Coach Yates was born and raised in Ft. Worth/Hurst Texas. He attended L.D. Bell High school and graduated in 1983. In his senior year, his team won the 4-5A district championship and advanced in the playoffs. His high school accolades included First Team All-District, All Tarrant County, All-Region, and he was selected and participated in the East/West All Star game.
After High School, he received a basketball scholarship to play at Kilgore College. In his sophomore year he started at point/shooting guard with the team finishing as conference champions and ranked in the top ten in the country.
Currently he is serving as the President and Director of Operations of the Texas Express Basketball Club. He has vast experience coaching both boys and girls at the select, public, and private school levels. In the summer of 2007, Yates coached the Texas Express Junior Girls Team to a fifth place finish at the Division I AAU Nationals Orlando with all juniors being offered Division I scholarships. His 2008 Texas Express Junior Girls team completed the season with another winning season of 48-11, and with Division I and II scholarships being offered to all junior girls again. His 2009 team finished in the Sweet Sixteen at AAU DI Nationals in Orlando, Florida, placing thirteenth. Yates recently completed his 27th year of coaching select basketball. His select basketball experiences have afforded him many opportunities to coach at the national, state, and local levels. Yates has had stints with Team Texas, The Fort Worth Lions, The Mid-Cities All-Stars, and several privately sponsored teams. His select basketball teams have accumulated over 1500 wins during his 27 year span and recently his 2022 spring-summer high school teams finished with an overall records of 107-12.
In addition to his select basketball experience, Coach Yates previously worked as a professional educator for twenty-nine years. He earned his master’s degree in educational administration from Texas Christian University and undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Arlington. Yates has worked as a teacher, coach, and/or administrator for Birdville ISD, Coppell ISD, White-Settlement ISD, All Saints Episcopal School of Fort Worth, and The Oakridge School in Arlington, Texas. At Oakridge, he served the school in many capacities over a twenty year period. His responsibilities included serving as the school’s Athletic Director for six years and the head boys’ basketball coach for 17 seasons. He also served as both the head girls and boys basketball coach at Oakridge over a three year period. He is currently the head boys basketball coach at North Central Texas Academy in Granbury, Texas. Yates has accomplished many milestones during his high school coaching career. In his twenty-seven seasons as a Texas High School Basketball Head Coach, Yates' teams have amassed a 668-337 record. Under his leadership, his high school teams have won twenty five or more games in twenty-three of his twenty-seven seasons. His team's accomplishments include twelve district championships and six state championships, His State Championships include two SPC Division II state championships, two SPC Division I state championships, one TCAL 6A Elite State Championship, and one TAIAO State Championship. His 2002 SPC Division I SPC state Championship team finished as the number one ranked private school team in the state of Texas. In 1998, Yates was nominated and awarded "Coach of the Year" by Lay Witnesses for Christ International. His purpose driven approach for working with young people and coaching basketball is evident in the way he communicates and interacts with his players. Yates believes that success is a product of hard work, discipline, knowledge, and preparation. He strives to instill these qualities in all the athletes he coaches. Coach Yates resides in Aledo with his wife, Tricia, daughter, Rachael, and son, Cameron. His oldest daughter, Bernadette, resides in Boston, Massachusetts with her husband, Dr. Chris Sconyers and coach Yates grandson and grandaughter Jameson and Jodelle.