Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Special Assistant to the Head Coach
- Email:
- dkates@ia.ua.edu
- Phone:
- 205-348-4551
Donovan Kates enters his fourth season with the Alabama men’s basketball program, and his first as the special assistant to the head coach. Kates was promoted to his new role after serving the 2020-21 campaign as the director of men’s basketball video services.
In his new role, Kates’ primary focus will be on the defensive side of the floor where he will focus advance team scouting as well as self-scouting, while providing feedback and suggestions to the coaching staff. He is also the post-practice coordinator and will assist the head coach in multiple duties as assigned. Off the court, Kates will serve as program’s liaison for academics, Title IX and housing, among other things.
Prior to his promotion into a full-time role as the team’s video coordinator, Kates spent two years as a graduate assistant manager from 2018-20. He brought coaching experience to the Crimson Tide program, having spent one season as the boy’s head prep coach at Combine Academy (Charlotte, N.C.) in 2017-18.
A graduate of Manhattan College, Kates was a four-year letterwinner and a three-year starter from 2011-15. While with the Jaspers, he helped lead the team to back-to-back MAAC Tournament championships and NCAA Tournament appearances in his junior and senior seasons (2014 and 2015).
A native of Hopkinsville, Ky., Kates, who was a four-year letterwinner and three-year starter at Manhattan, played in 131 career contests across his four seasons. He would finish his playing career with 570 points, 277 rebounds, 105 assists and 50 steals
As a senior, Kates played a pivotal role in helping the Jaspers run to the MAAC Championship, as he scored a season-high 13 points in the title game victory over Iona (3/9) while making good on 4-of-6 from long range.
As a high school standout, Kates helped lead Christian County to the 2011 Kentucky State Championship as he garnered Second Team All-Kentucky honors. During the Colonels’ 2011 Championship run, he led Christian County with 77 three-pointers shooting nearly 40 percent from beyond the arc on his way to earning a spot on the 2011 Kentucky All-Star Team. He closed his high school career third in Christian County history scoring over 1,400 career points. Off the court, he ranked in the top 10 percent academically of his high school graduating class.
Kates earned his undergraduate degree in communications from Manhattan in 2015. He obtained his master’s in sports business administration from Alabama in 2019.
Kates has one daughter and resides in Tuscaloosa.
