Dennis Gates Promotes Assistant to Associate Head Coach

The three-year assistant with the Tigers now holds the top assistant role on Missouri's coaching staff.

Feb 5, 2025; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Missouri Tigers head coach Dennis Gates during the first half against the Tennessee Volunteers at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images | Randy Sartin-Imagn Images

Assistant coach Kyle Smithpeters has been promoted to associate to the head coach for the Missouri Tigers, head coach Dennis Gates announced Tuesday morning.

Smithpeters has been a part of the Missouri staff since Gates arrived in the 2022-2023 season. He'll fill the role previously occupied by C.Y. Young, who accepted the same position at Miami this offseason.

“Kyle has played a pivotal role as we’ve restored Missouri basketball nationally and placed it among the top of the SEC,” Gates said in a press release. “During the last three seasons, his efforts in recruiting and development of student-athletes is one of the key reasons for our success at Mizzou. ... He has exceeded all of my expectations and this promotion is well earned as we continue to chase championships.”

Before joining Gates' staff at Missouri, Smithpeters was head coach at John A. Logan Community College from 2012-2022. There, he was named conference coach of the year eight times. Now, he's one of four members on the current Missouri staff that was on Gates' first staff with the program.

Missouri has had a number of changes to its coaching staff this offseason. In addition to Young taking the job at Miami, assistant Rob Summers accepted the head coach job at Cleveland State. Summers took with him Daylon King, who was the director of basketball operations at Misssouri. Assistant director of basketball operations Nick Korta also took an assistant coach position at VMI.

To replenish the staff, Gates hired Duquesne assistant Steve Wright for the same role, and USF assistant Griffin McHone to be the program's director of basketball operations. Additionally, assistant David Nutt is set to return to a full-time role after having to operate in a part-time role last season as he recovered from cancer. The most notable of the offseason hires for Gates though was the addition of Tim Fuller as the program's first ever general manager.