Fans agree: Mizzou should look at extending Dennis Gates.
It’s funny to think about all that has happened to Missouri basketball since Dennis Gates took over as the coach.
A few quick factoids. Since Dennis Gates was announced on March 22, 2022:
- 38 different players have been rostered
- Gates was given a contract extension less than a year after his hiring
- Mizzou won its first NCAA Tournament game in 12 years
- Mizzou failed to win a conference game for the first time since 1907-1908
That’s already quite a bit to happen in less than three full years, and that’s before you count the fact that the Tigers were largely picked to finish near the basement of the SEC this season. The job Gates and his staff have done this year has been miraculous and, with the recent announcement that Gates former employer will be looking for a new head ball coach, the question is starting to come up: Should Mizzou think about extending Gates again?
It’s a weird situation. Gates has largely been an exceptional hire for two of the three seasons he’s been in Columbia, this season being incomplete notwithstanding. There’s just the matter of the middle season, in which the Tigers were (at least by record) one of the very worst power conference teams in college basketball. That gives you pause, but it’s starting to look more and more like a blip.
So we put it to you. Would you give Gates another extension after this season? The results were pretty decisive.
That’s three-fourths of you who are ready to hand him the pen right now. That’s pretty impressive. I don’t know that I’m quite there yet, but it would take something spectacularly bad for me to not get there by season’s end.
We also asked what sort of expectations you have for the Tigers in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, which they seem destined to be chosen for. With the Tigers looking like a contender for a protected seed, y’all are dreaming deep into March it would seem.
It’s been 16 years since Mizzou went to the second weekend of the tourney. I think that’s enough time, don’t you?