NORTH AUGUSTA, SC–Since his first day on the job, Dennis Gates has spoken of the history of Missouri basketball. He has forged a relationship with legendary coach Norm Stewart in his three years in Columbia, but the efforts have gone much deeper. Gates has consistently praised all of his predecessors in the job and has shown he did his homework on the program and its tradition. 

The best way to connect to the past? Connect with the players who made it all happen. That’s been an ongoing effort that Gates began almost immediately upon taking the job in April of 2022. Missouri has had periods of success over the 25 years since Stewart walked away, but none have been sustained. The last quarter century of Tiger basketball has been disjointed at best. There have been five head coaches (six if you count Melvin Watkins’ interim stint), 13 years between NCAA Tournament wins and more valleys than peaks. 

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Gates’ goal is simple: Former players should not identify with a certain coach or a certain era. They should identify with the program and they’re all welcome to be as involved in it as they would like.

“You’re a Mizzou guy,” Kareem Rush, a 2025 Mizzou Hall of Fame inductee, said. “I think that’s kind of what happened. We had those four or five coaches kind of went through back to back. 

“A lot of guys missed kind of coming down to Columbia, being a part of the school and trying to help get us back on track.”

Rush has talked to Gates quite a few times over his three years and is helping the coach spearhead alumni efforts. He said he also reached out to general manager Tim Fuller when Fuller was hired a few weeks ago. They have plans to make the alumni network stronger and maybe even a bit more formal, but they’re already taking some steps. 

Those steps are evidenced at Peach Jam in North Augusta this week. Rush has been in the arena for games the first two days, watching some of the Mizzou targets play, including Jason Crowe Jr., the No. 5 overall player in the Class of 2026 who will announce his commitment on Friday. Former Tigers Doug Smith and J.T. Tiller were in the building on Wednesday. So was Jimmy McKinney, who was watching his son, Jimmy McKinney III, play with Brad Beal Elite. Smith and Tiller watched McKinney’s son’s game and then all three caught up for a conversation afterward.

“It’s always good to see former guys that donned the black and gold at Missouri,” Smith, an all-American and two-time Big Eight player of the year between 1987 and 1991 said. “Bringing us all back to give them a collective unit, one voice, so to speak. And it’s been a slow process, but we’re getting it there. We’re getting it there.

“I bleed black and gold. Over the years, there’s been a lot of different coaches and things. I keep in contact with Coach Stewart all the time. I’ve been back a few times. I used to make it a point to come back to a couple football games and a couple (basketball) games every year.”

The level of connection each of the players has had over the years varies. Smith said he has gotten back less since moving to Gilbert, Arizona, due simply to the difficulty of travel. Tiller is a teacher and a high school coach with three young daughters in Atlanta so he has followed the program from afar, but hasn’t had many chances to make the in-person connection. He has kept in touch mostly through former teammate Laurence Bowers, who lives in Columbia and has built a close relationship with Gates over the last three years.

“He’s the one that kind of keeps the pipeline flowing,” Tiller, a starter on Mizzou’s last Elite Eight team in 2009, said. “But I think I’d say when coach Gates got there, I got more involved.”

McKinney, back in his home town of St. Louis, has probably kept the closest ties to his alma mater, though it wasn’t necessarily the basketball program that was his tightest bond.

“I’m really connected with the football side as well,” he said. “Will Franklin, he’s back in St Louis. He’s coaching at University City, right? So he’s the connection. So the guys that come back and talk to him, and because he owns, you know, a sports bar, they come back and talk to him. And I see the guys. I see the old football players and, you know, stay connected.”

McKinney said he talks frequently with former teammates Rickey Paulding, Arthur Johnson and Kevin Young, but he’s noticed the effort from Gates to connect all former players to today’s Tiger program.

“I like how they’re trying to put every generation or every team back together,” he said. “Just show some support and come together as a Mizzou family.”

“Connecting all the generations of all the coaches, that was a major thing,” Tiller said. “And then, you know, Tim is a relationship guy, so I think as he got back in the fold, that was the first thing he did, as well, is reach out and let us know he was back.”

There’s one definite commonality among the four players we talked to this week: They all like the direction Gates has things going in Columbia after two NCAA Tournament appearances in his first three seasons and serious current recruiting momentum.

“He’s done a phenomenal job,” Tiller said. “I heard when he was he was coming in, he was a great recruiter. He definitely improved it. I mean, he brought, like, unbelievable talent, and right now with Mark Mitchell, they look really, really good. I think he’s doing a phenomenal job at bringing talent back.”

“I think it’s upbeat basketball,” Smith said. “There’s a lot of enthusiasm to playing, bringing Missouri basketball into this new era. I think it’s a great thing that he’s doing.”

It’s been longer than most like to admit, but Missouri basketball has had plenty of success over the years. Those who helped build the program want nothing more than to see it restored to those former heights. 

“Anything we can do to kind of reengage with the program,” Rush said. “Just kind of show how great the program is. Anything we can do to help.”