BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…July 16, 2009, 15 years ago today:
The most successful coach in Idaho Stampede history resigns to take an assistant’s spot with the NBA’s Sacramento Kings. Bryan Gates, who had been a student at Boise State and didn’t play basketball, cajoled and lobbied his way into an unpaid intern position under Bobby Dye during the Stampede’s first season in 1997-98. After all, Gates knew how to fill ball racks and pick up towels from his days as a young ballboy during the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage.
After a long and winding road (pun intended) through the minor leagues of basketball, he returned to Boise to become the Stampede’s head coach in 2006. And those were the franchise’s glory days. Gates had a three-year regular season record of 100-50 and won the D-League Coach of the Year award in his first two seasons. More importantly, he guided the Stampede to their only D-League championship in 2008.
After his one-season stint in Sacramento, Gates coached with the New Orleans Pelicans and the Minnesota Timberwolves before returning to the Kings for a three-season run from 2016-19. Gates then went back to the Timberwolves for two years. His latest two stops have been with a couple of pretty good organizations. Gates was on the Phoenix Suns staff for two seasons, and he’s now an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers (alongside former Boise State star Coby Karl).
Gates has plenty of Bobby Dye stories from the former Boise State coach’s one year with the Stampede. He told one at the 2006 press conference introducing him as head coach. After making no money during the 1997-98 season, Dye and then-general manager Clay Moser put together a package that would make Gates an account executive selling tickets. That wasn’t the direction Gates wanted to go, but he let Dye outline the compensation plan. Then Gates asked the coach, “Is that before or after taxes?” After a classic silent stare, Dye sighed, “I don’t know.”
Gates added at the presser that he learned a lot about coaching and life from Dye, and he noted that the highlight of that whirlwind week for him was when he was able to call Dye and break the news of his Stampede head coaching job. They talked a while, with Dye asking, “Good contract?” Gates lined it out a bit for him. Then there was a pause, and Bobby deadpanned, “Is that before or after taxes?”
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
