Mike White

Jbossgator8

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I've been to a bunch of games and I have watched Mike White on the sidelines. He is CONSTANTLY coaching up the players AND talking to the Refs when there are bad calls or no calls. He is loud and you can hear him from the upper level and certainly lower level as I have sit in both sections. The future is very bright with Mike White as the Gators coach. Go Gators!!
 

stephenPE

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27 wins.
Elite 8
Adjusted to the loss of Egbunu
Does not act like an ass
Boring name but I can get past that.
I'm extremely pleased he followed Billy.
 

Slevin

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White will be good. Took 3 years for billy to get to the S16, 4 years to the title. White has a very good recruiting class coming in next year mixed with a good core of the guys we had this year. Egg will be back hopefully, Gak will be better. I mean sh*t you guys, 5 out of the last 7 elite 8s and a final four thrown in under two coaches. I can't complain. As long as we keep competing.
 

stephenPE

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White will be good. Took 3 years for billy to get to the S16, 4 years to the title. White has a very good recruiting class coming in next year mixed with a good core of the guys we had this year. Egg will be back hopefully, Gak will be better. I mean sh*t you guys, 5 out of the last 7 elite 8s and a final four thrown in under two coaches. I can't complain. As long as we keep competing.
Perspective is ALWAYS a good thing..............
 

Gatorbait25

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I'm curious how White plans on fitting Stokes into the rotation with either Hayes or Gak. I feel he wanted to get Gak more minutes later in the year,
but unfortunately he had that foot injury. I like Gak's potential as a rim protector, and the glimpses of what we saw of him in the tournament. Obviously he needs to improve at the line though. We should be better at putting the ball in the basket next season, but we may take a slight step back on D.
 

MidwestChomp

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I'm curious how White plans on fitting Stokes into the rotation with either Hayes or Gak. I feel he wanted to get Gak more minutes later in the year,
but unfortunately he had that foot injury. I like Gak's potential as a rim protector, and the glimpses of what we saw of him in the tournament. Obviously he needs to improve at the line though. We should be better at putting the ball in the basket next season, but we may take a slight step back on D.

In the press conference after the game White said, Gak came in late and didn't get the necessary strength training before the season. I think White is hoping for big things from Gak next year from a rebounding and D perspective.
 

TLB

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I also believe that he is way too "soft" on referees.
I have read all of his comments about being calm and respectful and blah, blah, blah but I disagree. I am not suggesting that he go off like a lunatic, but even Billy knew when to give the refs some sh!t when they are sticking it to you. I have witnessed the impact many, many times it is simple human nature.
Call me crazy but we didn't exactly get the benefit of the doubt from the officials in the tourney and I can't help but think that a travel would have been called had Mike jumped their a$$es a couple of times during the game.

I'm still not sold it was a travel, but regardless a coach should be calling it out to get the ref's attention. From only watching a few games on tv, he doesn't give off that commanding presence that barks at refs. jboss went to games in person and says he is on the refs, so I'll have to defer when I know tv doesn't show everything. However, I also don't believe Billy did that to refs early in his career. The other coaches pointed out for doing this are well established in the profession. Being able to bitch our referees may also be something earned to a degree over time, which White hasn't had the time for building his credibility with the refs. I expect he'll evolve over the next few years, but I'm not expecting a big change over any one year.


While referres can blow a game, champions control what they can control - own their performance, improve it, and become unbeatable no matter who you play, or who refs the game. That's what I see from White - acknowledge where you can improve as a coach, as a team, as players, and work on that. Refs may blow games in your favor or against you, something you can't control. How you prepare and execute is wholly within your control - that's what you own, what you speak to and act on. Class act indeed.


Almost every player improved from last year and they play their tails off for him.

This is one of the biggest things that stood out to me this season. Last year, we wondered if he could collect talent and get it to play together. This year he showed he can recruit, develop, and control/guide (dare I say 'coach'?) that talent to work together. Future looks good. t10 recruiting classes for the next few years only makes our future that much brighter (Mac, you paying attention?).
 

SC Gator

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For anyone that may still have the opinion that White didn't orchestrate Cheese's buzzer beater, watch this video. As the substitutions are happening after the second made free throw, he gets Cheese's attention and you can see him pantomime the route with which Cheese takes after receiving the inbounds pass. Not only that, just prior to the ref handing Barry the ball, he gets Canyon's attention and tells him to pass the ball to Cheese instead of Hill, who is standing further up court. You can also see him placing all our players on the court after the second made free throw, as well. He spread the other three guys out to clear a lane for Cheese to do what he did without any defensive interference. Brilliant strategy making on the fly.




Great find!

Look, I like White but he can do better with offensive sets. But missing Egbunu made the team and outside live by the 3 team.

I remember Donovan getting beat early in NCAA plenty of times in-between Final Fours and championships. It took him a few years to get the formula.Will he pan out? Who knows but with a trip to Elite 8 and if the team shoots 15% from three in second half, they are in the Final Four. So I say let this ride out a couple of years before we can him.
 

ATXGator

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White gets hired to replace a legend who didn't make the tourney in his last year. In two years White gets the team to an Elite 8 run and people aren't sure if he is a good coach?

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Did you see the improvement of the team this year? This team was on a 9 game winning streak when their starting center and leading rebounder tore his ACL. That wasn't a minor impact. White had to re-build how the team played to deal with not having Egbunu and he did that and got the team to an elite 8!

Does he make some mistakes coaching? Of course! Everybody does. Bill Self who is a hall of fame coach kept Jackson on the bench for too long in the first half of the Elite 8 game.

I think the bigger impact on the game against USC had to do with the team being tired. The 3 point shots were come up short which means they lost a bit in their legs. They actually were still getting the same good looks they made in the first half, but weren't hitting them. USC's defense made it really really difficult to score on the inside, especially without the size of somebody like Egbunu. The offensive rebounding early in the second half also made it difficult and Egbunu was our leading rebounder.

White so far has proven himself to be a great coach who has gotten the kids to buy in, play his system and succeed. No coach is perfect, not Coach K, Williams, Self, Calipari or Izzo.

So far he seems like a great hire and the Elite 8 run should help with recruiting. I look forward to big things from Mike White.
 

Go Gata

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It wasn't until Billy put together a team that was strong on both ends of the floor that he got his championship team. And I think it took him a few recruiting cycles and some time in the saddle to work that out.

White will have similar growing pains, as any coach would, but I'm feeling pretty good about the future of our program.
 

Captain Sasquatch

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I'm still not sold it was a travel, but regardless a coach should be calling it out to get the ref's attention. From only watching a few games on tv, he doesn't give off that commanding presence that barks at refs. jboss went to games in person and says he is on the refs, so I'll have to defer when I know tv doesn't show everything. However, I also don't believe Billy did that to refs early in his career. The other coaches pointed out for doing this are well established in the profession. Being able to ***** our referees may also be something earned to a degree over time, which White hasn't had the time for building his credibility with the refs. I expect he'll evolve over the next few years, but I'm not expecting a big change over any one year.



While referres can blow a game, champions control what they can control - own their performance, improve it, and become unbeatable no matter who you play, or who refs the game. That's what I see from White - acknowledge where you can improve as a coach, as a team, as players, and work on that. Refs may blow games in your favor or against you, something you can't control. How you prepare and execute is wholly within your control - that's what you own, what you speak to and act on. Class act indeed.




This is one of the biggest things that stood out to me this season. Last year, we wondered if he could collect talent and get it to play together. This year he showed he can recruit, develop, and control/guide (dare I say 'coach'?) that talent to work together. Future looks good. t10 recruiting classes for the next few years only makes our future that much brighter (Mac, you paying attention?).
I saw a quote from White over the weekend, and I'm paraphrasing, but he said he learned early on from one of his mentors that the more time you spend b*tching at the refs, the less time you spend coaching the players. So he's never going to be a guy who rides the zebras for 40 minutes.
 

Since65

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Did not realize that UF did not lose a game by more than 10 points this season (so Dooley reports). In my opinion that says a lot about a team's will to win and play until the game ends. I like the fact that there were no blowouts this year.
 

InstiGATOR1

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For anyone that may still have the opinion that White didn't orchestrate Cheese's buzzer beater, watch this video. As the substitutions are happening after the second made free throw, he gets Cheese's attention and you can see him pantomime the route with which Cheese takes after receiving the inbounds pass. Not only that, just prior to the ref handing Barry the ball, he gets Canyon's attention and tells him to pass the ball to Cheese instead of Hill, who is standing further up court. You can also see him placing all our players on the court after the second made free throw, as well. He spread the other three guys out to clear a lane for Cheese to do what he did without any defensive interference. Brilliant strategy making on the fly.



Well speaking of coaching, it was the choice of the Wisconsin coach to not pressure the end bounds pass and double Hill instead. The terrible choice to double Hill so that he did not drive the court and throw up bad layup with about a 1% chance of going in is really more what caused Chiozza to get the ball. White was reacting to the choice to double Hill.
 

Loogis

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Well speaking of coaching, it was the choice of the Wisconsin coach to not pressure the end bounds pass and double Hill instead. The terrible choice to double Hill so that he did not drive the court and throw up bad layup with about a 1% chance of going in is really more what caused Chiozza to get the ball. White was reacting to the choice to double Hill.

This comes off as White making an excellent in-game adjustment. Not sure where some think he isn't good at that.
 

ChiefGator

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White gets hired to replace a legend who didn't make the tourney in his last year. In two years White gets the team to an Elite 8 run and people aren't sure if he is a good coach?

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Did you see the improvement of the team this year? This team was on a 9 game winning streak when their starting center and leading rebounder tore his ACL. That wasn't a minor impact. White had to re-build how the team played to deal with not having Egbunu and he did that and got the team to an elite 8!

Does he make some mistakes coaching? Of course! Everybody does. Bill Self who is a hall of fame coach kept Jackson on the bench for too long in the first half of the Elite 8 game.

I think the bigger impact on the game against USC had to do with the team being tired. The 3 point shots were come up short which means they lost a bit in their legs. They actually were still getting the same good looks they made in the first half, but weren't hitting them. USC's defense made it really really difficult to score on the inside, especially without the size of somebody like Egbunu. The offensive rebounding early in the second half also made it difficult and Egbunu was our leading rebounder.

White so far has proven himself to be a great coach who has gotten the kids to buy in, play his system and succeed. No coach is perfect, not Coach K, Williams, Self, Calipari or Izzo.

So far he seems like a great hire and the Elite 8 run should help with recruiting. I look forward to big things from Mike White.

I agree but if they were tired in the second half why not go somewhat deeper into the bench especially at guard. I bet he was counting on the three returning like in the first half for whatever reason it really did not.
 

GatorBart

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Did not realize that UF did not lose a game by more than 10 points this season (so Dooley reports). In my opinion that says a lot about a team's will to win and play until the game ends. I like the fact that there were no blowouts this year.
Duke, @KY, and the Vandy OT game were our three 10 point losses; we lost by 7 and 4 to SC; by 5 to the Zags and @FSUcks; and twice by 2 to Vandy (Ugh).
 

InstiGATOR1

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This comes off as White making an excellent in-game adjustment. Not sure where some think he isn't good at that.

Even better an adjustment on the fly. On the other hand if someone is silly enough to double one of UF's PGs it was pretty clear where the ball should go.
 

T REX

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Elite 8 in year 2? Good god that is a great achievement. It is still early in his tenure but it is looking pretty good for our long term outlook. Great season and I am damn proud of Coach White and those kids who left it all out on the court.
 

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