Year isn’t going how we thought or hoped it would, and the calls to get rid of Coach White are getting stronger. While I understand the frustration, at the same time I recognize that sometimes it just doesn’t go your way. Keep in mind that Kentucky was 9-16 last year, but this year they are really good. Things can change drastically from year to year. Even one player can make a huge difference. I suppose that it’s a tough sell to a fanbase wanting a quick return to 2006-2007. Coach White has kept this program respectable, even if our current team is not winning at our desired rate. The guys play hard every night, and I’m proud of them for competing. Winning in our league is not easy. TLDR, I know… but the point is that all programs have a down year here and there. Doesn’t mean you can’t bounce back the next season. I watch every game and still love watching our team. Go Gators
Yup. 7 years is not asking for a quick return. For the record I'm not expecting a return to what I consider the best college team of all time but I'd be happy to return to SEC title contender and a team that defends home court.
I expected the 7 year argument, but ask yourself how many coaches win championships in 7 years let alone at all? This is what most good programs look like. Making the tournament most years, making a deep run occasionally, and winning a championship rarely. I mean what is the expectation? You are not going to get rid of Coach White and start going to Final Fours every year all of a sudden. I just don’t think a lot of the expectations are realistic.
murph, his tournament success is six wins in six years, which is decent, not great. The problem is that outside of that there is nothing you can point to that is an accomplishment. good programs compete for conference championships, play in their conference tournament championship game at least a few times each decade, and finish ranked in the top 20 more than once every six years. I could maybe live with UF going 0-fer outside a win in March Madness each year if we were fun to watch and we saw some type of a pattern of improvement, but that's unfortunately been the complete opposite of the Mike White experience.
you have got to be kidding me, telling us to be patient after 7 years of the same old same old...7 years not just one year. Come on man, who is paying you from inside the program to post this? KY has not bearing on us, they are a different kind of school and Cal is a much more heralded coach with National Championship and top draft picks behind his name. Yea the guys who are overmatched play hard every night, just cant shoot a lick most nights and now we are playing small forwards at center because of CMW? He was walking around the offices last yera like he did not have a friend in the world and ran off his assistants because supposedly it was there fault that the team keeps 'underperforming" and it is always the teams fault..oh we played good for a half but I dont know what happened after that..I like Mike but tired of this Groundhog day stuff
Bouncing back to getting to the tournament and losing the first weekend? No thanks. There doesn't not seem to be any improvement in the program at all. Just some slightly above average mediocrity. Constantly finishing 5-8 in the SEC isn't going to cut it. Recruiting isn't great and the style of basketball is iffy at best. I think we've been patient enough.
When will the hyperbolic arguments defending White stop? People are clamoring for improvement, SEC competitiveness, defending home court, an occasional breakout year which all lend leniency for the occasional down year, etc Do those things and then conference championships follow which can lead to the occasional breakout year. Spurrier used to say the season goals start with winning the SEC. Do that and the other stuff falls in line. I literally don't care about making the tournament as much as having a good regular season because the other stuff come along with that. Limping in to the tournament while not sniffing a conference title or SEC tournament run means very little actually.
If White were coaching our football team, he would have been gone long ago. He has a good class coming in, so perhaps he deserves another year, but I think we have seen enough. He is what he is. While I've not really seen a sure fire replacement identified, I really don't see how White's replacement could do any worse, so why not make a change and hope for the best?
Murph - Thank you, I find it admirable that you defend coach. However your arguments do not support the bottom line facts. Under Mike White, given a 31 game regular season - UF can expect to go around 19-12. NCAA 14-8 seed and 2nd round exit. Decent - Yes What Gator Nation wants? - NO Unrealistic Expectations? Absolutely given the crappy fan support but we are coming off a 19 year run with Billy that gave us 4 final fours and 7 or 8 Regional Finals, and a slew of SEC regular season / SEC tournament championships. While competing with Cal's very best KY teams. SO - As a fan I have tremendous respect for Coach's class, how he represents the University and as a human being. The question - , is Strickland / the decision makers OK with 19 -12? In many respects I think they are because 19-12 is better than scandal, controversy, cheating - WILL WADE or those kind of people in other words. How long will this attitude last? The way I see it the powers at be will probably WAIT, given his good reputation, and accept DECENT results, hoping for a big breakthrough year. Conversely, I think CMW's performance has HIM on the firing bubble should his teams go south with an ugly record. I know prominent posters here think he is gone this year but if UF finishes .500 or so overall, I suspect he survives but will definitely be looking at the exit if next year does not show significant improvement.
I just want to see the team maximize their talent. That means competing hard but also intelligently. Need to eliminate the bad losses and strike when opportunity is presented. We had a great chance to make the Sweet 16/Elite 8 last year but didn't finish. We'd be having a different conversation this season if we had.
anty - We as UF fans may want to consider looking in our own MIRROR. Fan support is poor - how to rank it, I do not know, but I suspect we are behind numerous other SEC programs in that regard. Everyone is CLAMORING about the Football Team and what has been going on lately. We truly are far more football oriented. I guess that's where the money is. We do have decent facilities although, even with the O-Dome renovations, some posters are calling for "stand alone" facilities. Hey maybe we should support the team a bit more before asking for yet another facility that fans will not fill. Heck we can't even turn the cameras in the right direction. Looks like a damn ghost town in the O-Dome for many games.
I just wish Mike had by now tried to get an assistant coach that could help him with the offense a la what Billy did with Shyatt for help with defense. No guarantees that such a hire would work. But staying the course for the most part with a staff that hasn't been able to create any sort of consistently working offensive scheme is a bit frustrating.
Well look… I like Coach White but I also want a united fan base. If he has to go just to stop the noise, it might be better for all of us as a whole. I personally think he can get over the hump. If the University does decide to move on from him, I would really like to see Rick Pitino Sr. get brought in.
The dude is ancient. Way too old to be seriously considered. Need a candidate that can coach and stay around for a considerable amount of time.
Our fan support will never be what it is for our football team. Neither will Alabama's, Auburns Tennessee's LSUs etc but look at where they are currently. Improving and competing for the conference. We had students camping out at one time. Tubby Smith called the Odome one of the best atmospheres he had ever coached in if not the best during one of his year's at Kentucky. While we may never have had the fan support the football team has had we did have support at times. AKA likes to fault the athletic department for some of that and I think he's correct. The department doesn't do much to promote the program with students alumni and the nation. We joke about flipping the camera but it has merits. Fake it till you make it. Create atmosphere And a large part of generating fan support is not laying eggs one after another when students and fans do show up. Our home record and performances have been abysmal.
I agree with this, however, if he were hired as a short term guy to groom a younger coach, I could see it. The problem is that the pool looks pretty shallow at the moment. Maybe SS can pull another rabbit out of his hat like he did with Coach Napier, who knows?
I want championships but that’s not my judgement on White. What I want is regularly competing for the SEC championship (regular season and tournament), and a top 4 seed in the ncaa tournament (top 16 team in the country). How many times has that happened in the last 7 years? I’m too lazy to look it up right now. Also, besides what I just mentioned, my issues with the Mike White era are (in no particular order): - Lack of player development from one year to the next and way to frequently a regression (see Kavaughn Allen, Hudson, Lane as some examples off the top of my head) - Coaching-wise he seems to be offensively challenged and needs to hire an offensive coordinator. Having to scrap a system you worked on all off-season during the middle of the season a few years ago was embarrassing. - High school recruiting has not been good enough. His on-court results are lining up with recruiting results. We are rarely in the top 2-3 of the SEC in recruiting rankings.
Is it reasonable to expect that he win one of the two conference titles (regular season and tournament) sometime in his first 7 years? How about even making the finals of the tournament or coming close to winning the conference? Reasonable expectation? Hasn't happened. He has had one year (out of 7) in which we were a Top 5 seed in the country (which is the Top 20 teams in the country). Is that reasonable at Florida? BTW, this year is going exactly as I expected. We are a bubble team. That is exactly what I would have told you at the beginning of the year.
