Clayton Bates promoted to head coach at Western Michigan

Western Michigan assistant Clayton Bates has been promoted to head coach, the school announced on Saturday. Bates has been at WMU for a total of 15 years, spending the last two as Steve Hawkins‘ associate head coach.

“Our student athletes, and the whole program, is fortunate, in this difficult time, to have a strong leadership in Clayton Bates, a veteran of the program,” AD Kathy Bauregard said in a release. “I know that Coach Bates will do an excellent job leading these young men during the 2020-21 season.”

This is the first head coaching opportunity for Bates, who is in his second stint in Kalamazoo after returning to the program in 2012. He has also coached at Wright State and Illinois and was a walk-on for Lon Kruger at Florida in his home town of Gainesville.

“It is with great pride and enthusiasm that I have accepted the position of Head Coach of the Men’s Basketball program and Western Michigan University,” Bates said. “My family and I are proud Broncos and we are excited to be part of the university in this new capacity. Success is a product of shared ownership. We will work together to represent the university in a first-class manner.”

credit to Western Michigan Athletics for the image