Dennis Gates (born January 14, 1980) is an American college basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the

Missouri Tigers men's basketball The Missouri Tigers men's basketball team represents the University of Missouri in the SEC. Prior to the 2012–2013 season, the basketball team represented the school in the Big 12 Conference. They are located in Columbia, Missouri, playing hom ...

team.

Playing career

Gates played college basketball at

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, where he was a two-time first-team All-Academic selection in the

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

, having graduated in three years, playing his senior season as a master's degree candidate. Gates was also a member of Cal's 2002 NCAA tournament team.

Coaching career

After graduation, Gates served as a coaching intern for the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

before heading to the college ranks for two graduate assistant coaching positions at Marquette and

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

for a season each. He would return to his alma mater as a full assistant coach in 2005 under

Ben Braun Benjamin Abraham Braun (born November 25, 1953) is an American former men's college basketball coach and college basketball analyst. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Siena Heights University (1977–1985), Eastern Michigan Universit ...

. From 2007 to 2009, Gates served as an assistant coach at

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by th ...

before another two-year stint as an assistant coach at Nevada. In 2011, he rejoined the Florida State staff as an assistant coach under

Leonard Hamilton James Leonard Hamilton (born August 4, 1948) is an American basketball coach and the current men's basketball head coach at Florida State University. He is a former head coach at Oklahoma State University, the University of Miami, and for the Nat ...

and was part of the Seminoles' 2011–12

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

Tournament championship squad. He was a part of seven Seminole NCAA Tournament teams, including two Sweet 16 and one Elite Eight runs. During a January 10, 2017 contest between Florida State and

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

, Gates was shoved by Blue Devils guard

Grayson Allen Grayson James Allen (born October 8, 1995) is an American professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played four years of college basketball at Duke University. Allen was drafted with ...

as the guard went for a loose ball near the Florida State bench. The clip garnered national attention, but Gates defended Allen in the aftermath stating he was not the victim of a dirty play.

Cleveland State

2019–20

On July 26, 2019, Gates was named 17th head coach in Cleveland State basketball history, replacing

Dennis Felton Dennis Alan Felton (born June 21, 1963) is an American basketball coach who is the associate head coach at George Mason University. His previous tenure was as an assistant coach at Fordham University. He is also the former head men's basketball c ...

. Gates won his first game as a college head coach on November 9, 2019, against the Division II

Edinboro Fighting Scots The Edinboro Fighting Scots are the athletic teams that represent Pennsylvania Western University Edinboro (known before July 2022 as Edinboro University of Pennsylvania), located in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate s ...

, a 79–54 victory for the Vikings. Following his efforts in his first season, Gates was rewarded a share of the Horizon League Coach of the Year after Cleveland State won seven games in

Horizon League The Horizon League is an 11-school collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, whose members are located in and near the Great Lakes region. The Horizon League founded in 1979 as the Midw ...

play, the most for the school in five years. Gates is only the second head coach in Cleveland State history to be named Horizon League Coach of the Year, joining

Gary Waters Gary Steven Waters (born August 15, 1951) is an American college basketball coach and the men's basketball former head coach at Cleveland State University. Coaching career Kent State On April 3, 1996 Waters was named the 21st head coach at Kent S ...

(2007–08). He was also the first head coach with an 11-win season to be named Horizon League Coach of the Year and only the second coach in league history to be awarded the honor with a sub-.500 record, joining 1980–81 Horizon League Coach of the Year

Bob Staak Robert John Staak (born December 22, 1947 in Darien, Connecticut) is a former American college basketball and professional basketball coach. Early life Staak attended Darien High School in Darien, Connecticut, where he played basketball and becam ...

(12-16, Xavier). Gates also coached junior forward Algevon Eichelberger to a Horizon League All-Third Team selection, as well as Torrey Patton to Player of the Week (Jan. 6) and Hugo Ferreira to Freshman of the Week (Feb. 25). Cleveland State saw significant improvements in his first season at the helm, winning three straight league games for the first time since the 2014–15 season and winning three straight non-conference games for the first time since the 2011–12 season.

2020–21

Gates began his second season as the Cleveland State head coach with an 0–3 record in non-conference play, with losses to Toledo,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

and

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. They began their conference schedule by defeating Purdue Fort Wayne twice; the second game featured junior guard D’Moi Hodge breaking a school record 10 3-pointers and scoring 46 points, the 2nd most in a game in school history behind

Franklin Edwards Franklin Delano Edwards (born February 2, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round (22nd pick overall) of the 1981 NBA draft. A 6'1" point guard from Cleveland State ...

, who had 49 against Xavier. It was also the first time Cleveland State started 2–0 in Horizon League play since the 2014–15 season. Furthermore, after a January 15 road win at Wright State, Cleveland State started 9–0 in the Horizon League for the first time in program history. Gates also obtained the same number of wins as his successor,

, did at Cleveland State in 18 fewer games.

2021–22

On May 20, 2021, Gates signed a new six-year deal with Cleveland State. The new revised deal replaces the original five-year deal Gates signed in July 2019. The new deal is worth an estimated $3.2 million, or $550,000 a year, making Gates the highest-paid coach in the Horizon League.

Missouri

2022–23

On March 22, 2022, the University of Missouri announced Gates would be the men's basketball coach and was introduced in a press conference shortly after the announcement. Gates is the program's 20th head coach.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gates, Dennis 1980 births Living people 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American sportspeople African-American basketball players American men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Illinois Basketball players from Chicago California Golden Bears men's basketball coaches California Golden Bears men's basketball players Cleveland State Vikings men's basketball coaches Florida State Seminoles men's basketball coaches Marquette Golden Eagles men's basketball coaches Missouri Tigers men's basketball coaches Nevada Wolf Pack men's basketball coaches Northern Illinois Huskies men's basketball coaches