The Search: How Foley & His UF Staff Landed on Michael White
Saturday, May 9, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Last Wednesday night, Jeremy Foley believed he had found his next University of Florida basketball coach. The Gators athletic director had swapped a few telephone calls with Louisiana Tech's Michael White over the previous two days, but now wanted to get in front of the coach and see if that connection he sensed through his iPhone would be there in person.
Foley told White he wanted to bring a search committee party to Ruston, La. To White's house. To meet both him and wife Kira.
White, though, wasn't sure his home was the best venue for a meeting.
“I have to warn you, we've got five kids,” he said. “If you don't mind dealing with throw-up and apple sauce ... .”
Foley didn't mind.
Less than 48 hours later, amid the day-care mayhem of the White household -- no, it wasn't that bad -- Foley and Lynda Tealer, UF's executive associate AD, pulled folders out their satchels containing copies of a contract the terms of which had not even been discussed. One copy for White, one for his wife.
“We want you to be the Florida basketball coach,” Foley said. “Here's our offer. We think it's fair. You can look it over.”
Inside the folder was paperwork for a six-year, $12 million deal. The 38-year-old White turned to his wife, who was cradling their six-month-old son Dillon.
“Do you need to see it?”
Kira, an attorney who knows about contracts, smiled, got a little misty-eyed, and shook her head.
“Neither do I,” White said. “I want to be your basketball coach.”
With that, the Gators had their successor to the beloved and iconic Billy Donovan, who a week earlier resigned after 19 seasons of phenomenal basketball heights to become head coach of the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder. Few expected finding a replacement for the irreplaceable Donovan would happen so fast, but Foley and his UAA lieutenants were in scramble mode the last several weeks knowing that Donovan's longtime dream of taking the NBA plunge could become to a reality.
On Monday, White will be introduced at an 11 a.m. news conference, nearly one week to the day that Donovan, in an emotional farewell presser, walked away from a UF podium for the final time.
Foley and his team were well into their search by then.
Any executive worth his administrative chops is prepared for sudden change. Foley definitely was. And while there may not have been a physical “list” of potential candidates in a desk drawer by their fingertips, Foley and executive associate AD Mike Hill, the senior administrator who oversees men's basketball, had been closely monitoring the situation in Oklahoma City for weeks.
Even with season-ending injuries to reigning MVP Kevin Durant and defensive whiz Serge Ibaka, rumors that OKC coach Scott Brooks' job was in jeopardy had been circulating for months and that Donovan, with his brilliant offensive acumen, would be an attractive replacement. Thunder general manager Sam Presti, along with his metrics analyst Oliver Winterbone, who served from 2010-14 as Donovan's video coordinator, had visited Gainesville in February and attended Gators practices, shoot-arounds and a couple games.
They likely weren't there four days to scout Chris Walker.
The Thunder's regular season ended April 15, as the team missed the playoffs via a tiebreaker with the New Orleans Pelicans. Speculation immediately amped regarding Brooks' job, which meant the Gators further readied their just-in-case list of coaches in the likely event OKC came after Donovan.
The names that routinely pop up when prominent jobs come open -- Dayton's Archie Miller, Xavier's Chris Mack, Murray State's Steve Prohm, Villanova's Jay Wright and, yes, White -- were a part of the initial conversations. Several others too, including internal candidates John Pelphrey and Anthony Grant. But the uncertain early stages of the process were more about simple fact-finding and the gathering intelligence to determine who might be the best fit for the UF program; the UF culture.
When Brooks was fired April 22 and the Donovan-to-OKC speculation began simultaneously, Foley and his committee took the process to the next level. That meant putting calls into various sources to get input on each name. Who was consulted? Conference commissioners and league office personnel; other coaches who may have known or worked with a guy; media types in the know. As many as 20 different sources.
On April 30, Donovan called Foley and told him he was accepting the Thunder job. On May 1, Donovan was in Oklahoma City for his introductory news conference. That was a Friday.
Foley and Hill (like everybody associated with the Gators) were still emotionally shaken that weekend, but they also had a job to do. Their phone calls and info-gathering intensified even more, and with each digit they dialed the case for White got stronger.
* Style of play (uptempo, pressing and lots of 3s).
* Success (101 career victories and three conference championships over last three seasons).
* Basketball pedigree (not highly recruited as a player, but a classic overachiever who turned into a four-year starter as a point guard at Ole Miss in the 1990s, once going for 16 points and six assists in leading the Rebels to their first win at Kentucky in more than 60 years).
* Work ethic (see above). His teams have a reputation for playing hard; players love him, but he holds them accountable.
* Knowledge of the Southeastern Conference (not a prerequisite, but certainly a bonus; his time as a player and another seven years as an assistant coach at Ole Miss resonated).
* Florida ties (born in Dunedin, well-rooted with high school and club coaches in the state, evidenced by five players on his 2014-15 roster from Florida, including Conference-USA Player of the Year Kenneth “Speedy” Smith).
* Deep family background in sports (father is the athletic director at Duke; brother is the athletic director at Buffalo; another brother an associate AD at Army; mother a former athletic administrator and coach).
The information Foley and Hill were getting on White not only was positive, it was consistent, especially with regard to character and integrity.
“I've got a feeling about this guy,” Foley said.
Said Hill: "Me too."
Just like that, Michael White rocketed to the top of The List.
The first sit-down meeting of the UF search committee came Monday afternoon, about two hours after Donovan said goodbye. Hill had asked some committee members to call a few more people. As they shared thoughts, it was clear all the initial intel Foley and Hill gathered had been validated.
After the meeting, Foley called LA Tech athletic director Tommy McClelland, out of professional courtesy, to let him know the Gators were set to reach out to White. The first call to coach was that afternoon. It was merely an introduction.
The second call that night was a conversation. White was very much interested.
On Tuesday, Foley had to be in Amelia Island, Fla., for conference AD meetings. He was on his phone the entire drive up, talking to Hill, talking to more people about White. Though he'd made that trip probably a hundred times, at one point Foley realized he'd missed his exit on to Interstate-95 and was rolling toward the Dames Point Bridge on the east side of Jacksonville.
Whoops.
In between his meetings the next two days, Foley worked the phones and traded texts with White.
How you doing today?
Looking forward to coming to see you.
A meeting was set for Thursday afternoon, with Foley, Hill, Tealer, executive associate AD Chip Howard and longtime Gators head basketball athletic trainer David “Duke” Werner in the travel party.
They left in the morning, arrived around noon at White's home in Ruston and needed just a few hours of face time to realize this was a fit; both sides, that is.
Foley asked for a minute, stepped outside and sipped from a bottle water as he met with his colleagues. Hard job. Tough shoes to fill. They needed to be sure they were getting the right guy. Getting a bulldog.
“Everyone OK here?”
They were. Back into the living room they went.
With that, a new era of Florida basketball begun.
Apple sauce never tasted so good.
