After eight years at the helm, Richard Pitino is out at Minnesota. Just once in eight seasons was he able to finish the season with a winning record in Big Ten play, and he was able to win just one NCAA Tournament game in two appearances.

Most troubling to some followers of the program was his inability to get in-state prospects to stay home and be Gophers. Since 2017, Just three of 23 offered in-state prospects chose to stay home. Daniel Oturu, Gabe Kalscheur, and Jarvis Omersa, all in the 2018 class, were the only three that chose to be Gophers.

With coaching search season underway, TGR will take a deeper look at some of the candidates that could be on Minnesota's radar:

Age: 41

Hometown: Chicago, Illinois

Alma Mater: California (1998-2002)

Buyout: $1.2 Million

Coaching History: Marquette Grad Assistant (2003-2004), Florida State Grad Assistant (2004-2005), California Assistant (2005-2007), Northern Illinois Assistant (2007-2009), Nevada Assistant (2009-2011), Florida State Assistant (2011-2019), Cleveland State Head Coach (2019-Present)

Coaching Record: 30-28 (24-15 Horizon League)

NCAA Tournament Record: 0-0* (In 2021 NCAA Tournament)

Accolades: 2x Horizon League Coach of the Year, Horizon League Regular Season Champion (2021), Horizon League Tournament Champion (2021)

Graduate Assistant

After finishing off a four-year playing career at California, Gates served as a coaching intern for the LA Clippers before becoming a graduate assistant in 2003. The Golden Eagles were coming off a Dwyane Wade led Final Four appearance. With Gates on staff, under Tom Crean, Marquette finished 19-12 and ended their season with a loss in the quarter finals of the NIT.

He then moved on to Florida State, for his final year as a grad assistant, and it was under recently hired head coach Leonard Hamilton. That year the Seminoles went 12-19 so it wasn't a successful season by any means, but it begun his coaching relationship with Leonard Hamilton.

Days as an Assistant

In 2005 Dennis Gates got his first assistant job, and it was back at Cal, where he just graduated a few years ago. It was also a chance to be on staff with the same coach that had coached him throughout his college career.

Cal got to the NCAA tournament once in Gate's three years as a Golden Bear assistant coach before Ben Braun was fired.

Gates then spent two seasons at Northern Illinois that were not great by any means. The Huskies would go 16-42 in that span of time.

The next two season for Gates were spent in the WAC at Nevada under coach David Carter. The Wolfpack went 34-32, with his first season there a successful 21-13 record.

Back to Florida State

In 2011, Gates linked back up with Leonard Hamilton and would spend the next eight years together. From 2011-2019, the Florida State Seminoles won 20 or more games five times, made the Sweet Sixteen once, and the Elite Eight once.

Gates was at Florida State at an important time, and he played a big role in Florida State's growth as a program. Gate's recruiting and relationship building ability allowed the Seminoles to get a commitment from five-star Jonathan Isaac, the number eight player in the country who went on to the sixth pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.

The following is an excerpt from Jonathan Isaac's Player's Tribune contribution from March of 2020.

"It was mostly Coach Gates, who is the head coach at Cleveland State now (BIG shout-out, because he’s my guy), who recruited me, so I got to know him really well. Whenever we’d talk, he’d make sure everything was all right with me. He’d ask about my dad, who was still up in New York working. He’d want to know about my family in Naples, and how I was dealing with the recruiting process as a whole. He felt like an older brother to me, almost.

And for me, somebody who felt way out of their comfort zone in this world — his friendship meant the world to me.

Florida grew on me, too. The lifestyle was familiar and staying in the state became important.

That’s why I went to Tallahassee."

Gates has more Florida State recruiting success stories. According to an article by the Tallahassee Democrat, that list includes 2017 NBA Draft Pick and class of 2015 five-star Dwayne Bacon, and 2019 First Round Pick Mfiondu Kabengele.

While at Florida State, Dennis Gates knew he wanted to be a head coach one day, so he did all he could to soak in the lessons from one of the best in the game in Leonard Hamilton. Florida State Rivals Affiliate Warchant.com did a great story on Gates after he attended a NCAA Champion Forum for rising assistants and future head coaches, and I highly encourage you read it.

Gates did his best to never miss a word of a Leonard Hamilton presser. After eight years as an assistant at FSU, Gates soaked up enough coaching information from his experiences to be ready to take his first head coaching job.

Head Coach at Cleveland State

Dennis Gates entered his first season at Cleveland State, and there was not much expected from them. Actually, it was thought that they would be lucky to win a game or two in the Horizon League.

The Vikings were losing 11 players, including their leading scorer Tyree Appleby who averaged 17.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 5.6 assists as a sophomore. Appleby is now at Florida.

Gates took the losses in stride and built something for himself. Finishing 11-21 on the year, and 7-11 in the Horizon League, he won coach of the year in the conference. It was clear that Gates was making quick work at a school that hadn't won seven conference games in a season in five-years.

Cleveland State's momentum continued under Gates into this year, and his Vikings were just recently crowned the Horizon League Regular Season Champions, and another Coach of the Year award for Gates. Their impressive season included a nine-game conference winning streak, never losing more than one conference game in a row, and a six-point loss on the road to Ohio State.

In the Horizon League Tournament, Gates' team overcame deficits in the quarter and semi-finals to help the Vikings advance to the conference championship. Cleveland State controlled the game throughout its entirety, and qualified for the NCAA Tournament with a 80-69 victory over Oakland.

The Vikings are a 15-seed in the NCAA Tournament, and will play 2-seed Houston at Assembly Hall on Friday, March 19th at 6:15 PM CT on truTV.