CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State University Head Men's Basketball Coach Dennis Gates has been named as the HoopDirt.com NCAA D1 Coach of the Year presented by Just Play Solutions for the 2020-21 college basketball season. Gates qualified for the award by being named as the HoopDirt.com/Just Play Solutions Coach of the Week for Week 11 of the season.
Gates joins Kelvin Sampson (2018-19), Porter Moser (2017-18) and Roy Williams (2015-16) as recipients of HoopDirt.com's yearly award.
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.
