Brian White - Here We Go Again
Monday, September 14, 2009 | Football
By Dan Apple, UF Communications
October 20, 2007. Heading into the 2009 season, that was the last time Brian White walked off a football field as a winning coach. Although it took 687 days for that victory to come against Charleston Southern on opening weekend, it was well worth the wait.
Shortly after the Gators won the national championship last January, head coach Urban Meyer opened his Rolodex and called his longtime friend and asked him if he wanted to move to Gainesville.
The obvious answer was yes. After unsuccessful stints at Washington and Syracuse, White was ready to turn things around.
“I've known Coach Meyer for many years and I've always hoped some day we would have a chance to work together,” White said.
That chance couldn't have come at a better time.
In White's first season as the special teams' coordinator and tight ends' coach at Washington, the Huskies made history, but not in a good way. They became the only team in Pac-10 history to have an 0-12 record. Washington was the only team in the Football Bowl Subdivision to go winless last season.
The 2007 season wasn't much better for White. While serving as the offensive coordinator and tight ends' coach at Syracuse, the Orange struggled to a 2-10 record, including losses in their last four contests. One of those wins was a 20-12 victory over Buffalo on Oct. 20, 2007.
Fortunately, White knows that good things can come from bad situations.
“There's always learning experiences in everything that you do, whether you win Rose Bowl championships, national championships or go through a winless season,” White said. “There are lessons to be learned and gathered, and you gather the information and you work with it.”
The winless season came last year with Washington, but White has enjoyed championship success as well.
After graduating from Harvard University with a bachelor's degree and earning a master's degree from Fordham University, White took a position as a graduate assistant under Lou Holtz at Notre Dame. In his first season, the Fighting Irish went 11-0 in the regular season and took down West Virginia in the Fiesta bowl for the national title in 1988.
White earned a second master's degree from Notre Dame and continued to move up the coaching ladder. Successful stints at UNLV (1990-92, 94) and Nevada (1993) earned him a position with the Wisconsin Badgers.
White spent 12 seasons under head coach Barry Alvarez coaching the running backs (1995-2006) and eight seasons as the Badgers' offensive coordinator (1999-2006). During that time, he mentored one of the greatest running backs of all-time in Ron Dayne.
Under White's tutelage, “The Great Dayne” led Wisconsin to two Rose Bowl victories (1999, 2000) on his way to an NCAA-record 7,125 rushing yards in his career. The 1999 Heisman Trophy winner set a Big Ten record with 71 rushing touchdowns and became just one of five players to rush for over 1,000 yards in each of his four years in college.
While at Wisconsin, White coached seven NFL Draft choices on his offenses, including first-rounders Michael Bennett, Dayne and Lee Evans. He led the Badgers to nine bowl appearances and two Big Ten Conference championships.
With a resume like that, it's easy to see how White was able to make it through the 2008 season at Washington.
“Losing any game is rough. It's just the nature of this business,” White said. “I'm a glass-half-full guy, always have been.”
With the Gators and Huskies having polar opposite seasons in 2008, White knows that you have to enter every game with the same attitude, whether you're the defending national champions or a team looking for its first win.
“I went through a season and we didn't win a game, but I can tell you this: We never went into a game thinking we didn't have a chance to win,” White said.
Coach Meyer can appreciate that perspective, because he knows what would happen if he had to go through a winless season.
“Done,” he said quickly. “Honestly, done. See you later. I'm not kidding.”
-UF-
