Dennis Gates checks all the boxes, but can he deliver a national title to Old Mizzou?
Dennis Gates, Mizzou’s new basketball coach, went there Tuesday. And I’m sold.
“My goal is to become a national champion,” Gates said during the session with media in which the former Cleveland State coach was introduced as Mizzou’s new head coach.
Talk about winning a press conference.
Gates checks all the boxes, those in the know say. He is a great communicator, has a keen eye for talent and is highly organized. That Isiah Thomas-like charm and megawatt smile, though? Must be a Chicago thing. He certainly won me over on Tuesday by laying out a strong vision for the program with thoughtful answers.
But can he win enough games in the rugged and suddenly loaded Southeastern Conference to consistently qualify for the NCAA Tournament and ultimately lead the Tigers to the Final Four for the first time in program history? A national championship at Old Mizzou? No way, the naysayers would say.
Gates has the pedigree to take Mizzou from conference bottom-feeder to championship contender. Even the vocal minority of fans dissatisfied with the hire should be all-in. The man has 17 years of experience as a Division I coach, including the past three as head coach at Cleveland State.
Gates led that program to back to back Horizon League championships and qualified for the postseason twice. He was voted the league’s coach of the year in his first season at Cleveland State. Some would consider Cleveland State a dead-end job. Many high-level college coaches would agree.
No pressure, Coach Gates, welcome to the Show Me state, as UM system president Mun Choi said Tuesday. Fans here love a winner and need a reason to pack Mizzou Arena again. It’s Final Four or bust for Gates at Mizzou. If you’re Choi, or athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois, why settle for anything less?
It won’t be easy for Gates to establish his program in Columbia. The transfer portal could provide immediate help, and Gates’ skill in the area of talent evaluation is a much-needed strength. He inherits a team lacking the long, rangy, athletic and tough-minded talent he helped assemble as an assistant at Florida State. In Tallahassee, Gates brought in players who weren’t necessarily five-star recruits or one-and-done talent but who eventually developed into pros.
Before long-suffering Tigers hoops fans fret about the hiring of a coach from a mid-major school, consider the words of his former boss at Florida State, a potential Hall of Fame coach who likened some of Gates’ personality traits to those of Kansas’ Bill Self.
Gates has the ‘it’ factor, Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said shortly after Mizzou’s Board of Curators approved Gates’ hire. Gates replaces Cuonzo Martin, who was let go after five unsteady seasons at the helm. USC’s Andy Enfeld had a similar aura about him, Hamilton said. So did Self, whom Hamilton hired as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State in 1986
It’s difficult to explain, Hamilton said.
“You just know,” he said.
Gates, an assistant under Hamilton for eight years, learned from some of the best coaches in the game. He won a state championship as a prep player in talent-rich Chicago and was a leader as a young player for coach Ben Braun at California-Berkeley. Gates seems built for this moment — he called Mizzou a special place and reflected on conversations he had as a high school recruit with legendary Missouri coach Norm Stewart.
It’s a unique time in the college game and the world, Gates said, and he understands the assignment.
“This is the right time for me to be here,” he said. “That’s why I know I can trust my dream of being a Hall of Fame coach; I can trust my dream of winning a national championship here with Mizzou. But also, Mizzou can trust me.”
Amen, Coach Gates. Good luck leading Old Mizzou to heights the program has never seen.
This story was originally published March 22, 2022 at 3:47 PM with the headline "Dennis Gates checks all the boxes, but can he deliver a national title to Old Mizzou?."
