Alabama Basketball Assistant Ryan Pannone to be Hired at Arkansas State

One Nate Oats assistant is replacing another. Alabama basketball assistant Ryan Pannone is finalizing a deal to be the head coach at Arkansas State according to a report from CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein.

Pannone will be replacing former Oats' assistant Bryan Hodgson, who took the head coaching job at South Florida. Hodgson was an assistant under Oats at Buffalo from 2015-2019 and joined him at Alabama from 2019 to 2023 before accepting the head job at Arkansas State.

Oats hired Pannone to join the Crimson Tide in June 2023, and he has spent the last two seasons as an assistant in Tuscaloosa, primarily working with the offense.

This becomes the fifth Alabama assistant under Oats to leave for a head coaching job joining Hodgson, Antoine Pettway (Kennesaw State), Austin Claunch (UTSA) and Charlie Henry (Georgia Southern.)

Prior to working with Oats at Alabama, Pannone was an assistant for the New Oreleans Pelicans and had several international coaching stops in China, Slovakia and Israel.

Oats will now have to replace Pannone this offseason, but the Crimson Tide's 2025 season isn't over yet. Preston Murphy and Brian Adams are currently set to return as assistants. No. 2 Alabama is set to take on No. 1 Duke Saturday night in Newark for the East Region final and a second consecutive trip to the Final Four.

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