NSMA NAMES DENNIS GATES, TYREECE BROWN “BIG HOUSE” GAINES AWARD WINNERS

For Immediate Release

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (April 16, 2025) – Dennis Gates, the men’s basketball coach at the University of Missouri, and Tyreece Brown, the women’s basketball coach at Fayetteville State University, have been named the Clarence “Big House” Gaines College Basketball Coaches of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. The Gaines Awards will be presented during the NSMA’s 65^th awards banquet on June 30, 2025, at Grandover Resort & Spa – a Wyndham Grand Hotel, in Greensboro, N.C.

Gates, the Division I winner of the Gaines Award, engineered one of the biggest turnarounds in the country for the second time in his three seasons at Mizzou. After winning only eight games the previous season and none in SEC play, the Tigers went 21-10 during the regular season, winning 13 more games overall, and ten more SEC games to move up eight spots in the Conference standings. The Tigers won one game in the SEC Tournament and qualified for the NCAA Tournament, where they were eliminated by Drake. It was a similar story to Gates’ first season in Columbia, when he took over a team that won 11 regular-season games the year before and led the Tigers to 25 wins, a fourth-place finish in the SEC, and an NCAA Tournament berth.

Brown took over the Fayetteville State women’s program as interim head coach in the 2023-24 season and proceeded to lead the Broncos to a 29-3 regular season record, a CIAA Tournament championship, and a berth in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet Sixteen. With the interim tag removed, Brown’s Broncos followed up with an overall mark of 21-8, 13-3 in conference, a second straight CIAA Tournament championship, and another berth in the NCAA Tournament. It was the first time in program history that the team had won back-to-back conference tournament titles.

Born in Chicago, Gates was a two-time Pac-10 First Team All-Academic selection at the University of California, Berkeley. He led the Golden Bears to three 20-win seasons in his time there, earning a bachelor’s degree in three years. He earned his master’s degree from Florida State, where he spent eight seasons as an assistant to 2018 Gaines Award winner Leonard Hamilton. He was also an assistant at Marquette, Cal, Northern Illinois, and Nevada. Prior to Missouri, Gates’s first head coaching job was at Cleveland State, where he led the Vikings to two Horizon League Championships in three seasons.

Brown is a Philadelphia native and 2008 graduate of Fayetteville State, where he was a two-year starter for the Broncos. He began his coaching career as an assistant with the women’s team at his alma mater in 2011. He and his wife Kieauna are the parents of two daughters and live in Fayetteville.

The 65th NSMA Awards Banquet and national convention are set for Grandover Resort – a Wyndham Grand Hotel in Greensboro, N.C., June 29-30, 2025. For additional information, please visit www.nationalsportsmedia.org. Tickets to the NSMA awards weekend and national convention are available here: https://bit.ly_4kyXzBT.

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ABOUT THE CLARENCE “BIG HOUSE” GAINES AWARDS

The Clarence “Big House” Gaines College Basketball Coach of the Year Awards are presented to the head coach in NCAA Divisions 1 and 2, who may not earn recognition from mainstream outlets. An NSMA committee votes on the awards at the conclusion of the NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments.

Gaines was the head basketball coach at Winston-Salem (NC) State University for 47 seasons. His teams won 828 games, including the 1967 NCAA Division II National Championship. That team was led by Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, who went on to an NBA Hall of Fame career. Among other notable players Gaines coached were Cleo Hill, the first NBA first-round draft choice from a historically Black college or university, and sports media personality Stephen A. Smith. A former president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), Gaines was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982. He died in 2005.

ALL-TIME GAINES AWARD WINNERS