Former Florida State basketball assistant hired by SEC team
Cleveland State Head Coach and former Florida State Assistant Coach Dennis Gates has become the newest head coach at the University of Missouri. Coach Gates led Cleveland State to a 50-40 record across his three seasons in Cleveland, including winning back-to-back Horizon League regular-season titles and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021. Cleveland State had not made an NCAA appearance since 2009 and had a combined record of 40-89 in the four seasons prior to Gates being hired.
Coach Gates was an assistant at Florida State from 2011-2019 and a graduate assistant at FSU for the 2004-05 season. In his time in Tallahassee, FSU made the tournament four times, won the ACC twice, and made a Sweet 16 and an Elite 8.
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Gates has always credited Coach Hamilton in making him into the coach he is, and a vast majority of his staff at Cleveland State had Florida State ties. Assistant Coach Ryan Sharbaugh, Special Assistant Matt Cline, and Director of Operations Chase Goldstein all spent time at Florida State, whether as graduate assistants or video coordinators.
Whenever Coach Hamilton steps away from Florida State, Coach Gates will be at the top of the list of initial candidates because of his ties to FSU and Coach Hamilton. Selfishly, as someone that spent time with him in Tallahassee, I hope he is the next coach at FSU and I'm glad he's getting this experience, but Missouri is getting themselves a great one in the meantime.
