Dennis Gates began his coaching career in the NBA and is one of four coaches on the Florida State staff who has coached and developed professional basketball players. In the first nine years of his coaching career Gates has certainly put his knowledge of the game of basketball to great use as he has coached at four outstanding Division I institutions and helped each one of them gain outstanding success. Gates will immerse himself in every aspect of the Seminole program as he continues the tradition of outstanding recruiting and competitive excellence under head coach Leonard Hamilton.
Second Time Around
Gates was a graduate assistant at Florida State under Hamilton during the 2004-05 season - a year that the foundation for the current Seminole program began to take shape. The Seminoles counted a victory over No. 3 ranked Wake Forest in their win total with their win over the Deacons marking the third victory over a top five ranked team under Hamilton. Gates was also responsible for the development of future pros Al Thornton, Alexander Johnson and Von Wafer during his first season in Tallahassee with Thornton becoming only the second NBA Draft Lottery selection in Florida State history in 2007.
Professional Experience
Gates began his career as a coaching assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers as a skill development coach during the 2002-03 season. He worked with a strong collection of players that included 10 prospects with three years or fewer years of experience including future All-Stars Elton Brand and Lamar Odom. Brand finished the season as the Clippers' leading scorer with an 18.5 points per game average while Odom ranked third on the team with a 14.6 points per game average. Brand and Odom formed one of the NBA's highest scoring and best shooting front court duos in the NBA with Gates on the Clippers' staff. The Clippers finished in the top 10 in the NBA statistics for blocked shots, free throws made and free throws attempted.
Coaching Tree
Gates has learned the game from some of basketball's all-time greatest coaches including Hamilton who is one of the top 20 all-time winningest coaches in ACC history. He played and coached under Ben Braun at Cal (the 2003 Naismith National Coach of the Year), coached under Tom Crean at Marquette, Ricardo Patton at Northern Illinois and David Carter at Nevada. Braun, currently the head coach at Rice, has taken eight teams to the NCAA Tournament while Crean, the current head coach at Indiana, has guided five teams to the NCAA Tournament including his 2003 Marquette team which advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament. Gates also worked under Alvin Gentry and the late Dennis Johnson while a coaching assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Postseason Experience
As a player, Gates was a three-year team captain at Cal and helped the Bears to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2001 and 2002 and to the 1999 NIT title and the 2000 NIT Final Eight. As a coach, Gates helped coach Nevada to the 2010 NIT and Cal to the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
Statistical Improvement
In each of his stops as an assistant coach, Gates has played a significant role in helping his teams improve statistically. Northern Illinois finished his first season (2008-09) ranked among the top five in six different statistical categories in the Mid American Conference including third in scoring (66.2 ppg), third in three-point field goal percentage (34.7) and fourth in assists (12.4 apg). All were significant improvements from the 2007-08 campaign. The 2008-09 season saw the Huskies go 7-5 at home, their first winning record since the 2005-06 season. Overall, Northern Illinois improved its win total by four wins in Gate's first season as the Huskies associate head coach. During his second season at Nevada, the Wolf Pack finished third in the league statistics in rebounding (36.8 rpg), fourth in blocked shots (3.7 bpg) and fourth in field goal percentage defense .426). The Wolf Pack also ranked in the top 15 in the nation in scoring and field goal percentage and broke school single-season marks for scoring and field goals made and attempted in 2009. In his three seasons as an assistant coach at Cal, the Bears averaged nearly 17 wins a season and won 20 games in advancing to the NCAA Tournament in 2006.
Quickly Gaining Experience
One of the sharpest young minds in college basketball, Gates' hard work was rewarded when he was hired at Northern Illinois and elevated to associate head coach after just one season with the Huskies. At age 28, he became one of the youngest associate head coaches in all of college basketball in 2008. He was Northern Illinois' lead recruiter, coached the Huskie guards and helped numerous players earn All-Mid American Conference and MAC All-Freshman honors during his two years while in Normal, Ill.
Recruiting Well Consistently
Gates has developed a reputation as a top flight national recruiter and has done so by assembling top ranked recruiting classes at each of his first three stops: Cal, Northern Illinois and Nevada. His 2006 class at Cal included four top-150 recruits; including Taylor Harrison, All Pac-10 guards Patrick Christopher and Jerome Randle, and All Pac-10 power forward and 2008 NBA first-round draft pick Ryan Anderson. Following the 2006-07 season, Anderson was selected to the Pac-10 All-Freshman team.
Player Development Success
In his first season as an assistant coach at Cal the Golden Bears saw their wins total increase from 13 (2004-05) to 20 (2005-06). He helped Cal earn a trip back to the NCAA Tournament after a two year absence and helped sophomore power forward Leon Powe earn All-American Second Team honors by the Associated Press, the U.S. Basketball Writers and ESPN.com. Powe was chosen to the 2006 All-Pac 10 team and selected by the Denver Nuggets in the second round (49th overall pick) of the 2006 NBA Draft. While at Marquette, Gates worked with NBA Draft picks Travis Diener and Steve Novak.
Playing Career
During his playing career at Cal the Golden Bears compiled an 83-46 record, winning 20 games in a season three times. In 2002, the Bears reached the semifinals of the Pac-10 Tournament and the second round of the NCAA Tournament. In addition, Gates was named to the all-tournament team at the Golden Bear Classic in '01-02 after hitting a three-pointer in the closing seconds to beat Penn State, 76-73, in the championship game. He played in 114 career games, making 34 starts and finished his career with an average of 3.8 points per game, as well as 100 steals and 148 assists.
Special Honors
Gates was a two-time Pac 10 First Team All-Academic Team selection, was named Cal's Most Inspirational Player (2001) and was twice named the Bears' Outstanding Student-Athlete (1999 and 2001). In addition, he was awarded the 2002 Pac-10 Medal of Honor (given to the Pac-10 Universities Top Graduating Student-Athlete).
Education
Gates earned his bachelor's degree in sociology from Cal in just three years and competed as a master's candidate in education during his senior campaign. He completed his Master of Science degree in adult education & human resource development from Florida State University in 2005.
