On Friday, Auburn announced a new addition to the men’s basketball team with Matt Gatens returning to be the general manager. Gatens is leaving the Iowa Hawkeyes where he was an assistant coach the last three seasons. He was a graduate assistant for the Tigers from 2016-18 before becoming an assistant coach at Drake from 2019-22. Per the official press release, Gatens will handle roster management and evaluation, agent and donor relations, scouting, recruiting, and game planning.
In the ever-changing landscape of college athletics with NIL teams are adding a general manager to their coaching staffs. Head coach Bruce Pearl knew the importance of having someone in that role. Pearl was quoted in the release saying, “It was important for me to have someone who had strong experience and understanding the challenges of Name, Image and Likeness”. He also added, “I also wanted someone who could help us not only be the best we can be in NIL, but also with managing player and roster development.”
Gatens was part of the Tigers program the year before the 2019 Final Four run. Two key players he coached from that team were Bryce Brown and Jared Harper. He will be a key part of finding more players of that quality for the Tigers.
He played his college career for Iowa from 2019-22 where he was a two-time All-Big Ten player. During his career as the Hawkeyes point guard, Gatens averaged 12.8 points per game and shot 37% from the three-point line. After his college career was over he spent time playing professionally in Europe and the NBA G-League. Gatens will transition to his new role smoothly with his experience coaching for Pearl and the Tigers.
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This article originally appeared on Auburn Wire: Auburn basketball adds Matt Gatens as general manager
