Mizzou basketball assistant Corey Tate leaves for Saint Louis

Missouri assistant men’s basketball coach Corey Tate left Friday for a similar post at Saint Louis under new head coach Travis Ford.

“Corey has worked his way up the coaching ladder,” Ford said in a release announcing the hire. “Corey has a great reputation not just as a coach, but the type of person he is.”

Tate was hired in May 2015 to replace former associate head coach Tim Fuller and spent one season on Tigers coach Kim Anderson’s staff.

He had been the coach at Mineral Area College, a junior college in Park Hills, Mo., and also directed the St. Louis Eagles of the Nike Elite Youth Baseball League before returning to his alma mater.

Tate, according to sources, was offered a two-year contract with the Billikens by Ford, who was hired in March to replace Jim Crews.

Tate’s wife, Nicole, is a lawyer in St. Louis. She remained there with the couple’s four children — sons, Matthew and Sebastian, and daughters, Alexis and Helen — after he was hired at Mizzou.

“Congratulations to Corey Tate on his move back to the St. Louis area, where his family has continued to live during his time on the Mizzou Basketball coaching staff,” Anderson said in a release from MU. “We appreciate Coach Tate’s efforts while back home at his alma mater, the flagship institution of our great state.”

The Tigers leave next week for a 10-day tour of Italy, which includes four exhibition games. The timing of the international trip could slow down the process of replacing Tate.

“We will identify a new member of our coaching staff that is prepared to tackle the challenges of coaching and recruiting in the Southeastern Conference, while continuing to be a strong mentor and role model for our student-athletes,” Anderson said.

It’s the second change to Anderson’s staff this offseason.

During the spring, the Tigers added Steve Shields to the full-time coaching staff, swapping him from his role as special assistant to Anderson with assistant coach Brad Loos.

Loos’ daughter, Rhyan, has been undergoing treatment for cancer, but he’s back in Columbia after doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York said Wednesday there was no evidence of active disease after reviewing her latest bone marrow tests.

Loos isn’t allowed by NCAA rules to actively coach the team after sliding into Shields’ role as special assistant to Anderson, but he’s expected to fill in on an interim basis after Tate’s departure.

Tate played at Mizzou from 1994-97 when Anderson was an assistant coach under Norm Stewart and graduated with a degree in economics.

This story was originally published July 29, 2016 at 11:46 AM with the headline "Mizzou basketball assistant Corey Tate leaves for Saint Louis."