Why Dennis Gates wants Mizzou-KU series extended 50 years: ‘Not just another game’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Gates reconnected with Norm Stewart and past coaches to absorb Mizzou tradition.
- He frames Mizzou-Kansas as a generational rivalry, not merely another game.
- Gates wants to renew the series long-term, said he’d like 50 more years.
About ASAP after Dennis Gates was named Mizzou men’s basketball coach in March 2022, one of his first phone calls, if not the first, was to the godfather of MU hoops:
Norm Stewart, who during his 32-year coaching tenure at Missouri had recruited him only for Gates to wind up at the University of California at Berkeley, as MU was signing Keyon Dooling and Clarence Gilbert.
Gates and Stewart were in touch so much during those early days of Gates’ transition to Columbia from Cleveland State that Gates soon playfully asked the 87-year-old Stewart if he was “itching” to coach again.
It was significant to Gates on many levels to cultivate that relationship, which to this day means he’s in frequent contact with Stewart and knows he can vent to him and get “a real voice” when he needs it.
Moreover, Gates was so eager to learn and embrace the tradition and history of MU that he also called predecessors Quin Snyder, Mike Anderson, Frank Haith, Kim Anderson and Cuonzo Martin
“It’s important to understand where you are,” he said in a Mizzou Arena corridor Friday.
Even more than a decade since MU left the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference, Gates knows that little speaks to where he is more than resuming the rivalry with Kansas has.
And he can thank Stewart, who was 33-41 against KU, most for that.
As MU (8-1) prepares to play 21st-ranked KU (6-3) at noon Sunday at T-Mobile Center, Gates recalled how Stewart introduced him to what it means to do the job at Mizzou.
“‘You’re not a head coach here unless you beat Kansas,’” Gates said, smiling. “That’s what he said.”
After losing his first two games against Kansas and beating the Jayhawks 76-67 last season, Gates had breakfast the next morning with Stewart figuring he’d get his laurels.
Instead …
“He constantly pointed out the things we did wrong,” Gates said, laughing.
(On the phone Friday afternoon, Stewart laughingly denied that before saying “probably did.” He also reiterated how tremendous he thinks Gates is at the job.)
Not that Gates didn’t appreciate the criticism of the College Basketball Hall of Fame coach.
For one thing, even as smitten as he is with the history, Gates referred to that game a year ago as “dead,” to focus on the here and now.
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Meanwhile, nitpicking from Stewart is always welcome.
“There’s no complacency, no settling. … So tell me if I’ve been indoctrinated into what it means to coach (at MU),” he said with a smile. “Norm has really given me a resource in him (and) his vision on what this game means.”
Between that and what he’s heard from fans and former players and the history he’s obviously studied (Gates casually mentioned Corey Tate, hero of the 1997 double-overtime win over the Jayhawks), Gates now has his own deep feel for the rivalry.
So much so that he acknowledged a fundamental reality that most coaches would avoid.
Noting it’s the 272nd men’s basketball meeting between the schools, Gates said, “It’s not just another game for anybody. It’s not just another game for Mizzou. It’s not just another game for our opponents. It’s a game that means something.”
Something more and something extra in no small part because of Stewart, whose senses of showmanship and gamesmanship animated and fueled the rivalry for so long.
For instance, there was that old bit about Stewart professing that he’d never spend money in Kansas.
Great fun!
But … not true, Stewart has told me over the years.
In fact, Stewart’s wife, Virginia, grew up on the Kansas side and other family members have lived in the state.
And when a family phone was lost at a Shawnee Mission East football game and ended up in Lawrence, Stewart contacted a friend to pick it up at the police station: KU coach Bill Self.
(For a long time, I suspected the story was embellished. But Self recently confirmed it).
“For a guy who won’t spend a dime in Kansas,” Stewart once recalled Self saying, “you sure as hell got a lot of people working for you here.”
And relationships going back to about ever since Stewart was recruited by Phog Allen. In fact, he might well have played at Kansas if his high school coach in Shelbyville, Missouri, hadn’t convinced him to go to MU.
Gates understands that all such lore and much more is part of the texture of a series of never-ending stories.
“No game has been the same,” Gates said. “There are elements that stand out for years from each game. … A child who was (here) last year in the arena will take something that will last for about 20-30 years, and they are going to share with their children.
“So it’s a generational memory that’s being passed down, and a passion that’s being passed down. And ultimately, at the end of the day, we’re stewards of the (game).”
As such, Gates already is advocating for the series to be extended beyond the six-game deal that ends next season with another game at T-Mobile Center.
And while this is the first time the schools have met in Kansas City for a game that counted since 1997, and first-ever meeting in T-Mobile Center other than the 2017 preseason fundraiser, Gates understands how the ticket distribution has gone for what is considered a KU home game.
“At the end of the day, this isn’t a neutral-site game,” he said. “This is a home Kansas game. They have 99% of the tickets.”
MU will be the host next year in Kansas City, where Gates sees the upside of playing to reward local fans.
But he also believes it resonates more to each base to play these games on campus.
Just the same, the biggest thing to him is the series itself.
“It’s an unbelievable rivalry,“ he said. “A great contest that I hope can last, and we can renew that contract for the next 50 years.”
Because, with a little help from Stewart, he understands where he is.