Report: Mizzou Basketball Hiring Rob Summers as Assistant Coach
The Missouri men's basketball team and head coach Dennis Gates are set to hire Rob Summers as an assistant coach, The Field of 68's Jeff Goodman first reported on Monday.
"Missouri's Dennis Gates is hiring Rob Summers as an assistant coach, source told The Field Of 68," Goodman writes. "Summers was the associate head coach the past two years at Miami Ohio and was previously with Gates for three seasons at Cleveland State as his top assistant."
This hire stems from the Tigers' early attempts to make major improvements after going winless in SEC play this season.
The 39-year-old joined Miami (Ohio's) staff as an associate head coach in April 2022. During his first year in Oxford, the RedHawks went 12-20 and earned a berth in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals as the No. 8 seed. However, they won four consecutive games in February to qualify for the postseason.
This past season, the RedHawks finished with a 15-17 record, including an even 9-9 MAC play. He helped pave the way for two players to be named an All-MAC Honorable Mention and one to make the MAC All-Freshman Team.
In his three-year tenure at Cleveland State, he helped coach them to the 2021 Horizon League tournament victory to advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2009. CSU also shared the 2022 conference regular-season championship, qualifying for the NIT. Summers primarily served as the Vikings' offensive coordinator, helping Cleveland State improve from 64.2 points per game to 70.9 to 75.4 over his three seasons.
Summers was a three-time Big East Academic All-Star at West Virginia, where he received his bachelor's degree in sports management in 2007 before earning his master's in athletic coaching education in 2012. Summers was selected in the 2007 NBA Development League draft, ultimately deciding to compete overseas. He played professionally in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America.
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