Pete Thamel, guy who tweeted about the interest in Gates, wrote an article and this is in it:

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...sketball-coach

"His experience at Florida State and three successful seasons at Cleveland State made Gates one of the most sought-after coaches in the current coaching carousel, as he drew interest from Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, LSU and a majority of the open major conference jobs."

That gets me pretty excited.
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Regardless of who the head coach hire is it would seem that making quality assistant hires will be important as well. Seems like a common complaint with CM was that his assistants were not great but they were his guys so he refused to make any changes.

Get some quality assistants, particularly someone who knows offense, and give the guy a shot.
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Missouri's AD hired T.J. Otzelberger at UNLV. He left for Iowa State and is still playing in the tournament even though the team won two games last year. She knows coaching talent, and Gates is as hot as they come. https://t.co/xylyIo57NW

— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) March 19, 2022

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Of the realistic candidates, I wanted McMahon when it was clear Golden was not coming…I’ll def. keep an open mind with Gates though.

Like hearing about his recruiting chops and how universally positive everyone in the game seems about him…at least it isn’t English.
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I think people saying “at least it isn’t English” might wish it was before all is said and done. But we’ll see.

Re: McMahonc that was the one guy I wanted absolutely no part of. Being able to win at Murray State in the OVC is not impressive.
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From Rock M Nation

There’s a lot to like about Dennis Gates. You can read more on his Bio here: Dennis Gates vs Jeff Linder, Rock M Nation College Coaching Search Bracket

Gates is an experienced recruiter, and a former reserve guard for California in his playing days. He pivoted quickly into coaching taking GA positions at Marquette under Tom Crean, and Florida State under Leonard Hamilton. Coaching stops at Cal, Nevada, and back to Florida State where he and Hamilton built what most consider to be the current model of Seminole basketball. Then he took the job at Cleveland State and within one year had won the conference. The Vikings won the Horizon League again this year, but were bounced in an upset in the conference tournament and went to the NIT, where they lost a close game to Xavier.

He’s charming, he can recruit, he’s got a good pedigree.

Now for the bad. The Horizon League is a bad league these days. 10 years ago it was the 13th best league, but Butler and Valparaiso left, and it’s been downhill since. That isn’t Gates fault, obviously. All he’s done is beat who’s there. The point was rather his competition level isn’t quite the same.
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I mean I guess…I just hate using a guy winning against him because he should, if he doesn’t then he gets killed for it too.

Take Mizzou out of Kim English’s bio and NO ONE in this fanbase would be advocating for a guy that has 1 year coaching experience in the A-10 and went 14-16…sorry.
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Tell that to the Maryland and South Carolina fans who are still hoping he's their next coach.

What's their deal?
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Dennis Gates is one of the best coaches in the country at any level.

Full stop.

Relationships, recruiting, Xs and Os.

If this goes down, Mizzou fans should be over the moon.

I know they’re a pessimistic bunch but they’ll come around quickly.

— JUCOadvocate - Brandon Goble (@JUCOadvocate) March 19, 2022

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It's Gates:

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...ggling-program
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I mean 'basketball guys' all seem to like the hire.

The folks that seem to really mine this sort of crap.

The recruiting trail will tell the tale. If this guy hold onto Shaw and bring in some top 100 guys of his own while keep Brazile/Brown, I think that would be a real concern.

But I guess we'll see.
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"Hi may I recruit you?"
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As long as he is better than the last few coaches I will be happy. That is a really low bar, and I feel empty inside saying that
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Re: Gates...

Look at what has happened to Florida State recruiting since he left (it dropped off).

Look at what happened at Florida once his brother Armon (who will likely join him on Mizzou's staff) left Mike White's program.

These guys are good recruiters. Gates also has found under-the-radar guys, including a lottery pick at Florida State. And he was one of 3 coaches who offered Brazile out of high school. I think he not only can win on big recruits but also identify guys under the radar.

Right now it looks like he might put together a DYNAMITE staff.

His brother Armon Gates is really good.
He's lifelong friends with Jerrance Howard. Can he pull him away from Chris Beard's staff at UT?
He's long-time friends with Chris Carrawell and I've heard a few hints that Carrawell may sign up with Gates with the changes at Duke.
And here's a real wild card. One of Gates' assistants at Cleveland State is Dru Joyce.

Who the hell is Dru Joyce, you ask? He's Cleveland/Akron basketball royalty. His father, also Dru Joyce, was LeBron James' high school coach (and still coaches that high school, which is a powerhouse and produces D1 players regularly). His younger brother, Cam Joyce, is also a high school coach in the area at a powerhouse school.

Land either of the Joyce kids, and you've got a jump start on getting really good kids out of Cleveland/Akron.

Add it all up, and I think Gates will bring in a lot more talent. He's also going to play at a higher pace and just generally have a much more exciting brand of basketball to watch.
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I've become very excited about getting this guy. Really excited. Can't wait to see what he is able to do.
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