Mizzou’s Dennis Gates named finalist for top minority coach award

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - After leading the Missouri Tigers to their most wins since 2013, Missouri men’s basketball coach Dennis Gates is getting some well-deserved attention.

The Ben Jobe Award, which recognizes the top minority basketball coach in NCAA Division I, released its list of finalists, mentioning Gates as one of the 25 selected.

Missouri has claimed its highest SEC Tournament seed in school history, their 11-7 record earning them the No. 4 seed in this weekend’s tournament. The Tigers will begin play in Nashville on Friday, during the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. They’ll take on the winner of a second-round game between No. 5 seed Tennessee and the winner of a first-round game between No. 12 seed South Carolina and No. 13 Ole Miss.

Gates entered his first year in Columbia, Missouri, with the challenge of filling out nearly an entire roster. First-team All-SEC forward Kobe Brown, his brother Kaleb and Ronnie DeGray were all that remained of the 2021-2022 squad.

The Tigers coach was a two-time regular season Horizon League champion at Cleveland State prior to his tenure at Mizzou. He was named the league coach of the year twice in the Horizon League, as well.

The recipient of the 2023 Ben Jobe Award will be announced in Houston, the site of the men’s NCAA Basketball Championship.