The New Orleans Pelicans announced that assistant Ryan Pannone has left the team to become an assistant head coach under Nate Oats at Alabama.
This may be an odd choice for Oats from the outside looking in until you take a closer look at Pannone’s background.
Pannone was affiliated with the Pelicans G League team before moving up. Before that, he coached in Angola, Israel, Germany, China, Korea, and Slovakia. He also coached in junior college and high school in the United States.
He already has a connection to Alabama. Pannone coached the G league team in Birmingham which featured former Bama stars Kira Lewis Jr. and Herbert Jones.
Pannone style of play is similar to Oats, who likes to run a fast-paced offense and play good defense. Oats has lost all three of his assistant coaches this off-season and most of his team, which won 31 games, made it to the Sweet 16, and were SEC Champions.
Oats hasn’t made many moves so far this off-season but he has another top-10 recruiting class coming in and is already receiving interest from players around the country through the transfer portal.
Signing new assistant coaches who can help him recruit seems to be the top priority right now.
{ESPN}