Georgia hires Mike White to fill coaching vacancy
The Georgia Bulldogs aren’t leaving the conference to fill their coaching vacancy. According to Jon Rothstein, Georgia will hire Florida Gators basketball coach Mike White.
Georgia fired Tom Crean on Thursday, March 10. Crean’s tenure at Georgia ended after four seasons and a 47-75 record, including a 15-58 conference record. The school owes Crean a $3.2 million buyout, per his contract.
This will be White’s third opportunity to run a program. He got his head coaching break at Louisiana Tech before taking the job at Florida. White also spent time as an assistant coach at Jacksonville State and Ole Miss. Most of his career has been spent in the SEC and White will stay in the conference with the Bulldogs.
White had received a two-year extension prior to the 2021-22 season. That kept him under contract through 2026-27.
“Though he’s still relatively young by coaching standards, Mike has already established himself as a successful head coach,” Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said in a statement on June 1, 2021. “Because of his work ethic, intelligence, and competitiveness his career has such a high ceiling, and it’s going to be fun watching what his Gator teams accomplish for years to come.”
White had lost the fan base
The Gators are the only SEC team, and one of nine power conference teams, who have not posted a losing conference record over the past seven seasons. While White’s teams were consistently making the tournament, he wasn’t winning over fans.
In seven years with the Gators, White comprised a 243-128 overall record. His teams were 122-69 in conference play. White ranked inside the top-20 in all-time SEC winning percentage during his seven year tenure.
Sources had told Gators Online that White’s family had stopped coming to games to avoid the vitriol pointed towards White. Leaving to a program like Georgia would lend credence to that information. The Bulldogs are in total rebuild mode. White has been a solid recruiter while at Florida and Georgia is looking for a coach to rebuild a program in shambles.
White had led the Gators to four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, the only conference program to accomplish that feat. However, the Gators hadn’t made it past the second round since the 2016-17 season’s Elite Eight run.
Gators coaching hot board
Here are seven names that Gators Online would put on our initial coaching hot board. We’ll update the list as the Gators begin their search for their next head basketball coach.
- Matt McMahon (Murray State)
- Bob Richey (Furman)
- Jerome Tang (Assistant at Baylor)
- Kevin Williard (Seton Hall)
- Kyle Smith (Washington State)
- Rick Pitino (Iona College)
- Andy Kennedy (UAB)
