When new University of Missouri men’s basketball coach Dennis Gates’ plane landed in Columbia on Monday morning, the Marching Mizzou band was not on the tarmac. Hundreds of students and fans did not greet him.
A handful of Missouri staff members eagerly met him, so it wasn’t like Sheriff Bart’s hysterical introduction to the good people of Rock Ridge in “Blazing Saddles.”
To say an air of excitement is missing as Gates takes over is an understatement. Mizzou men’s basketball is at an ebb tide. It’s not as low as it was before Cuonzo Martin was named head coach five years ago. It’s not as high as it was a decade ago.
It won’t be a quick fix, although the transfer portal can help a weak team get stronger overnight.
Gates’ 50-40 record during three seasons at the Cleveland State Vikings’ helm isn’t spectacular, although a 38-22 mark in Horizon Conference games is admirable.
After posting a 10-21 record his first year, Gates led the Vikings to respective 19-8 and 20-11 records the following two seasons. His team landed an NCAA Tournament bid in 2021 and lost to Xavier in the first round of the 2022 National Invitational Tournament. He was named the Horizon Conference co-coach of the year both years.
Gates worked eight seasons with Florida State University coach Leonard Hamilton, who is recognized as a college basketball icon. During Gates’ tenure there, the Seminoles played in four NCAA Tournaments, advanced to the Elite Eight in 2018 and reached the Sweet 16 in both 2012 and 2019.
Then Cleveland State made him a head coach for the first time. He did well, so Missouri fans should be hopeful. They should also give him time.
As far as NCAA men’s basketball coaching salaries, Gates’ $550,000 annually is a bargain. His buyout price of $600,000 is also inexpensive. But that buyout number could work both ways. If Gates does well and wants to move on to a basketball power, the buyout price is one that a school would happily pay and could easily afford.
The Reid Roundup
Of the Sweet 16 teams still alive in the men’s NCAA Tournament, four have Black coaches and one coach is Native American…The surprise is Shaheen Holloway of St. Peter’s University in Jersey City, New Jersey. The No. 15 seed Peacocks shocked Kentucky on St. Patrick’s Day, then toppled favored Murray State. Holloway is in his fourth year with St. Peter’s and was 2019-’20 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. “Every guy on this team has a chip on his shoulder,” Holloway said of his players who were not recruited by major schools…Hubert Davis is in his first year as North Carolina head coach and wins over Marquette and No. 1 Seed Baylor (after blowing a 25-point second-half lead and then winning in overtime) have the Tar Heels two wins from the Final Four. “This is a group of toughness, resiliency. I’m so proud of them,” Davis told CBS following the epic game…Last week, I wrote I was pulling for Providence head coach Ed Cooley to do well in the tournament. Now I want him to lose to Kansas. Cooley’s Friars topped South Dakota State and upstart Richmond to advance to a showdown with the No. 1 seed Jayhawks. Many pundits picked Providence to lose early in the tournament and Cooley called them out. “We’re just a little school that everybody says, ‘Oh, it’s Providence.’ Well, Providence is in the damn building,” he told CBS…If you’re going to play for Kelvin Sampson’s Houston Cougars, you’re going to play great defense or sit on the bench. Houston glided past UAB then smothered and blew out Big Ten co-champion Illinois to reach the Sweet 16. “The story of this game is our toughness, how hard we play and the defense,” Sampson, who is a Lumbee Indian, said in a press conference…The Big Ten got nine NCAA Tournament bids, which is a joke. Just two teams remain, Michigan and Purdue. Most fans did not want the Wolverines and embattled coach Juwan Howard to participate. Two wins later, Howard has his team in the Sweet 16. “There has never been a moment where one of our guys have been one foot in and one foot out. They bought into the culture, trusted in the culture,” said Howard, whose postgame slap of a Wisconsin assistant coach in late February led to a five-game suspension.
