KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The men's basketball teams overseen by Kansas State's Jerome Tang and Missouri's Dennis Gates have exceeded expectations this season and now both head coaches are getting recognized for their efforts.
Tang, a former Baylor assistant who replaced Bruce Weber, and Gates, formerly the Cleveland State coach before replacing Cuonzo Martin, are among 15 coaches on the late-season watch list for the 2023 Werner Ladder Naismith Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year.
Tang has helped No. 12 Kansas State (19-7, 7-6 Big 12) to one of the program's best starts in the last 50 years. Only six Wildcats teams — 1972-73, 1976-77, 1981-82, 2009-10, 2012-13 and 2018-19 — have a better record to start the season.
Five of K-State’s 19 victories are against AP Top 25 opponents, which ties for the second-most in school history and the most since the 2014-15 season.
The Wildcats' seven wins in Big 12 play are the most since the program since sharing the 2018-19 conference title with Texas Tech.
Tang also guided K-State to a 12-1 record in non-conference play, which represents the most victories in non-conference play since a program-best 13 in 2009-10.
The Wildcats also won the Cayman Islands Classic in November, the school’s first in-season tournament title since 2017.
Tang previously served as an assistant and associate head coach at Baylor for 19 season (2003-2022), helping build that program into a national powerhouse alongside Scott Drew.
Missouri (19-7, 7-6 SEC), which wwas picked 11th in the SEC preseason poll, already has the program’s most victories since the 2017-18 season, which is the last time the Tigers reached 20 wins.
Gates, like Tang, has led his team to five victories over ranked opponents.
He became the second Mizzou coach to earn a national ranking in his first season when the Tigers entered the AP Top 25 poll on Jan. 2 after back-to-back blowout wins against ranked opponents.
Prior to joining the Tigers, Gates spent three years as head coach at Cleveland State, where he won Horizon League Coach of the Year in 2020 and 2021.
Tang and Gates are two of 15 coaches on the watch list, which also includes:
- T.J. Otzelberger (Iowa State)
- Rodney Terry (Texas)
- Randy Bennett (Saint Mary’s)
- Jeff Capel (Pittsburgh)
- Chris Collins (Northwestern)
- Mick Cronin (UCLA)
- Pat Kelsey (Charleston)
- Dusty May (Florida Atlantic)
- Sean Miller (Xavier)
- Nate Oats (Alabama)
- Matt Painter (Purdue)
- Kelvin Sampson (Houston)
- Shaka Smart (Marquette)
Gates and Tang are two of only four on the watch list in the first year with their program.
The 10 semifinalists will be announced on March 9 and four finalists will be revealed March 20 with the winner will announced April 2 at the Naismith Awards Brunch during the NCAA Final Four in Houston.
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