Georgia Basketball: Mike White contract details, non-conference schedule set
The University of Georgia and the athletic association released details to new head men’s basketball coach Mike White’s contract on Tuesday afternoon. According to the contract, White is set to make $21.9 million, plus the potential, for bonuses over the course of six season in Athens.
For the purposes of the agreement, a year is defined as May 1 through April 30, which aligns with the basketball season schedule. White will receive a base salary from the University and the athletic association ranging from $3.4 in year one of the contract to $3.9 in the final year, the 2027-28 season. That amount goes up $100,000 each year of the contract. On top of that, White will also receive up to $3,500 worth of clothes and shoes from Nike, the athletic association’s current equipment manufacturer, each year.
The contract also stipulated that Georgia paid a buyout to Florida in order to get White out of his contract that worth $1.3 million.
Like most contracts, White will also be able to earn performance based bonuses each year up to $450,000 per season. Those include bonuses for winning the SEC Regular Season Championship ($50,000), winning the SEC Tournament Championship ($25,000), being named SEC Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year ($25,000) or National Men’s Basketball Coach the Year by the Associated Press ($50,000) as well as placing Georgia in the top 33% of SEC men’s basketball teams in both graduation success rate (GSR) and academic performance rate (APR) for $50,000. Finally, if Georgia makes the NCAA Tournament under White’s direction, he would receive the bonus associated with the greatest level of achievement: $37,500 for an NCAA Tournament bid, $75,000 for a spot in the “Sweet 16,” $125,000 if the Bulldogs were to make the “Final 4” or $250,000 if Georgia was to win it all.
Other areas of the contract include a vehicle stipend, moving expenses covered, up to 60 days of temporary housing, travel and lodging covered for house hunting for him and his wife as well as up to 60 days of storage for household possessions.
If White were to resign or be fired for cause, the contract is thus terminated and White would owe an amount depending on how much was left on the agreement. If it were to happen prior to the end of his first season, White would owe $11,000,000. That number drops to $9,000,000 after the first season is completed but prior to the end of the 2023-24 campaign, to $7,500,000 prior to the end of the 2024-25 season, to $5,700,000 prior to the end of the 2025-26 campaign and finally to $3,900,000 anywhere between the end of the 2025-26 season and the completion of the contract in 2027-28. If he were to be fired without cause, White is owed 100% of the remaining contract before the end of the first season, 65% after the end of the first season but before the start of the 2026-27 season and again, the full amount after the completion of the 2026-27 season but before the end of the contract on April 30, 2028.
Georgia sets non-conference schedule
In other Georgia Basketball news, the Bulldogs announced their non-conference schedule for the 2022-23 season this week, scheduled to take on 13 opponents from outside the SEC. The Mike White era gets underway officially when Georgia hosts Western Carolina on November 7th, but fans will have their first chance to see the team in action on October 31st in an exhibition against Georgia College.
Three of the first four games are at home and eight of the 13 in total including dates against Miami (Ohio) on November 14th, Bucknell on November 18th, East Tennessee State on November 27th, Hampton on November 30th, Florida A&M to open December on the 2nd, as well as Chattanooga and Rider on the 21st and 30th respectively to close out the non-conference slate.
Georgia travels to Winston Salem, N.C. to take on Wake Forest in the second game of the year on top of a true road game at Georgia Tech on December 6th. Neutral site matchups include the Sunshine Slam tournament in Daytona Beach, Fla. on November 21st and 22nd where the Bulldogs play St. Josephs and then the same-result team from USF/UAB as well as a game in Atlanta at State Farm Arena against Notre Dame on December 18th.
In the SEC schedule where opponents but not dates have been announced, the Bulldogs will take on their traditional rivals Auburn, Florida and South Carolina twice each during the season plus have home and homes with Kentucky and Ole Miss. It will the Wildcats first trip to Stegeman Coliseum since Georgia beat Kentucky in 2020, their first win over the Big Blue since 2013. Furthermore, Georgia will play host to LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri and Vanderbilt while traveling to Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas A&M.
White will be working with a largely new cast of characters this season, even to Georgia fans. The Bulldogs brought in six players from the transfer portal plus one from high school. Mardrez McBride (North Texas), Frank Anselem (Syracus), Justin Hill (Longwood), Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe (Oklahoma State) and Jusaun Holt (Alabama) all played for teams that appeared in the NCAA Tournament either in 2021 or 2022 while Terry Roberts (Bradley) helped Florida SouthWestern to a No. 1 junior college ranking during the 2020 season.
While there are several new faces, the Bulldogs do bring back super-seniors Braelen Bridges and Jailyn Ingram as well as senior Jaxon Etter and juniors Jabri Abdur-Rahim and Kario Oquendo. With Oquendo, Bridges and Ingram all back in the mix, Georgia returns its top three in points and rebounds per game while Bridges also finished top three in total assists.
During his time at Florida, White led the Gators to four consecutive NCAA Tournaments from 2017 to 2021. The Gators also made the postseason in the other two seasons. Dating back to his time at Louisiana Tech, White’s teams have made nine straight appearances in the postseason.
