CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland State head men's basketball coach Dennis Gates has been named a finalist for two CollegeInsider.com coaching awards, the Ben Jobe Award and Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year., CollegeInsider.com announced.
The Ben Jobe Award is named after renowned men's basketball coach Ben Jobe. Coach Jobe is an icon in the history of basketball at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and is best known as the head coach of Southern University. Perhaps his most memorable moment as a coach was leading No. 15 seed Southern to a 93-78 win over No. 2 Georgia Tech in the first round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament. It stands as one of the great upsets in the history of the event.
The Jim Phelan Award is named in honor of the legendary bow-tied coach who spent his entire career at Mount Saint Mary's University. Coach Phelan led the Mountaineers to the 1962 NCAA Men's Division II Basketball Championship. Retiring in 2003, Coach Phelan amassed 830 wins in all divisions.
In only his second season at the helm of the Vikings, Gates led the Green and White back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009 and only the third time in program history, winning the Horizon League Tournament.
Under Gates' leadership, the Vikings were also crowned the 2020-21 Horizon League Regular Season Champions, finishing atop the #HLMBB standings for the first time in 10 years (2010-11) and only the second time in program history.
Cleveland State finished #HLMBB play with 16 wins, marking the most wins in any conference/league play in team history (previously 15, 1992-93 season). The second-year head coach led Cleveland State to its best start in league play in program history, rattling off nine straight wins. The nine wins also marked the program's longest winning streak since winning 12 consecutive games in the 2010-11 season.
The Chicago, Illinois, native was voted as the Horizon League Coach of the Year for the second straight season, marking the first Cleveland State head coach in program history to be awarded Horizon League Coach of the Year in back-to-back seasons. He is also only the eighth head coach in Horizon League history to be awarded the honor in consecutive seasons.
In the classroom, nine Vikings made the Horizon League's Fall Academic Honor Roll, leading all Horizon League men's basketball programs. Cleveland State men's basketball had eight student-athletes on the Cleveland State Dean's List this past fall, while Ben Sternberg appeared on the President's List. As a team, the Vikes had a team GPA of 3.43.
