A familiar foe for Alabama basketball returns to Coleman Coliseum on Monday. Will Wade, the former LSU coach, now at McNeese State, will lead the Cowboys to face Nate Oats and the Crimson Tide.

The two coaches developed a rivalry while Wade was leading the Tigers, before he was fired when the NCAA served LSU with a notice of allegations for recruiting violations in 2022. Still, any bad blood that may have existed didn’t stop Oats from putting the Cowboys on UA’s 2024-25 schedule.

“I have a ton of respect for Will,” Oats said Thursday. “I played him when he was at VCU and I was at Buffalo, and he was good, he was better than us then. We had some battles at LSU. He’s got McNeese State back in the national stage quickly.”

Wade was hired to coach the Cowboys before last season. He was suspended for the first 10 games of the 2023-24 campaign, and is serving a two-year show-cause as well.

He led McNeese State to the NCAA Tournament once he began coaching. When it came time to fill out the 2024-25 schedule, the Cowboys called a man who loves to play tough games early on in the season.

“I know what it’s like to be a good mid-major,” Oats said. “It’s hard to get good games. Will;s trying to get good games for their team. They call us because pretty much everybody in the country knows we play good teams and we want good teams. We don’t want to play bad buy games, I don’t think that makes you better.”

Oats has carried that strategy throughout his Alabama tenure. It also applies to the Tide’s Monday matchup with Arkansas State at Coleman.

Former US assistant Bryan Hodgsen took over as head coach of the Red Wolves before last season. Arkansas State won 20 games, and was picked to win the Sun Belt ahead of Hodgsen’s second year in charge.

“Bryan told me he’s tried to get, tried to get, told me the teams in the SEC’s he’s talked to,” Oats said. “Most teams won’t play them, and I’m sure Will’s got that same problem. But we’re not really like that.”

Alabama and Arkansas State are scheduled to tip off Friday at 7 p.m. CT, on SEC Network+. The McNeese State matchup will begin at 6 p.m. CT Monday on the SEC Network, with both games played at Coleman Coliseum.