Missouri head coach Dennis Gates (C). (PowerMizzou on YouTube.)
By Reice Shipley on

Dan Dakich is best known for his media roles, including a decade-long tenure at ESPN from 2010-2021 and current work at Outkick. But prior to that, he had lengthy ties to the Indiana basketball program, first as a player from 1981-1985 and later as an assistant coach and interim head coach for the Hoosiers for 11 years.

Because of his lengthy time at Indiana, Dakich seemingly believes he knows what is best for the Hoosiers program. In his eyes, former Indiana guard Tamar Bates was not the best for the program.

Bates, who has played for Missouri each of the last two seasons after transferring from Indiana following the 2022-23 season, has played a key role in the Tigers’ success this season.

But ever since Bates first started his college basketball career, Dakich didn’t believe that Bates would be a good college basketball player. In particular, Dakich took to social media last year to criticize Indiana media members who were “clamoring” to see Bates playing at Missouri, detailing that he believes that any program he plays for has “no chance to win with him.”

Dakich doubled down on this stance prior to Indiana’s matchup with the No. 4 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide last Thursday despite the fact that Missouri is in the midst of an excellent season and Bates plays an integral role on the team.

As Bates has done much of this season, he proved Dakich wrong in their matchup against Alabama, scoring 13 points and adding four steals on the defensive side of the ball in a 110-98 upset victory.

After the game, reporters asked Missouri head coach Dennis Gates about Dakich’s comments. Gates explained that he has seen an entirely different player since Bates arrived on campus.

“Let me answer this first. I don’t approve of any directly attacking a great leader, a great young man, a dude who has never gotten in trouble, a guy that has done everything I have asked,” said Gates. “I don’t know who he is talking about. He may be confusing somebody for somebody else. But sometimes that happens. And what I am proud of is you haven’t seen Tamar Bates respond on social media one time.

“He keeps his focus because he has grown from his experience at Indiana. He never says ‘I never wish I went to Indiana.’ Tamar Bates says thank you to Indiana, he has great friends, his daughter’s godfather was his teammate.

“So from the Indiana experience, we are able to see this version of Tamar Bates. And I am absolutely proud of who he is as a man, what he stands for, his leadership qualities. I just want to sometime make sure our guys are told the things they are doing well. It’s not about those types of tweets.”

Bates’ teammates Mark Mitchell and Caleb Grill further praised their teammate. As Gates alluded to, it seems clear that Bates is a leader in the Missouri locker room.

Despite all of this, Dakich tripled down on his stance about Bates, calling himself the “preeminent voice of college basketball” and telling those who are mad about the take to “go over there and be mad.”

“I understand, I am the preeminent voice of college basketball,” said Dakich. “When I say something, it ends up in the New York Times or coaches (are) talking about it postgame. But look, I said what I said about Tamar Bates a couple of years ago when he arrived at Indiana and acted like he owned the joint, walking into the weight room while players were working out.

“I said nobody knows Indiana like I do. I said it’s not going to work out at Indiana. And then of course it didn’t. I put that tweet out a couple of years ago and it resurfaced and I stick by it. If you are mad about it, God bless you. Go over there and be mad.”

Maybe Bates was guilty of everything Dakich accused him of when he arrived at Indiana, but it sure seems like he has matured into a heck of a player at Missouri.

On the surface, Dakich’s continuous attacks on Bates seem like a case of someone unwilling to admit that they were wrong about a player. But either way, nobody at Missouri appears all that concerned with what he has to say.

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.

View all posts by Reice Shipley