Could Mizzou Coach Dennis Gates Be A Candidate At Texas?

Dennis Gates has been one of the brightest young stars at Missouri in 2022-23.

With the firing of Chris Beard at Texas, the Longhorns' men's basketball head coaching position might be the most desirable job in all of college athletics moving into 2023. 

And yes, Mizzou coach Dennis Gates is going to be considered as one of the top candidates should he keep up the success in Year 1 at Columbia. 

CBS college basketball reporters Kyle Boone and Gary Parrish discussed possible candidates for the position during Friday's episode of the "Eye on College Basketball" podcast. Both agreed that interim coach Rodney Terry should be the front-runner for the job, but also listed Gates as a potential candidate. 

"Dennis Gates at Missouri — yeah, absolutely," Parrish said. "I know with (Kansas State head coach) Jerome Tang, you can say, 'But yeah, first year at Kansas State, he's only coached half a season.' With Dennis Gates, there is a track record of winning somewhere else. He was successful at Cleveland State, and now, he's killing it at Missouri."

Gates, who was hired this offseason to replace Cuonzo Martin, has been one of the biggest risers in the coaching ranks to begin the new year. The Tigers (12-2, 1-1 SEC) began the season on a 10-game winning streak before losing at home to former Big 12 rival Kansas 95-67. 

The No. 20 Tigers recently suffered their first conference loss in a 74-68 defeat to No. 13 Arkansas. Missouri did pull off the 89-75 upset over then-No. 19 Kentucky to begin conference play at home on Dec. 28. 

Prior to being hired by Mizzou, Gates served as the Cleveland State men's basketball head coach from 2019-22. He led the Vikings to a pair of Horizon League regular season titles in back-to-back seasons (2020-21 and 2021-22) and guided the program to its third NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021. 

Gates currently has an all-time record of 62–42 with both programs. The Tigers will face Vanderbilt at Mizzou Arena on Saturday at 11 a.m. 

Boone and Parrish mentioned several other SEC head coaches for the Longhorns' job, including Kentucky's John Calipari, Arkansas' Eric Musselman, and Alabama's Nate Oats. 

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