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Mizzou introduces head coach Dennis Gates

New head basketball coach Dennis Gates was introduced to Mizzou fans, officials and media at his first press conference on Tuesday afternoon. Below is a full transcript of everything Gates said to the crowd.

PowerMizzou.com will have much more from our first chance to talk to Gates today.

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OPENING STATEMENT

"Each conversation that I had in this process revealed to me what you guys already know: how aligned we are as an institution, but also how special this place really is. Those conversations is why I'm standing here today. To Cleveland State University, thanks to President Harlan Sands. Thanks to athletics director Scott Garrett. Thanks to the young men who gave me and that institution their very best every day. And the many others in that department at that institution who rolled their sleeves up and helped us accomplish what we've accomplished. I wouldn't be here today, I would not be here today, without the many educators and coaches who poured into my life at a young age in Chicago, Illinois. It was not easy. It wasn't easy. But if you're a coach and educator, those are lifelong relationships, lifelong friendships and lifelong dreams that you pour into the lives of young people. I'll thank my mentors: Leonard Hamilton, George Raveling, Ben Braun. Unbelievable people, unbelievable people. Unbelievable coaches, unbelievable mentors. I thank them. You know, what? Twenty years ago, I remember telling George Raveling and Leonard Hamilton, coach, I want to be just like you. Just like you. 20 years later, they continue to answer my calls, so I guess I have done a great job. But I appreciate those guys. And it became their dream, it became those guys’ dream to see my dream come true. And as young people, we have to continue to share our dreams in full transparency, because you are going to be heard, you are going to be listened to, but more importantly, the right person will listen. And that’s what I’m going to continue to do, listen to our young people.

“I thank my family. My parents, my siblings, my wife, Jocelyn. Thank you for being so amazing. Desiree already said how amazing you were. She’s telling the truth. Thank you for being amazing. You're a great wife, a great mom, a great friend. Successful coaching requires you to be absent from your home. A great educator, a great coach, you're absent from your home. There are sacrifices. It requires your children to make space underneath that umbrella and move over for student athletes. So they may not fully understand it now, but I have to go on record and thank my children for doing that. I love you guys.

“Like so many people, basketball and whatever other sports, whatever other hobbies, whether it's in music, we've used things as a compass to help us navigate. Basketball was that for me. I remember years ago during my in-home recruiting visits, I asked each coach a question. I said do you have — now I’m 18, 17 years old — I said do you have rules and regulations against freshmen becoming captains? Yeah, I asked that question. And there was one coach who sat at the edge of his seat toward me. The remainder pushed back and said what is this kid talking about? What is he talking about? In that moment I was asking exactly what my coaches and educators said to me when I tried to throw it all away. I tried. But they held up the mirror, they allowed me to see the best version of myself. They whispered in my ear, or even yelled at the high pitch of of their voice and said ‘you are a leader.’ And I heard them. I literally heard them. And I thank them. So I think Ben Braun, who I played for, who sat at the edge of his seat and said ‘I want you to be a leader for me.’ That's why I decided on Cal-Berkely. That's why I made that jump. I believed in him because he believed in me. The recruiting process wasn’t easy, and I remember Norm Stewart recruited me out of Chicago at Whitney Young. We were the number one high school team in the country. He recruited me. At that point, the seed of how special Missouri was at that time was planted. It was nurtured. Although I decided elsewhere, things come full circle. I listened. And those conversations that I had with Norm Stewart was definitely, definitely brought back up in my spirit, in my heart, when I spoke with our leadership. My dream, and I'll share it with you because you guys are listening. My dream is to become a national champion. My dream is to become a Hall of Fame coach. Mizzou has everything in place for me to accomplish those goals, those dreams, those aspirations. So just like those coaches and educators whispered to me, I'm gonna whisper to you. I need all of you to join hands and help to build something special. I need you. We have a great institution in a great state. From Kansas City to St. Louis, from North all the way down to the Bootheel. An unbelievable state. We have great tradition here. I spoke of Norm Stewart, but the many players who believed that this place was special, as well, and the many students, the student body that believes this place is very special. There's a lot of coaches and educators in this state, grassroots, that are preparing young people to impact this institution. We have a great high school association. We have great alignment, like I said, starting with our curators all the way down to our student body, as well as the employees that work here behind the scenes. We have a special fan base. We have what it takes, guys. I can't make a promise, but I will guarantee you this: You will see a core set of values in our players, from friendship, love, accountability, trust, discipline, unselfishness, enthusiasm and toughness. Those eight core values will lead us into our championship ways. And we're going to win championships in the classroom, on the court, in our community. We're going to win.

“To our current team, you may not have chosen me: but I choose you. I choose you. To our former players: you may not have chosen me, but I choose you. To our fan base, to our student body: you may not have chosen me but I choose you. I ask you today to do the same thing I have done. Do the same thing that our administration has done. And let's do it together. One day, like I said, we will cut down nets, hold up trophies. We will raise banners. I one day will sit in a green room with a first-round draft pick. You too will sit on the TV stand and watch or listen to that person get drafted. How do we do that? We do it together. We do it the Mizzou way. To our student body, our fans, our alumni, former players, along with everyone who loves Mizzou, everyone who has created unbelievable memories at this great institution, I invite you, wherever you are, I invite you to create some new ones. Come create some new ones with all of us. Come support these young men. Come support the future. Come support us. And you too will cut some of that net down. You too will raise that banner. You, too, will raise that trophy.”

Obviously, you know, you said you remember Norm Stewart recruiting you out of high school. What else do you kind of remember about the history of Mizzou and what kind of you read up on recently? 

“Thanks for the question. The special things that stand out is an unbelievable institution from an academic standpoint, but also being a flagship Power Five institution in this state. It's only us, Mizzou, that means something. That means a lot. You look at the tradition of this institution as well as the tradition of our athletic department, the many sports help recruit our student athletes. Not just basketball, but football, baseball, soccer, all of the sports galvanizes the opportunity that we have in store so that's a great question. I can go on and on. But I do want to give others an opportunity to ask but this is a special place. I left Leonard Hamiltong, my mentor, to go to a special place. Cleveland State is a special place. It’s hard to leave something that you have built. It’s hard and difficult. The people, it’s difficult. But I left a special place for a special place. And this is a special place where I'm trusting my dreams and aspirations with as well as you guys trusting your dreams and aspirations with (me) as well. So I appreciate it. And that's what.”

I was just wondering if you've gotten the chance to talk to the current players just yet and what you said to them or what you will say to them.

“Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. You know, the morning was was interesting. I woke up with a lot of emotions. It was like a kid on Christmas Day, right. Excited. Excited. Excited to talk to the young men in the program, excited to get here to talk to you guys. But in the team atmosphere of it, I just allow them to see who I was as a person, as a man, as a head coach here, it’s sometimes territorial or even tough to look at because I'm, I'm a coach who's coming from somewhere else. Right? We’re in transition. When young people go through a transition you got to protect their hearts. Right and Desiree, you protected their hearts in that transition, and I appreciate that. They were receptive. I told them my vision, my plans, the core values that are listed to you guys today. But more importantly, I wanted them to ask me questions. I wanted those guys to be able to control the environment because too often as adults, we don't listen to young people in those traumatic traumatic stages. Trauma for anybody. We have to pay attention to it. We have to listen. We have to open our hearts, open our ears, and I just wanted to listen. So I told them my background, where I'm from, and I even cracked a joke. And they all laughed. I said, ‘You guys Googled me, didn’t you?’ And they all said ’Yeah, coach.’ It was fun, and it was exciting. But that's pretty much the same message that I sat here and shared is what they heard.”

Two quick questions. One, can you share the names of any assistant coaches that you've added to your staff have already and two can use describe how you hope to utilize NIL?

“Yeah. So as it relates to the staff is going to be important and I can't talk about individuals right now at this stage simply because I want to keep that private for not just for myself, but for them. I don't want to put them in any compromising situations publicly or even with their fan bases or any anything else, right? So I have to respect that. So sorry, I can't answer. As it relates to name image and likeness. It has equalized the college game. It has equalized everything about our sport. But more importantly, I will tell you this. Young people can't make decisions just based off that. They have to be previewed to who we are as an institution, how we treat our current program on a game to game basis will be important. Essential. Kids make more decisions about what they see in the state, what they see on the sidelines, what they see in a coach, than in name, image and likeness. So while it’s important, it’s very important, there’s a lot of other important things that we have to continue to show them for them to make the right decision. So that's a good question. I appreciate it.”

As you move from mid major to power five as a head coach, what do you feel like the difference will be and perhaps more importantly, what do you need to hold on to that's made you successful regardless of the level?

“(Cleveland State) President Sands and Scott Garrett said I was a high major coach last year. Cleveland State was a high major school. So to make light of it, man, my mentors have prepared for this moment. Leonard Hamilton often moved to the side and allowed me to lead in moments that prepared me and gave me the confidence to be here. From the scouting, from the responsibilities daily, to even the interactions to our community, fan base, boosters, alumni and administration. He allowed me to do that on his watch, and that's why I thank everyone here who has had in leadership position has been thrown out there and obviously training wheels taken off. Leonard Hamilton allowed the training wheels to be taken off under his watch. And that success is where why I'm here now.”

How did you approach rebuilding the Cleveland State program and how can you carry over that experience to help you here?

“Oh, absolutely. That's a good question. Well, I didn't do it alone. I did not build it alone. I built it with the president, athletic director and the entire community. The welcome arms that it takes, the smiles on the faces that it take to receive young people, their families, they want to trust with someone during fleeting moments of four years, it’s a fleeting moment with lasting and everlasting impressions. So it's not done alone. It’s done when they walk in a restaurant on campus, it’s done when they walk into the bookstore, walk on the Quad, it’s done when their family can sit with our athletic director, our president on their visit. It’s done when they've gone to the football game, baseball game, soccer game, softball, it’s done during those moments when they visit for 48 hours or 36 hours or 24 hours. That's when it's done. It’s done behind the scenes when they can visualize themselves walking on this campus because it's special. So for me, I can take the credit, my name may be on something, but it belongs to a lot of people. And here it will belong to all of us. So I appreciate that question. And I'm excited to build with all of you guys.”

It sounds like you're a player's coach, which is incredible obviously, having that relationship with the players. But at the end of the day, it does translate to wins and losses on the court. So how do you as quickly as you're able to without even a full recruiting class at Cleveland State plan to do that on the Power Five level here in Columbia, and bring a winning record back to Mizzou?

“Yeah, I've done it at Florida State. That's a great question, the same philosophy. I did that at Florida State and, again, was prepared by my mentors. The first most important thing in it all is to break down the barriers between young people their dreams, aspirations. We have to allow what they see in a distance to be right in front of them because every decision matters. We have to be able to be their psychologist or psychiatrist. We have to be able to be there, that person that they can lean on. The true judgment in me is that moment that they decide to trust their career in my hands. They play hard because they know one day they'll invite me to their wedding, I'm sitting behind their parents. They all know one day when it's time to retire, that they'll call me and say Coach, what do you think? That trust is important. And without that trust, you cannot build anything. So that's how I plan on doing it, with trust, which is one of our core values.”

It seems, I think I've got this right your entire head coaching career you've been dealing with COVID, NIL or transfer portal stuff.  I was just curious how your adaptability to all that might speak to your ability to create programs.

“Well, hopefully it leads to my ability to in-game adjust too. Because that’s what it's about. All of us have to adjust somehow, you have to be flexible. You got to be able to pivot. It’s a unique time in college basketball but also our world. So first and foremost, if you your family, friends, loved ones have been impacted by COVID, my heart is with you. It's our day and age. You know, if I checked your pocket right now, you will not have a Blockbuster card. You wouldn't have one in your pocket. You would not have that relic. Some of us would. But it's a Netflix, things evolve, all things are evolving. This is the right time for me to be here. And that's why I know I can trust my dream of being a Hall of Fame coach. I can trust my dream of winning a national championship here with Mizzou but also Mizzou can trust me being the Whitten Family head men's basketball coach.”

The folks sitting to your right, how did they express to you what the expectations for this program are? A year ago this team was in an NCAA tournament, nationally ranked so what was expressed to you what they expect you to deliver?

“Did you just hear the President? It’s no different than what was mentioned. Gosh, I'm gonna be measured. You know, I know the business and profession I’m in. I realize that. I am not running from it. I'm here to tussle with it. I'm here to fight against our opponents. Not just in the SEC, but in the country. I understand that. I understand the expectation because my success can open doors for other people. I understand that. So the word is not just national championship, is not just a SEC championship, it’s also to walk watch our kids walk across the stage. That's what it's also about. So a win, it may not be visible on ESPN, and the sports ticker, but wins come in different ways, opportunities that we give. I want to see kids graduate, walk across the stage. That's also a win. I want to see our institution be nationally recognized as an athletic department. Sport among sport. I'm here because I know it's possible. I want the Directors Cup here. And I know I have a piece in delivering that. The same with our student body. I want our campus to continue to grow. I want opportunities to be seen. Those are championships. They're just not labeled that all the time, but to someone it is. Someone it is, so I appreciate that question. That's a great question.”

Are you going to concentrate your recruitment in Missouri. Are you going to equally distribute that across the country?

“Absolutely. That's a great question. First of all, I have to continue to study and I have studied what has allowed this institution to be special? Well, we've had kids from Long Beach, California. We've had kids from Detroit. We've had kids from Florida. We had kids internationally. We had kids from Chicago, but we also have kids home. That would be important. And in all of that success, we had fans driving from all over the place to feel the arena. We have to get back to that. We have to get back to that. Because once we continue to do that on a daily basis, it will then allow our guys an opportunity to do it, obviously, over several seasons, not just one season. So for me, we have to have our recruiting base be international, not even just national, because there are young man at every corner of this country and the world that can help this program, help us play this style, an exciting style, where fast paced offense meets fast-paced pressure defense. There's a lot of student athletes that can help them. Go we have to put up we have to put a fence around our state.”

You've talked a lot about Coach Hamilton. Two part question. How did you know when the time was to further your career that you needed to leave Coach Hamilton and what have you learned in those three years where you're not just taking Leonard’s program and moving it somewhere else in the country?

“That's a great question, several part question. So as it relates to the second part, through the years and I want you to think about my home visit as a young kid with Ben Braun. I started building my program at the age of 18. And every year, every season, I flipped it and pivoted and seen what I need to change, literally in notebooks. Literally, page by page. I've done that every step of the way. So I've always put my unique spin on what we do. What I've learned from Leonard Hamilton is very important. It's a very important piece. He taught me how to do it and gave me the space. No different than the space my family gives me to be successful and absent from my home. He gave me the space, the time, the effort to show me, and to look in a mirror, that I could be successful. He allowed me to make some crucial decisions. That is important. The first part of your question, I'll admit, I forgot.”

How did you know with Cleveland State that the time had come that you needed to go somewhere else?

“So sometimes the best opportunities in our lives are presented at times where you like, ah this isn’t the right time. We put together a national championship team. It was July 30. School starts in two weeks. Do I help Leonard Hamilton win a national championship, this is the best team he has ever had in his coaching career. Or do I take Cleveland State? Well every friend of mine in this business said I'm committing career suicide by choosing Cleveland State. There were three guys in the program. Two weeks, there was no staff. I had to do all this in two weeks. That same team that we put together, they won championships, they cut down nets, held up trophies and they raised banners. So for me, the time was right because I knew the sacrifice was great. It was great. And when you step out like that, there is no choice but to succeed.”

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