NCAA Basketball: Ranking the 10 best head coaching hires of 2022 offseason
By Joey Loose
2. Dennis Gates (Missouri)
Since joining the SEC in 2012, things haven’t exactly gone smoothly for the Tigers. Missouri had its fair share of success in the olden days and even in more recent times in the Big 12, but has churned through some rough stretches this past decade. Cuonzo Martin had this program going in a solid direction, but he didn’t quite do enough these last few years.
The Tigers turned towards Gates, a very intriguing name and rising star in the coaching world. A native of Chicago, he bounced around several schools as an assistant before an 8-year stint under Leonard Hamilton at Florida State. In 2019, he took over a disastrous Cleveland State program and led them to the NCAA Tournament in this second season, a phenomenal turnaround. Each of the last two seasons ended with Horizon League regular season crowns for the Vikings.
Though this is clearly his first power conference head coaching job, Gates picked up plenty of experience at Florida State on Hamilton’s staff. With the way he engineered that turnaround at Cleveland State, basically rebuilding the roster from scratch upon arrival, it’s fair to expect similar recruiting success even in the SEC. The proof is in the pudding, as Gates as already landed a slew of impressive talent in his month at Missouri. Who knows what the ceiling will be for the Tigers in a tough SEC, but Gates might have been the best choice available for the program and he’ll be turning heads in Columbia.