RENO, Nev. - Dennis Gates has joined the Wolf Pack men's basketball staff as an assistant coach, University of Nevada head coach David Carter announced Thursday.
An accomplished student-athlete at the University of California at Berkeley, Gates comes to Nevada after stints as an assistant coach at Cal and Northern Illinois University.
"We're very excited to have Dennis Gates complete our coaching staff," Carter said. "He is very knowledgeable of the game and has played and coached at a high level. He was a very good player in the Pac-10 Conference, and his knowledge and experience of playing guard in college will enhance our program. His connections will also enable us to continue recruiting in the Midwest."
A Chicago native, Gates most recently spent two years at Northern Illinois, and in 2008-09, he became one of the youngest associate head coaches in the country at the age of 28. NIU's lead recruiter, he also coached the Huskie guards, helping players earn spots on the All-Mid-American Conference second team and the MAC's All-Freshman team during his tenure.
Prior to NIU, he spent two seasons as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Cal, under then head coach Ben Braun. He helped the Golden Bears reach the 20-win mark and earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2005-06. He also helped guide forward Leon Powe to All-Pac-10 accolades, second-team All-America honors and a second-round NBA Draft selection by the Denver Nuggets in 2006. Gates also helped Cal put together a recruiting class that featured four top 150 recruits, including All-Pac-10 power forward and 2008 first-round NBA Draft pick Ryan Anderson.
Gates spent the 2004-05 season as a graduate assistant under Leonard Hamilton at Florida State University and the 2003-04 season as a graduate assistant to Tom Crean at Marquette University and was an intern assistant for the Los Angeles Clippers in 2002-03.
A three-year team captain as a player at Cal, Gates helped the Golden Bears to the 1999 National Invitational Tournament title, the 2000 NIT Final Eight and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2001 and 2002. He was a two-time Pac-10 All-Academic first-team selection, Cal's Most Inspirational Player in 2001 and the Bears' Outstanding Student-Athlete in 2000 and 2001. He capped off his outstanding college career with the 2002 Pac-10 Medal of Honor, which is annually given to the Pac-10 universities' top graduating student-athlete and is the highest conference honor a Pac-10 student-athlete can earn.
Gates is a 1998 graduate of Chicago's Whitney Young High School and helped the Dolphins to the 1998 IHSA Class AA State Boys Basketball Championship. In April 2007, he was inducted into the Chicago Public League Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
He earned his bachelor's degree in sociology at three years at Cal and earned his master's degree in adult education and human resource development at Florida State University.
"I'm looking forward to building on the success and tradition at University of Nevada," Gates said. "I am very impressed with Coach Carter, his loyalty to the Wolf Pack and what he has been able to accomplish as an assistant and associate head coach here. I am very excited about continuing that success under his direction as head coach."
