Record at UF: 123-75 (entering 2021-22, 7th season)
Overall Record: 224-115 (entering 2021-22, 11th season)
In six seasons under Mike White, the Gators have been a mainstay in the NCAA Tournament and won at a high level in the Southeastern Conference while scheduling an ambitious non-conference slate year-in and year-out.
White has led Florida to four consecutive NCAA Tournament berths since 2017, the only SEC team to do so and one of 12 schools nationally. But the Gators have not only earned those berths, they are also one of just six teams in the country to earn a win in each of the past four tournaments.
The Gators’ average KenPom finish (26.5), 63 conference wins and six NCAA Tournament wins all trail only Kentucky in the SEC over the course of White’s six seasons. In fact, Florida’s six tournament wins match the combined total of the other three SEC schools who also hired a new head coach in 2015 (Alabama, Mississippi State, Tennessee).
During White’s six seasons leading the Gators, UF has consistently tackled one of the most challenging schedules in the nation and yet has still racked up wins at a clip that places the Gators among the nation’s elite.
The Gators have played the toughest schedule of any SEC team, both overall and non-conference, over White’s tenure with an average KenPom schedule-strength ranking of 20.8. In six seasons, the Gators have never played a schedule ranked below 36th, while every other team in the SEC has played multiple schedules outside the top 40.
In nonconference action where teams have greater control over the toughness of their schedule, Florida’s distinction becomes even more pronounced. Florida’s average nonconference schedule-strength ranking of 36.5 is almost 50 places higher than the league’s next-best offering, with Kentucky checking in at 85.3. The Gators have only once played a schedule outside the nation’s top-50, settling for 76th in the COVID-affected 2020-21 season, while every other team in the league has scheduled a sub-200th non-conference slate at least once.
The Gators’ 2020-21 season was similar to many others around the country in that it was a story of overcoming adversity, but perhaps no team faced more adversity than Florida. Preseason SEC Player of the Year and team leader Keyontae Johnson suffered a medical emergency during the fourth game of the season on Dec. 12 at Florida State and spent the next several days in the hospital. He did not play against the rest of the season, taking on a teammate/coach role in support of his team. While Johnson and his family announced the event was not COVID-related, they did not disclose any other details.
Forced to readjust midseason, the Gators did so admirably in compiling a 9-7 SEC record, good for a fifth-place finish, and posting a pair of top-25 regular season wins. The Gators’ 75-49 thrashing of sixth-ranked Tennessee was all the more impressive as UF played the game shorthanded, missing Colin Castleton and Scottie Lewis, in addition to Johnson. The 26-point margin of victory matched Florida’s largest vs. an AP top-10 team in the history of the poll, and White owns three of Florida’s four largest-margin defeats of top-10 teams in program history. It also marked White’s 16th 20-point win vs. a power conference team, with eight occurring vs. SEC opponents and eight against nonconference foes.
Florida added another impressive performance in an 85-80 road victory at 11th-ranked West Virginia, helping clinch the SEC/Big 12 Challenge for the SEC. UF picked up a third ranked win in the NCAA Tournament, topping #25 Virginia Tech in overtime, 75-70, at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Of the Gators’ 18 ranked wins under White, 12 have come outside of Gainesville (eight neutral, four road).
As a team, the Gators led the SEC in field goal percentage (.471), 3-point field goal percentage (.356) and free throw percentage (.753), becoming the first SEC team to lead the league in all three categories since Florida did so in the 2005-06 campaign.
On an individual level, Tre Mann earned first-team All-SEC honors, and Colin Castleton took home second-team accolades. Mann saw the largest scoring increase by a Gator over the past 25 seasons, boosting his average to 16.0 points per game for a 10.7-point scoring jump, just ahead of Joakim Noah’s 10.6-point freshman-to-sophomore leap. Mann saved his best for last, averaging 20.9 points over his last seven appearances. Castleton, meanwhile, set an O’Connell Center record with eight blocks vs. Ole Miss while also scoring 21 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, becoming the first SEC player with a 20/10/8 stat line in league play since 1997. Castleton then added his name to an impressive list late in the season, becoming the sixth player over the past 25 years to have an NCAA Tournament game with at least 19 points, 14 rebounds, three blocked shots and two assists, joining Zion Williamson, JaJuan Johnson, Kevin Love, Nick Collison (three times) and Tim Duncan.
Florida posted a 19-12 mark in the 2019-20 season, positioned for a fifth straight 20-win season and fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament bid before its season, along with the rest of the sports world, came to a standstill on March 12, 2020. The Gators earned the Charleston Classic championship, led by MVP Keyontae Johnson, defeating 18th-ranked Xavier in the championship. It marked UF’s first holiday tournament championship since 2009. The Gators also posted a 69-47 rout of #4 Auburn in Gainesville.
During the campaign, White earned his 100th win as UF’s head coach, becoming the fifth Florida coach to reach that milestone. He reached the mark in 158 games, the second-fastest to reach 100 (Billy Donovan, 154). The 2019-20 season also saw two of the largest rallies in Florida history, as the Gators came back from 22 points down vs. Georgia, matching UF’s largest ever, and 21 down against Alabama.
Johnson and Kerry Blackshear Jr. earned All-SEC honors, and Scottie Lewis locked up a spot on the SEC All-Freshman team. In SEC play, the Gators led the league in field goal percentage (.470) and 3-point percentage (.376), while Noah Locke led the conference in 3-point percentage (.481).
The Gators accomplished all that while fielding one of the youngest teams in the nation and what would’ve been the youngest team in the entire NCAA Tournament field.
The Gators continued their trend of season-long improvement and peaking late in the 2018-19 season, as an up-and-down 12-11 start gave way to a late surge to earn an SEC Tournament semifinal appearance and an NCAA Tournament first-round victory. Florida is one of 10 teams in the nation that has earned at least one victory in each of the past three NCAA Tournaments. The Gators posted three wins vs. ranked opponents during the 2018-19 campaign, topping 13th-ranked LSU in Baton Rouge and the ninth-ranked Tigers again in the SEC Tournament, along with a win over #20 and 7-seed Nevada in Des Moines to open the NCAA Tournament.
The Gators led the SEC in scoring defense, allowing 63.6 points per game, which ranked 20th in the nation. Florida also posted the SEC’s top 3-point percentage defense at .316 and No. 3 field goal percentage defense (.421) and turnover margin (+3.0).
Florida started three freshmen – Keyontae Johnson, Noah Locke and Andrew Nembhard – for more than half the season, the first time in 20 years that the Gators started three freshmen together. Nembhard started every game and dished 194 assists, the fourth-best single-season total in UF history, earning SEC All-Freshman Team honors. Locke knocked down 81 3-pointers, setting a Florida freshman record. Johnson led the team in rebounding and averaged a double-double during the SEC Tournament. Johnson’s 229 rebounds marked the fourth-most by a Florida freshman.
UF also placed seven players on the SEC Academic Honor Roll, tied for the second-most in program history.
During the 2017-18 campaign, the Gators put together one of the nation’s top collections of victories and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. UF’s six wins vs. top-25 teams during the regular season tied for most in the country, and its 10 RPI Quadrant 1 victories ranked second nationally. Florida posted a third-place SEC finish in a season that was widely regarded as one of the strongest, if not the strongest, in the conference’s history as eight SEC teams earned NCAA bids.
Florida led the SEC in turnover margin (+4.0) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.3) in 2017-18, and All-SEC point guard Chris Chiozza led the conference with 6.2 assists per game and a 3.4 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Under White’s guidance, Chiozza set the Florida career record with 571 assists and became the second player in Florida history to dish 200+ assists in a season.
Florida’s offensive firepower was undeniable, as five different players combined for 22 individual 20-point performances. The Gators twice hit 17 3-pointers in a game (vs. Gonzaga, at Texas A&M), which tied for the third-most in a game in Florida history. Overall, five of the top 11 single-game 3-point performances in UF history have come during White’s tenure.
The Gators put on a memorable show at the PK80 Tournament over Thanksgiving, averaging 101 points over three games, including an epic double-overtime win vs. Gonzaga in which Jalen Hudson scored 35 points and Chiozza became the first Gator in more than 20 years to record a 25-point, 10-assist performance. Over the three games in Portland, UF shot .486 from the floor and .513 from 3-point range. The Gators climbed to No. 5 in the AP poll following the event, the team’s highest rank since Florida finished the 2013-14 regular season at No. 1.
UF opened the season scoring 100+ points in four of the first five games, marking the first time UF ever reached the century mark four times in a five-game span. The Gators also set season-opener school records for most points (116) and most 3-pointers made (15).
White returned the Gators to the national conversation in in 2016-17, leading UF to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight, a 27-9 record and a second-place SEC finish at 14-4. White earned an array of awards, including SEC Coach of the Year and the USBWA and NABC District Coach of the Year. He was also a semifinalist for Naismith Coach of the Year.
In his nine years as a head coach, White has earned conference Coach of the Year honors three times.
White’s 48 wins through his first two years rank fourth in SEC history. In posting a six-win improvement over his debut season at UF, White helped the Gators reach 27 wins for just the eighth time in school history.
The Gators posted perhaps the most dominant three-game stretch in program history during the 2016-17 season, downing LSU, Oklahoma and Missouri in succession by at least a 30-point margin. It marked the third time in UF history the Gators won three straight by 30+ but the first time that any such streak included a major conference opponent. Not only were all three wins against power conference foes, but two (LSU, Oklahoma) occurred on the road and marked the first back-to-back 30-point road wins in program history.
Adding in the Gators’ 30-point win at North Florida, 2016-17 marked the first season in school history that featured three 30-point road wins.
Florida’s win at LSU also featured a record-setting 3-point barrage as UF hit a school-record 19 three-pointers, which included one streak of 10 straight makes. The Gators’ 58 first-half points marked the team’s most on record vs. an SEC opponent.
The Gators also set an SEC scoring record, posting 114 points in the win at Auburn. In the game, Canyon Barry became the first Gator since Joakim Noah to score 30 points off the bench. Depth was a strength for the Gators all season, as eight different players led UF in scoring during the 2017-18 campaign.
Under White’s watch in 2016-17, Barry earned SEC Sixth Man of the Year honors, while KeVaughn Allen (first-team) and Kasey Hill (second-team) earned All-SEC honors.
While leading the Gators to a successful campaign on the floor, White and his staff also put together a 2017 recruiting class rated ninth in the nation by ESPN that includes three top-100 players.
In 2015-16, White matched a program record with 21 wins in his first season as head coach at the University of Florida, leading the Gators to a five-win improvement over the previous season. Among active SEC coaches, 21 wins matches the second-most in the first season on the job.
The Gators returned to the postseason, reaching the quarterfinals of the NIT, which included a road win at Ohio State, UF’s first-ever road win vs. at Big Ten program. White and the Gators also posted the team’s first top-10 win in nearly five years with a dominant 88-71 win vs. ninth-ranked West Virginia in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
In White’s inaugural season on the Florida bench, Dorian Finney-Smith earned second-team All-SEC honors and KeVaughn Allen was named to the SEC All-Freshman team. Finney-Smith became the first Gator since Al Horford in 2006-07 to tally 500 points and 300 rebounds in a season. Allen’s 418 points were the most by a UF freshman since Bradley Beal, and his 32 points vs. Florida State were the fifth-highest single-game output by a freshman in Florida history. The Gators also placed five players on the SEC Academic Honor Roll.
White’s first Florida recruit, junior college All-American Justin Leon, provided energy and toughness to the Gators’ lineup. Leon posted 14 points and nine rebounds in the win vs. LSU. White’s first full signing class includes early signees Eric Hester and Dontay Bassett out of Oldsmar Christian and Gorjok Gak out of Victory Rock Prep in Bradenton.
UF hired White as head men’s basketball coach on May 7, 2015.
White, the 2014-15 Conference USA Coach of the Year, came to the Gators after leading Louisiana Tech to a 101-40 record (.716) over the past four seasons, including three straight conference championships. Born in Dunedin, Fla., White brought a wealth of SEC experience to the Gators, as a four-year starter at Ole Miss and later an assistant coach for seven seasons under two different head coaches on the Rebels’ bench.
“I have an incredible amount of respect for the University of Florida, and I am so excited to be a Gator,” White said upon his hire. “Not only is Florida home for me, but the tradition and success that the Gators have built make this an incredible opportunity. I know about the great home court advantage in the O’Connell Center, which is a testament to the fans and the Rowdy Reptiles. There’s an unbelievable commitment to excellence athletically and academically at UF, and it starts with the leadership of Dr. Fuchs and Jeremy Foley. I look forward to returning to the SEC where I have a lot of great memories, and I can’t wait to create many more alongside The Gator Nation.”
“Michael White is someone who came to the top of our list very quickly and he checks all of the boxes we were looking for,” Foley said. “He is a winner who has a high level of integrity, plays an up-tempo style of play and has the respect of his peers and the basketball community. He has experience in coaching, recruiting and playing in the Southeastern Conference and has a strong pedigree. He has a certain authenticity with people and is not afraid of challenges.”
“Coach White brings with him a distinguished career and an extraordinary record of success,” UF President Kent Fuchs said. “I have no doubt he will uphold high standards on and off the court, and am delighted to welcome him to the Gator Nation.”
Under White’s leadership, the Bulldogs also advanced to the NIT in each of his final three seasons in Ruston, including quarterfinals appearances in 2014 and 2015. In all three NIT appearances, Louisiana Tech posted a road victory over a major-conference opponent, toppling Florida State in 2013, Georgia in 2014 and Texas A&M in 2015 on their home floors. White got the job done in friendly confines, as well, as he departed the Bulldogs with a 30-game home winning streak intact.
At LA Tech, White established a high-energy, fast-paced system that allows players to flourish. In four seasons at LA Tech, the Bulldogs averaged 74.2 points, 7.4 3-pointers made, 14.0 assists, 8.4 steals, 4.9 blocked shots and 16.1 turnovers forced (seventh in the nation during that span).
The Bulldogs’ amazing team and individual feats during White’s time leading the program are a testament to the style of play that White coaches. In addition to three straight conference championships, he coached the 2015 C-USA Player of the Year, a 2015 AP All-American, two WAC Newcomer of the Year winners, the 2014 C-USA Sixth Man of the Year, multiple All-Defensive Team nods, the 2014 C-USA Defensive Player of the Year and LA Tech’s all-time assists record-holder.
Every season under White’s watch, multiple players landed on all-conference teams, including three – Raheem Appleby, Kenneth “Speedy” Smith and Alex Hamilton – in 2014-15. Smith was also named the 2014-15 Conference USA Player of the Year
In total, four players earned all-conference honors nine times over the course of four seasons. In 141 games as the LA Tech head coach, 11 different players turned in a total of 69 individual 20-point performances, led by Appleby with 29 games scoring 20 or more and topping the 25-point mark 12 times. Appleby, a three-time all-conference selection at LA Tech, concluded his career with 1,770 points scored (13.9 average), sixth on Louisiana Tech’s all-time scoring list, just ahead of Karl Malone.
Over the course of a four-year career at Louisiana Tech that coincided with White’s tenure, point guard Smith totaled a school-record 858 assists and holds the nation’s best total over the past four seasons. Smith was also the country’s single-season leader with 267 assists in 2014-15 and rated second in the nation in 2013-14 with 278, the Bulldogs’ single-season record. Smith tallied 22 games with double-digit assists, including a school-record 15 vs. Central Arkansas in 2012.
White’s players have mastered effectively scoring – his team led its conference in points scored three straight seasons – while also valuing possession. Louisiana Tech led Conference USA in assist-to-turnover ratio both seasons since joining the league (2013-14, 2014-15) and were conference leaders in turnover margin three straight seasons. The Bulldogs also led their league in either field goals made or 3-point field goals made all four seasons under White.
This aggressiveness was not confined to the offensive end of the floor, either. The Bulldogs ranked in the top 10 nationally in steals two straight seasons, nabbing 303 (8th) in 2014-15 and 339 (4th) in 2013-14. LA Tech also finished 15th in the country last season with 15.6 turnovers forced per game and eighth in 2012-13, causing 17.4 per game.
But White also got the job done in the one stat that matters most – wins and losses. In its first two seasons after joining the C-USA in 2013, Louisiana Tech had the league’s best record, both in conference play (28-6; .824) and overall (56-17, .767). He led the Bulldogs to 16 wins vs. RPI Top-100 teams, with LA Tech finishing 54th or better in the RPI rankings each of the past four seasons.
Making his head coaching debut at age 35 in 2011-12, White took one of the youngest rosters in the nation to its first Western Athletic Conference Tournament final in program history, upsetting both Utah State and top-seeded Nevada along the way. The Bulldogs finished 18-16, a six-game improvement over the previous season, while Appleby earned the first of his three career all-conference nods and Trevor Gaskins also earned all-WAC recognition. Appleby’s 446 points that season also rated fifth-most all-time by a LA Tech freshman.
During his second season in the bench, the Bulldogs reeled off a program-record 18-game winning streak and appeared in the Associated Press Top 25 rankings for the first time in 28 years. The Bulldogs saw an 11-win improvement in White’s second season, finishing 27-7 overall, and a 12-win bump in conference action as a 16-2 mark earned the Bulldogs a WAC co-championship. The 16 conference wins also set a school record, and White was named the Don Haskins WAC Coach of the Year, the United States Basketball Writers Association District VII Coach of the Year and NABC District 6 Coach of the Year, while Appleby and Smith both landed All-WAC honors.
In 2013-14, Louisiana Tech moved into Conference USA, but White’s squad did not miss a beat as the Bulldogs matched the program record with 29 victories, including an eight-game road winning streak, finishing 29-8 and 13-3 in C-USA action to share the league crown. LA Tech averaged 81.0 points per game and finished in the top six nationally in scoring margin (third), steals per game (fifth) and turnover margin (sixth), while also landing in the top 20 in scoring offense (t-12th) and assists per game (17th). After one of the greatest seasons in program history, White was named the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches (LABC) Major College Coach of the Year, while Smith and Hamilton both earned All-Conference USA recognition.
The team’s 27-9 effort in his final season at LA Tech also produced a 15-3 conference record as the Bulldogs won the regular season C-USA championship by a two-game margin. LA Tech, whose 2014-15 roster included five players from the state of Florida, sported a perfect 17-0 record on its home court. In conference play, the Bulldogs’ 158 steals were 31 more than the second-ranked team’s total. The Bulldogs were well-honored for their efforts with three players – Smith, Appleby and Hamilton – earning all-conference recognition, the most Bulldogs to receive the honor since the 1991-92 season.
While he was at LA Tech, ESPN’s Jay Bilas noted that White is one of the nation’s best young coaches: “White is a superstar and has done a remarkable job at Louisiana Tech. He has this in his blood.”
Prior to getting his first head coaching job at Louisiana Tech, White spent seven seasons from 2004-11 on the Ole Miss coaching staff where he developed a reputation as one of the top assistant coaches in the country. After two seasons coaching under Rod Barnes, White was retained when Andy Kennedy took over the program in 2006. In White’s five seasons working in Oxford under Kennedy, they helped lead the Rebels to 20 wins and an NIT berth four times, including two runs to the NIT Final Four, and SEC West titles in 2007 and 2010. In addition to recruiting responsibilities, White also worked closely with the Rebel guards. While White was on staff, Terrico White earned the 2009 SEC Freshman of the Year award and Freshman All-America accolades in 2009.
Prior to his stint on the Ole Miss staff, White spent four years at Jacksonville State from 2000-04, three as an assistant coach and the final season as associate head coach. During his time at the school, Jacksonville State posted the only 20-win season in its Division I history and recorded the program’s first-ever win in an Atlantic Sun conference tournament game.
Though born in Dunedin, White lived all over the country before his family settled in New Orleans where he played high school basketball at Jesuit High School. He signed with Ole Miss, where he was a four-year starter at point guard for the Rebels in the late 1990s.
As a four-year starter for the Rebels from 1995-99, White helped lead Ole Miss to consecutive SEC West Division titles in 1997 and 1998, three straight NCAA Tournament berths from 1997-99 and the program’s first ever NCAA Tournament win, topping Villanova in the first round in 1999. He was a two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll selection and a member of the 1999 SEC Good Works Team.
After being invited to the Utah Jazz’s summer training camp following his college career, White spent the 1999-2000 season playing professionally for the IBL’s New Mexico Slam and in England before returning to Ole Miss in the spring of 2000 to complete his B.A. in business.
White’s passion for and knowledge of college basketball came naturally, growing up around the game as his father, Kevin White, served as athletic director at Duke, Notre Dame, Arizona State, Tulane and Maine, retiring in 2021. Mike’s younger brother, Danny, played basketball at Towson and Notre Dame and is now the athletic director at Tennessee, and youngest brother Brian is the athletic director at Florida Atlantic. His sister, Mariah, is an assistant AD at SMU.
He is married to the former Kira Zschau, an all-SEC volleyball player at Ole Miss, who also has a law degree from the university. The couple has two daughters, Rylee and Maggie, twin boys, Collin and Keegan, and another son, Dillon.
Mike White Timeline
| Florida |
Head Coach |
2015-present |
| Louisiana Tech |
Head Coach |
2011-15 |
| Ole Miss |
Assistant Coach |
2004-11 |
| Jacksonville State |
Associate Head Coach |
2003-04 |
|
Assistant Coach |
2000-03 |
| Ole Miss |
Student-Athlete |
1995-99 |
Florida Schedule Strength (Last 6 Seasons, 2015-21)
The Gators stand above the rest of the SEC in terms of schedule strength.
| Team |
Overall Schedule Strength
(Avg. KenPom Rating) |
| Florida |
20.8 |
| Kentucky |
29.2 |
| Alabama |
33.8 |
| Tennessee |
38.3 |
| Georgia |
39.8 |
| Vanderbilt |
40.0 |
| South Carolina |
44.0 |
| LSU |
44.2 |
| Missouri |
44.8 |
| Auburn |
46.2 |
| Texas A&M |
50.0 |
| Arkansas |
51.5 |
| Ole Miss |
58.8 |
| Mississippi State |
62.7 |
The difference becomes even more pronounced examining non-conference schedules, which teams have more control over.
| Team |
Non-Conference Schedule Strength
(Avg. KenPom Rating) |
| Florida |
36.5 |
| Kentucky |
85.3 |
| Alabama |
86.7 |
| Tennessee |
97.7 |
| Auburn |
128.8 |
| South Carolina |
145.0 |
| Georgia |
148.0 |
| LSU |
161.7 |
| Vanderbilt |
164.2 |
| Missouri |
171.3 |
| Texas A&M |
178.2 |
| Arkansas |
181.5 |
| Ole Miss |
227.3 |
| Mississippi State |
247.2 |
Despite the challenging slate ahead of the Gators every year, the team rates second in the SEC in average KenPom rating, SEC wins and NCAA Tournament wins during the past six seasons.
| Team |
Avg. KenPom Rating |
| Kentucky |
19.5 |
| Florida |
26.5 |
| Tennessee |
45.5 |
| Arkansas |
46.0 |
| Alabama |
56.2 |
| Mississippi State |
59.8 |
| Auburn |
66.7 |
| LSU |
68.3 |
| Ole Miss |
73.3 |
| South Carolina |
74.8 |
| Texas A&M |
79.8 |
| Georgia |
83.3 |
| Vanderbilt |
85.3 |
| Missouri |
100.3 |
