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Why Charlton Young left Florida State to reunite with Dennis Gates

During the latter half of his nine-season tenure as an assistant coach at Florida State, Charlton Young fielded offers annually to take assistant coaching jobs elsewhere. Some of them, he said Friday, even offered to pay him more than the $1.8 million across three seasons that Missouri will reportedly provide.

Each time, he said no, staying loyal to Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton, who Young called “the best head coach and CEO in the country.” But when the newly hired Dennis Gates asked Young to uproot and join his staff at Missouri as associate head coach, Young finally left Tallahassee. The reason, he said at his introductory press conference, was his belief in Gates.

“If it wouldn’t have been Dennis, I probably wouldn’t have been able to do it,” Young said. “I’ve been offered a ton of other jobs. I mean, believe it or not, some for more money than this. Going over and watching Gates’ back and helping him get this thing off the ground, it just seemed like the right thing to do. … I’m excited, and Dennis needed me.”

Indeed, Gates said his pitch to Young was exactly that. “It’s simple,” he said. “I need you, coach Young.” He described his first full-time assistant hire as a strong recruiter and an intelligent, experienced coach who won’t be afraid to hold him accountable.

“Coach is a great accountability partner,” Gates said. “He can tell you the truth. He's loyal, he's honest. … We can have heated conversations and come out with a decision and hug and not let it spill over. That's respect. But every coach needs that. Every leader needs that.”

Charlton Young (right) was formally announced as the associate head coach under first-year Missouri head coach Dennis Gates on Friday.
Charlton Young (right) was formally announced as the associate head coach under first-year Missouri head coach Dennis Gates on Friday. (Gabe DeArmond)
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As they tell it, Gates first experienced Young’s recruiting ability as a high school senior. At the time, Young was an assistant coach at Northeastern University in Boston. The fact that he got Gates, the highly-touted point guard for a Whitney Young high school team that went 30-1 and won the Illinois state championship in 1997, on campus for a recruiting visit represented a coup. Young said that Gates actually committed on his visit — until Young took him to a football game and he saw that the stadium didn’t even have bleachers.

Even though Gates eventually enrolled at California, that started a relationship with Young. The two would reunite at Florida State in 2013, when Hamilton hired Young. Young had just spent four seasons as the head coach of his alma mater, Georgia Southern. He got the Eagles to .500 (15-15) in his third season, earning Southern Conference coach of the year honors in the process. But when they slipped to 14-19 a year later, Young got fired. He believes that experience will allow him to help Gates navigate the challenges of being a young head coach.

“I was 37 years old,” Young said. “I was emotional. I was going back to my alma mater, where I was considered the best player to ever play there. I was the first African American head coach in the history of school. I wanted to be successful so bad. I didn't always do a good job of controlling my emotional intelligence, which hurt me as a CEO. I think after the success we've had, the time that’s passed, being able to look back on it, you understand that. That's where I can really help him.”

At Florida State, Young and Gates forged a bond while helping build the Seminoles back into perennial contenders. They combined to recruit the group of players that would lead Florida State to four consecutive NCAA Tournaments and three straight Sweet Sixteen appearances. Both also said that Hamilton delegated responsibilities to them that normally would’ve been reserved for a head coach.

During their six years together in Tallahassee, an unspoken agreement developed between Gates and Young. Whenever one of them got a high-major coaching job, he would hire the other to be his right-hand man.

“I was in the film room 2, 3 in the morning a lot of nights with this young man, constructing game plans to bring down the biggest basketball powerhouses in the country,” Young said. “Duke, North Carolina, Virginia. And when you go in the trenches with somebody and you have that kind of success and you stare Roy Williams face to face and Coach K face to face and Tony Bennett face to face — which is a scary thing — but you have success, you have a tremendous amount of confidence.”

Young likely would have followed Gates anywhere, but the fact that he landed at Missouri only sweetened the opportunity. Young described himself as a “basketball junkie” who grew up watching the perennially strong Missouri teams coached by Norm Stewart. He showed off his knowledge of Tiger lore Friday, name-dropping the likes of Lee Coward, Doug Smith, Jon Sundvold, Keyon Dooling and Clarence Gilbert. He even joked that he thought about showing up to the press conference with a Band-Aid on one eye as an homage to Derrick Chievous, Missouri’s all-time leading scorer.

“I understand the basketball tradition here, and I understand the potential of this place, and I love being involved with a program where basketball is top priority,” Young said.

So, when Gates approached Young with an offer to join him at Missouri, Young was sold. He needed to get a pair of blessings to make the move, though. Hamilton signed off on it. He said he “begged his wife,” former WNBA star Carolyn Jones-Young, to approve, as well. She agreed.

Now, Gates and Young are together once more and eager to recapture the success they experienced at Florida State. Gates’ excitement to have Young on board was apparent in the sheer fact that he held an introductory press conference for an assistant coach. He described Young as “overqualified” to be an assistant coach.

Young has no problem with his current spot in the pecking order. He’s happy to play the role of backup singer, as long as it results in hits.

“I think my experience will help him,” Young said. “Again, I have a tremendous amount of humility. He's Michael Jackson. I'm Tito Jackson. I got no problem with that. They sold a lot of hit records.”


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