TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Nate Oats doesn’t have a timetable to complete his Alabama coaching staff, but he also doesn’t want to take a lot of time in getting assistants to join his Crimson Tide bench.

Following his introductory press conference at the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility, he said he plans to bring one of his assistant coaches from Buffalo with him, barring a promotion, in Bryan Hodgson.

“He’s definitely coming unless -- he’s supposed to get an interview up there, so obviously he could get the head job,” Oats said Thursday. “But I think they’re going to interview two of my former assistants -- Coach (Jim) Whitesell and Coach Hodgson both. So, we’ll figure it out. It’s a lot of moving parts, and it’s not easy, either. Sometimes you come in and everybody’s gone, and it’s great that there’s three assistants here continuing to keep things rolling and they’ve got a really good reputation amongst the department. I had great conversations with all three today.”

Hodgson just finished up his fourth season at Buffalo, helping guide the Bulls to a trio of NCAA Tournament appearances. He led the Buffalo recruiting efforts and oversaw the 2018 class that was ranked 76th nationally, according to the 247Sports Composite ranking -- the highest ranking in program history. Four-star guard signee Jeenathan Williams was ranked 131st overall.

Oats said Buffalo wants to have the hiring process of its next head coach completed in the next week and a half or so. Hodgson flew to Tuscaloosa along with Oats on Wednesday evening.

On Thursday morning, the new men’s basketball head coach met with the three assistants from Alabama’s 2018-19 team -- John Pelphrey, Antoine Pettway and Yasir Rosemond -- and will consider keeping at least one of them on his inaugural staff over the next week or two.

“All three guys that are here are great guys,” Oats said. “The administration loves them, everybody I’ve talked to has had nothing but good things to say about them. It’s a hard spot to be in. Nobody really comes in and keeps all three -- it just doesn’t happen often. But in all likelihood, we’re going to keep some. I just don’t know what. And to be honest with you, on the first day, I told them all it wouldn’t be fair to decide whether to hire you or not hire you based on a 30-minute conversation.”

New Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats

Although he has been to the state before, Oats made his first trip to Tuscaloosa on Wednesday. So, how important will it be to Oats to have an assistant with a presence in the state of Alabama?

“I definitely think that would help,” Oats said. “I don’t want to come in here as a guy that’s never been in Alabama before and hire three guys that don’t know the state of Alabama. I mean, Alabama’s got players, athletes on a yearly basis that want to go to the University of Alabama. I don’t want to upset the state of Alabama. And not even that, it was important for me up in Buffalo to have a guy that a western New York guy. I think it’s going to be important for me at Alabama to have at least one guy who whether he’s actually from Alabama originally but at least knows and has connections in the state of Alabama.”

As a former high school coach, Oats said he is going to talk to a handful of high school coaches and build relationships with them. When asked about considering them for his staff, he said this:

“I’ve got a lot of respect for high school coaches. And I was fortunate that the Hurley family with them having a Hall of Fame high school coach for a father, respected high school coaches like they did, for me to get in with them. But I’ll say this -- I was offered jobs based on me bringing players with me at Romulus and I never took those. I didn’t want to get in like that. I wanted to get in based on me as a coach, not based on player X or Y. And I don’t want to name names.

“But it certainly helps to have players to build those relationships. I definitely built the relationships as strong as I could when I had those opportunities to, and I’m more than willing to build relationships with plenty of high school coaches. Obviously, if they have players, there’s going to be more of a reason for me to want to talk to them.”

Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).

*** Take advantage of 30% OFF our Annual VIP Pass for the first year ***