Take away what people call the Chiozza team that went to the Elite Eight, and the Gators are 49-39 in the SEC under White. That sucks. Even in the Chiozza year in which the Gators went to the Elite Eight on the backs of 2 non-starters (Barry and Chiozza)(explain that one to me), the Gators lost 5 times to Vanderbilt and South Carolina. The more important thing is that you simply have to watch the Mike White Gator teams to see that he can’t coach. Florida is ideally situated to be a top team practically every year, but we’re not. There are a bunch of teams in the SEC now that are bringing in better players and have better coaches. We have become a middle of the pack SEC team. Would you rather have Mike White or Porter Moser as your coach? He was available, but we didn’t consider going after him. There are plenty of other quality coaches out there. We should hire one.
That's all fine and good. Now show me where I was wrong in countering the false claim that we never come close to competing for the SEC under White. I have been on the record saying I would be ok with a change if SS deems fit, but I also think Mike is going to be a very good coach somewhere. I was very close to my tipping point before Covid, but I have softened a bit. This is Mike's make it or break it year for me.
Outside of 2017, I don't really see those other years as us being legitimate last season contenders. I'd say 2018 was an almost year since we entered the final third of conference play 2 games back, but then we immediately dropped 3 in a row to bad teams. By the time the Auburn game rolled around, there was literally 0 path for us to win the SEC with 3 games to go.
I used to live and die with the teams I rooted for. Now I am happy when they do well and shrug it off when they don't. Like I have said many times here I just want a clean and competitive program. I am not willing to compromise on the clean part. I would rather have the so-called mediocrity of making the NCAAs every year and always winning one game to running a program that cheats. Just my view.
Might end up that way, but kenpom ranks them 10th among Big10 teams. I thought we should have little trouble w Maryland due to their coaching situation, but didn't realize that Danny Manning had stepped in. Coaches like Manning can step into a situation and rally troops, because kids will listen to a national champion. Staying power is another thing. Manning might have that too. Was at Wake for six years, but the record was pretty bad.
This was a pretty long post, with I'm sure many good pts. As for your Billy posts, though, I thought maybe you shoulda . . .
Tilly don’t confuse these guys with the facts. Same guys who will not be happy until Mike is gone. Then who does Florida get.?? We are not a blue blood and will not have blue blood coaches seeking this job… not a damn one of y’all will give me a name .you just run your mouth about firing a good coach. But .. Gator fans !
I am not going to review the Gator schedule and results in past years to see whether they had a chance to win the SEC. I would be very interested to hear from you as to what you think are Coach White’s strengths and weaknesses as a coach. I think that he is very presentable and articulate, but he has a lot of weaknesses that I have previously described ad nauseam. I am looking forward to your thoughts.
I think that UF is one of the better coaching jobs in the country, so I think that many, many good coaches would be interested in the Gator job. Porter Moser would have been a great hire. Doug McDermott at Creighton, Anthony Grant at Dayton and Wes Miller at Cincinnati all would be solid hires. Montverde’s coach, Kevin Boyle, would be a solid hire. The New York Knicks assistant coach, Kenny Payne, would be a great hire. Many of these coaches will be gone sooner rather than later. I don’t expect Mike White to be fired after this year regardless of how the Gators finish the season. However, the coaches listed above are the kind of guys that I would take a chance on at Florida.
Not gonna break down X's and O's as my coaching experience is middle school rec league. But from my POV this is what I see. Weaknesses. A bit like Mullen in he has a stubborn streak. Will play guys to long when they struggle and hasn't always crafted his scheme to his talent. Plays down to/up to competition. Bad losses are his most fatal flaw imo. Needs veteran former HC on his staff like Billy had. He needs a Shyatt like guy. Might be too passive with bad play and with officials and team plays passive because of it? Sometimes abandons what got him there late in halfs/games. Until CC he has lacked real inside toughness and scoring. Strengths. Clearly CAN coach with the better known guys as he has proven that head to head at times against Pearl, Few, K, Cal, etc Decent recruiter. (Multiple top 20 classes and NBA talent) Gets solid transfers (part of modern recruiting) Solid defensive teams that play pretty hard. (this is where an offensive minded former vet HC could help) Great ambassador for the program. Still relatively young compared to the big guys out there.
