Florida Basketball: Gators Found Another Fantastic Coach In Mike White
Athletic director Jeremy Foley found a future Hall of Fame coach in Billy Donovan. He’s found another rising star for Florida basketball in Mike White.
21 years ago, following a resignation by head basketball coach Lon Kruger, former athletic director Jeremy Foley sought a “young, energetic, and enthusiastic” coach to bring sustained success to Florida basketball. After a wide-ranging search, he decided that 30-year-old Marshall head coach Billy Donovan was the best fit to lead the Gators.
At the time, Florida was considered a good landing spot, but not a great coaching gig. The Florida basketball program had only experiencing fleeting success during its history. Although the Gators reached their first Final Four under Kruger in 1994, his teams had slipped back to mediocre levels.
Donovan quickly elevated the program from a “stepping stone” job to a great head coaching opportunity. Donovan’s first decade in Gainesville brought a new level of success to the University of Florida’s basketball program.
The Gators earned an NCAA Tournament bid in every season between 1999 and 2007 (a streak of nine straight appearances), reached three national championship games, and won two NCAA titles.
In contrast, Florida basketball squads had only appeared in five NCAA Tournaments in 81 years of play before Donovan’s arrival and had never reached an NCAA championship game. In conference play, Florida had captured only one regular season SEC Championship and had never won the conference tournament before Donovan’s arrival.
From 1996 to 2007, the Gators won three SEC regular season titles and three SEC tournament titles.
After three disappointing seasons, Florida quickly became the class of the SEC again. From 2010 to 2014, the Gators made four consecutive Elite Eight appearances, including a Final Four appearance in 2014.
Following an injury-plagued 2015 season where the Gators stumbled to a 16-17 record, Donovan was offered a job offer he couldn’t resist as head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder. It was long known that Donovan wanted a shot in the NBA.
In June of 2007, he agreed to become the Orlando Magic head coach before deciding to return to Florida a week later. This time, Foley couldn’t persuade Donovan to remain as the Gators’ coach, and once again, he was faced with the daunting task of finding a new basketball coach.
This time, he had to replace a legend.
Once again, Foley went knocking on the door at a mid-major school. This time, he found his next head coach at Louisiana Tech.
Mike White, one of the hot young names in coaching, is the son of Duke athletic director Kevin White. White quickly made a name for himself at Louisiana Tech. His teams won 101 games in his four seasons as head coach, including three conference championships.
Looking deeper into the program, Foley was drawn to White’s coaching style. The Bulldogs incorporated a variety of full-court pressing defenses and an up-tempo offensive style, very similar to White’s predecessor at Florida.
It was easy to see what drew Foley to White, and with White’s playing days at Ole Miss, it was easy to see why he was drawn to the SEC.
In White’s first season, the Gators enjoyed modest success. Florida finished the season 21-15 and made it to the quarterfinals of the NIT. This season, Gators fans are seeing exactly what Foley saw over a year ago with the hiring of White as this Florida team has many similarities to Donovan’s Gators.
The Gators began the 2016-17 season 10-3 during non-conference play with solid wins over Seton Hall and Miami and a narrow 77-72 loss to the Associated Press’ No. 1 team: the undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs.
Florida has continued its success in conference, as they have begun 10-2, including a 22-point thrashing of Kentucky.
Unknowingly and unintentionally, Foley became a trend-setter when it came to hiring coaches. Each year, as many coaches land on the proverbial hot seat, athletic directors look for the same “young, energetic, and enthusiastic” coach that Foley looked for two decades ago.
Foley struck gold when it came to Billy Donovan, as he led the program from mediocrity to greatness. Now, in year two of the Mike White experiment, it appears that he has many of the similar intangible qualities of Donovan.
But, as White walks out the tunnel into the newly renovated Exactech Arena, the expectations couldn’t be any higher. He’s been tasked with taking the Gators from great to elite. The Gators currently sit tied atop the SEC standings.
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The best way for Mike White to escape the large shadow cast by Billy Donovan is to lead this Florida basketball squad to an improbable conference championship.