Florida Basketball: 8 candidates to replace Mike White as head coach
By Joey Loose
In what can be described as an unusual situation, Mike White has left Florida Basketball after seven seasons as the head coach, taking the head coaching job at Georgia; an SEC rival. White departs the Gators for his third D1 head coaching job, leaving after an up and down tenure in Gainesville.
Very familiar with the SEC, White was born in Florida and played his collegiate ball at Ole Miss, later becoming an assistant at the school. The first eleven years of his coaching career were as an assistant, spending four seasons at Jacksonville State before that seven-year stint with the Rebels. He served under two different coaches with the Rebels and gained valuable experience that he’d use later in his career.
His head coaching career began when he was hired by Louisiana Tech in 2011. He took over a Bulldogs program in the WAC, but one that transitioned to Conference USA after his second season. He took Louisiana Tech to three straight regular-season titles (in two different leagues), but had to settle for three straight NIT bids. Louisiana Tech won at least 27 games each of those three seasons but faltered in their conference tournaments.
Florida brought White aboard in 2015 after those four successful years with the Bulldogs, giving him the unenviable task of succeeding Billy Donovan, who had won a pair of national championships with the Gators less than a decade earlier. Despite that pressure, White actually got results near the beginning of his tenure, leading the Gators to an Elite Eight run in his second season in Gainesville.
Over the course of his seven seasons, White didn’t fail with the Gators, leading them to four straight NCAA Tournaments, but he certainly didn’t have the same kind of pull as Donovan. In those seven years, Florida was always at or above .500 in conference play; impressive as the SEC has strengthened in recent years. Unfortunately, Florida had a rocky season this year, missing the NCAA Tournament for the second time in White’s tenure.
Whether or not the writing was on the wall and White was just looking for another secure job, Florida needs a new head coach. Understand that this Gators program is still a top-notch SEC school in fantastic shape to compete for conference and national titles if they get the right coach to Gainesville. We’ll be taking a close look at several potential candidates for the Florida job, running through them strictly in alphabetical order.