Watch: Mizzou HC Says His Team is ‘F***ing Terrible’ at Drawing Fouls
College basketball coaches have several reasons why they might go scorched earth on their team. Some just come naturally by it, and it’s just a part of what makes them who they are as a coach.
Some do it when a situation calls for it, using it to motivate their team by doing it only on occasion. These are the same coaches who might draw a tech from the bench or get thrown out of a game to make a point.
Then, there are the times when coaches reach a point of frustration that causes something to rise up in them and their true, explicit reaction just comes out.
The latter is exactly what we saw from Missouri head basketball coach Dennis Gates on Tuesday night.
The Tigers suffered yet another frustrating loss on Tuesday, this time to No. 5 Tennessee, 72-67. The loss seems to have been the final straw for Coach Gates, who lost it at the podium.
When addressing his team’s inability to draw fouls, Gates let all the frustration hang out.
“We gotta do a better job drawing fouls,” Gates said. “I think we’re terrible at it. We f***ing suck at it.”
There will surely be repercussions for what Gates had to say, but those might’ve come anyway at this point. The five-point loss to Tennessee brings Missouri’s losing streak to 13 games, dating back to the nonconference portion of their schedule.
At 8-18 (0-13 SEC), it just hasn’t been a good year for Gates and the Tigers, and it’s reached its boiling point with five games left in the year.
