money right now. I’m not going to complain.”
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May has done well for himself, too.
He coached Florida Atlantic for six years and led the school to a surprising Final Four appearance. Michigan has reached the Sweet 16 in each of his two seasons. And if the Wolverines beat Alabama, they’ll set the program record for wins in a season.
“He’s the same guy that I knew as an assistant at Eastern Michigan,” Oats said. “With all the success he’s had, his ego hasn’t gotten any bigger, and I think that speaks a lot to the character of the guy.”
That’s something that stood out to Oats when he was at Romulus. Some recruiters seemed to be using him simply to get to his players. But May wasn’t like that.
“Dusty was one of those guys that was genuine, real, smart, and worked hard. … We got to be very close because we were both young basketball junkies trying to learn every which way possible,” Oats said.
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Through a friend of May’s who worked for the Chicago Bulls at the time, they got to spend five days at the Bulls’ training camp when Scott Skiles was the coach. They remained close after May left Eastern Michigan. He helped Oats get his first Division I job, as an assistant at Buffalo under Bobby Hurley in 2013.
At the time, May was on Mike White’s staff at Louisiana Tech. White’s brother Danny was the AD at Buffalo, and he put in a call when Hurley told him he was planning to hire Oats.
“Danny called Mike and Mike asked me, ‘Hey, this is your friend. Can you put your name on him?’” May said. “I said, ‘Absolutely. He’ll be as good or better than anyone he can hire as an assistant coach at Buffalo.’ It was the same deal when he moved him to the head coach. They’d done a great job recruiting, and that left a major mark on the success of coach Hurley’s teams.”
More recently, Oats has left his mark on Alabama. And May has done the same at Michigan.
“He texted me last night and asked what hotel we were staying at,” Oats said. “I thought we were staying next to him. I didn’t talk to him about our basketball game. I talked to him about other stuff.”
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – For those incarcerated in Alabama, there is a path to employment through the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles Re-Entry Program.
The Bureau looks at where someone may live after serving their sentence and starts connecting them with potential employers, while also conducting drug screenings to help ensure employers and communities are getting a safe employee.
“We make sure as they’re moving through our re-entry programs that they’re re-assessed for mental health stability for substance abuse challenges,” said Rebecca Bensema, Assistant Director of Re-entry and Rehabilitation.
Bensema said the agency sits down with inmates to gauge their interests and review their work history to help match them with opportunities.
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Bureau Director Cam Ward explained that there are areas where an individual would be unable to work because of their conviction.
“For example, if I committed check fraud, I’m not going to be able to get a job at the bank. Sex offense… you’re not going to be eligible to work anywhere near kids or sensitive facilities,” Ward said.
Ward said offering job possibilities to people leaving incarceration is key to reducing recidivism and repeat offenses.
“Give the employer all the information and if they want to hire somebody based on their criminal history, let the employer decide, don’t let the government be the one who dictates it,” he said.
The Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles says it currently has positions open that people with a criminal background can apply for.
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Alabama football is hosting an impressive group of 2027 recruits throughout this weekend. This is the first of several weekends the Tide will host top recruits for official visits.
So, will Alabama add a commit this weekend? This is very much possible, and there are a few prospects Touchdown Alabama has our eyes on.
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Justin Smith is the Managing Editor and Lead Writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine with over 10 years of writing experience & expertise. Smith has consistently delivered high quality, extensively researched information on the University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide football team that fans can trust. Smith is official credentialed media with the University of Alabama under Touchdown Alabama Magazine. He is also the Director of Recruiting for Touchdown Enterprises, specializing in scouting and analyzing high school recruits around the nation, specifically focusing on recruits within the state of Alabama.
OKLAHOMA CITY–– UCLA’s home run power made headlines all season, but it was Alabama’s super sluggers who stepped up in the biggest moments on the biggest stage during the Crimson Tide’s opening game of the Women’s College World Series.
No. 1 Alabama was trailing by two runs heading into the fifth inning of Thursday’s game before Alexis Pupillo tied it up with a two-run shot in the bottom of the frame.
The Tide had struggled with runners in scoring position all game, but when Alabama’s home run leader Brooke Wells stepped to the plate with two on in the sixth inning, she made sure that wasn’t going to happen again. In her first ever game at the WCWS, Wells hit one over the right field wall to give Alabama a three-run lead.
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That score would hold as No. 1 Alabama beat No. 8 UCLA 6-3 to move into the winners’ bracket at the WCWS.
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The moment meant a lot for Wells after she went without a hit during the super regional round against LSU. The team rallied around her, and head coach Patrick Murphy put a card in her locker at the beginning of the week.
“It was great to do it for these girls,” Wells said after the game. “These girls are so great. They had my back all last weekend, you know, how he said. It wasn’t the best weekend for me, but they never lost trust in me, they never lost faith in me. Murph gave me a card, the girls picked me up all weekend. I walked in here feeling as confident as ever. Didn’t really cross my mind anything that happened last weekend.”
This is the first trip to the World Series for both Wells and Pupillo as transfers into Alabama. Pupillo is in her final season and has now hit a home run in three straight postseason games and is up to 20 on the season.
“This is the moment that I’ve been waiting for since I was like eight years old,” Pupillo said. “I walked through the gates today, I kind of started tearing up for a second because it just felt surreal. I just remember watching Montana Fouts pitch in the World Series when she threw the perfect game. That moment of me when I was eight years old watching it on the TV, man, I really want to do that.”
Alabama junior ace Jocelyn Briski shut down the UCLA batting order the first time through, but the Bruins bats wouldn’t stay down for long. UCLA rallied for three runs on four hits, including two home runs, in the third inning to take a 3-1 lead.
She did not allow another run to the potent UCLA offense over the next four innings. Briski finished with nine strikeouts against a team that does not strike out much.
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“You could see they hit two home runs, we hit two home runs, but the ability to come up with those timely hits with runners on obviously makes a difference,” UCLA coach Kelly Inoyue-Perez said after the game.
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Coming into the matchup, Alabama knew UCLA would score. It just wanted to limit the damage, and Briski was able to do that.
Jena Young set the tone for the offense at the top of the lineup, reaching base four times with three hits. She scored in the first inning on an RBI-single from Alabama’s senior captain Marlie Giles, Pupillo’s home run and on the Wells’ home run in the sixth inning.
Alabama (55-7) will face the winner of Thursday night’s game between No. 4 Nebraska and No. 5 Arkansas on Saturday. Winning the first game sets the tone for the rest of the series and makes the path a lot smoother. Around 90 percent of previous college softball national champions win their opening game at the WCWS.
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