by Each film session came with a new assessment of ways to improve team performance on and off the court. No play became overlooked. No game omitted.
Dennis Gates and his staff have revisited each game from last season, watching film back on things they find can and should be done differently moving forward. Building the program back up is centered around three main areas: the classroom, community and on the court.
Gates– entering his second season as head coach at Cleveland State University– is feeling optimistic during these times. After behind hired on July 26, 2019, he and his staff weren’t able to have a full summer to work with his team. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, he’s facing the same challenge entering year two.
“This will be our second season not having a chunk of time to prepare and we’re the most experienced staff in the country at that,” Gates said during a phone interview. “We got the job and inherited it at the beginning of August last year, so for us, we’ve done it this way and this is the first year for a lot of programs doing it.”
After assembling an entirely new staff in early August, Gates was put in a situation where three players returned from the 2018-19 season following a slew of transfers.
That pushed Gates to instill a championship quality effort every day with his team. Over time, that effort manifested in wins, improving to an 11-21 record which helped earn him Horizon League Co-Coach of the Year, something that’s more than just an individual award for him.
Despite the accolade, the second-year head coach is not yet satisfied, becoming his own worst critic. The thought of improvement is a constant reminder that this is just the beginning of the journey.
“I’m excited about what we did, but I’m not complacent and I’m not happy with where we ended,” he said. “I’m excited about the potential growth of our team moving forward of what we have and where we are. I’m excited about meshing our new guys to the culture. We have to do a better job altogether and I’m looking forward to it.
“Last year was below my standard and expectation of excellence. It’s not where I wanted to be. We’re still some steps away from that but we have to understand that we’re at an infant stage of building a program,” Gates continued. “So for me, it’s great that our peers and conferences recognized me as coach of the year, along with my staff because it gives credibility to my staff and they definitely earned a piece of that award themselves. It’s one of those things that I would trade in for a championship trophy any day.”
One of the many phone calls Gates made upon his hiring was Cleveland State alumnus Norris Cole— a former two-time NBA Champion with the Miami Heat. Cole spent time around the team last year as he supported the culture change firsthand leading up to the start of the season.
Gates has never lost contact with Cole, as the two continue to develop their relationship together. Having the ability to learn more about the game from a professional player who’s traveled across the world keeps them in constant conversation.
“I just authentically reach out to him and make sure he knows that we’re here for him. This is his institution, he knows what it takes to be successful,” Gates said. “He’s a great role model for our current and future players along with being a great ambassador for this institution. He has a wealth of knowledge that his travels have allowed him to have from a basketball standpoint.”
One area Gates and his staff has bolstered throughout the last couple of months have been the 2020 recruiting class. Meechie Terry–a 2019 graduate of St. Edward– was the most recent commit to the Vikings where he spent the last year playing for DME Academy in Daytona Beach, Fla.
100% COMMITTED‼️🟢⚪️
Let’s Get It! #GoVikings pic.twitter.com/znO8lt4SN1— Meechie “Bald Head” Terry👨🏾🦲 (@meechieterry14) June 16, 2020
Following Terry are players like Jayson Woodrich, Chris Greene, Yahel Hill, D’Moi Hodge, Mabor Majak and Alec Oglesby. It’s a class that features players from high school to prep school. As a result, the Vikings have put together the top-ranked recruiting class in the Horizon League.
“We have a program in place that’s respected. You look at Norris Cole, it’s a national brand and I just want to continue to recruit nationally,” Gates explained.
Albeit it looks good on paper, Gates isn’t satisfied with looking into the rankings just yet. He’ll look to measure the success of his recruiting class by their ability to win games, he explained.
Cleveland State graduated four seniors last season and head into the new season bringing back quality pieces, including the team’s leading scorer and a 2019-20 Horizon League All-Third Team selection Algevon Eichelberger.
With that, Viking fans were left feeling optimistic about the direction the program is headed in with the way last season closed out, particularly with the team’s near come-from-behind-win against Wright State Feb. 22 on senior day.
In front of 2,169 people, fans were rewarded with an overtime thriller against the top-ranked Raiders. Despite falling 81-74, the Vikings never let up as junior forward Torrey Patton sunk a three-point shot with four seconds left as letting up was never an option.
The energy present inside the Wolstein Center that afternoon was noticed from Gates and the coaching staff, he explained. It’s something he’s hoping can continue with the way he has embraced the challenge of rebuilding a Cleveland State program.
“There’s a winning tradition (at Cleveland State) that’s underlying to our institution and to our program,” Gates said. “I think we did a great job of showing our fans the type of ball we’ll play and it excited them. We were able to ignite the fan base and whenever you can ignite something and make them feel included, they can relate to it and they appreciate it the way we play.”
The transition heading into his second season as head coach brings back similar challenges from a year ago. It’s nothing the 40-year-old head coach can’t handle thanks to two prominent college basketball coaches that never stopped making an impact on his life: Leonard Hamilton and George Raveling.
“Both those men have taught me how to be a great husband and a great father while also balancing the rigors of our careers as head coaches,” Gates said. “I look forward to continuing to help the guys develop in my program but also develop them no different than Raveling and Hamilton helped develop their former players after they walked across the stage with their degree.”
