An appeal for respect

What's your take on bringing in a different offensive coach or philosophy similar to what Donovan did with Larry Shyatt and defense? Is that possible? Not probable? Not an option or something White would consider?

 

I’ve always respected White’s character, not so much his coaching. That said, Bullis said a while back that he has heard that White is gone after this season. Best wishes to White, it just wasn’t meant to be for him at Florida I suppose. Maybe he finds better success at a lower level program. As for Florida, I think the future will look much brighter next season.

 

To do that you need a spark. Look at what Bruce Pearl did at a doormat like Auburn. No, I don't want Pearl or anything like that, but he did something to get those fans fire's up about basketball BEYOND the court. I don't know what it is, but thats what the next coach needs to do. Maybe it's going out and literally pumping UF basketball everywhere he has a chance. Maybe it's demanding new facilities beyond the O dome renovation. Maybe it's flipping the cameras finally (we joke about it but I'm serious. If it looks exciting on TV more fans will come). I don't know what it is but the new coach has to do it and that starts with a commitment from the top.

 

FWIW, there are supposed to be some major renovations coming to the basketball practice facility so would be good timing.

 

when attendance sagged a bit late in his time here, Billy went to the fraternity and sorority houses to try and get fans back.
But yeah, the larger problem is that it’s just a bad brand of basketball. It’s never going to get people excited, especially when you didn’t even win at it.

 

I was going to type something similar but you said it all. I'd take White leading the program for the next 20 years if we were trending the right direction but under the given circumstances I was thinking yes, we need a personality to really instill some life and promote the program even if with smoke and mirrors to begin with.

 

Agree 100%. We have a man of character as our coach, and the program has been successful while staying clean. I hate that fans are trying to run this guy out of town with their dreams of being Alabama football, Duke basketball, and Harvard academics all at once. Just ridiculously high standards that are not feasible.

Coach deserves better than this, and we need to exercise patience. In basketball years, seven years is a blink of an eye. When is the last time UCLA or Indiana won a championship? How much buzz does UCONN have right now? Kentucky, Duke, and UNC stunk last year. It happens.

 

I also support Coach White. Injuries have hurt for sure. Last night we missed at least 4-5 layups I can't fault the coach for that.
We get open shots which means we have ball movement most times not always.
We play good D most games, but we can not shoot can't explain that.
Recruiting over all has been poor. Yes RN and Glover would have help us as PG had been down. Appleby is getting better but he's a small 2 not a PG.
I do think next year's class is good. I love my Gators so will back and support who ever is Coaching. Don't have a answer just a fan

 

I respect your support of the coach, but he has not shown one speck of a sign of improving as a coach and turning the program around. And yet, he makes millions a year while his recruits generally end up trying to salvage their basketball careers elsewhere.

 

Yes, it happens but not one of the programs: Kentucky, Duke, or UNC would keep a coach for 7 years with the results we keep seeing. I like Mike White. I think he puts his heart and soul into doing it the right way, and thought it was a great hire, but when the womens basketball, the perenially worst overall program in UF athletics, looks far more like it's headed in the right direction at UF, while under an interim coach and during trying times, while the mens program continues to struggle from game to game, year in and year out, then something is very, very wrong. Doing it the right way while being regularly mediocre doesn't cut it.

 

I don’t think anyone is asking for us to be any of those things. In football I have said we will never be Bama, and I’m ok with that. That whole state is legit crazy, they would give their firstborn to win. A team that competes for a playoff berth annually is all I ask, and that should be a fair standard. Doesn’t mean we get in all or even most years, but we should be in the conversation annually.
In basketball, I have said repeatedly, top 15-20 (sweet 16) type program is all I ask for. That would mean being regularly ranked, and every few years a legit shot at a final four run (though the nature of the tournament makes that a crapshoot). And huge bonus points for a coach with a team that’s actually fun to watch.
That’s not unreasonable and not close to what we are under MW, despite the fact that schools with lesser pedigrees than us now have that in our league. We are a perennial “check the bubble to see who won and lost” program. If we get a new coach could it be worse? Sure. But that shouldn’t stop us from trying.

 

For what it's worth (absolutely nothing), I'm pretty agnostic on the "should he stay or should he go" question with White. It's actually kind of darkly hilarious how almost every season seems to end in this weird liminal space where you don't quite know what conclusions you should draw. The results are always uninspiring enough that you feel vaguely dissatisfied with the season, but never so bad that they justify firing a coach. And there are always just enough mitigating circumstances that you find yourself willing to cut White some slack, but not enough slack that you feel good about where things are. Enraging losses are followed by inspiring victories, poor coaching performances by great ones, etc. And it all kind of leaves your head spinning.

 

Explain it away. All some people hear is what they want. I will say if this was 1992 instead of 2022 then there would be no debate about White as our coach and he would be firmly entrenched here. While reasonable fans aren't asking to be " Duke or Bama in football" ( good lord with the hyperbole...) Billy Donovan established enough long term success to expect more than the NCAA bubble year in and year out. In fact the Auburns, Bama, LSUs and FSUs are showing us that now as well.

All that aside, the trend line is poor for 7 years in. I don't think anyone would be clamoring for a new coach if we could flip White's tenure here. But yeah....lets skip right past metrics like SEC regular season play, sec tournament play, finishing strong each year instead of fading, roster management etc etc and go straight to Duke/Bama comparisons....

 

Ok, but this isn’t one bad year. Heading into our final 5 games we are 16-10. We finished 15-10 last year. Heading into our final 5 two years ago we were 17-10. The year before that we were 15-11. The trend has been poor for a while now.

White deserves respect, but he equally deserves the criticism he is getting.

 

Haha, this pretty much describes me to a T. You know what you're going to get every year as a whole, just not game to game. I am concerned by the mass exodus of players that we have seen the last couple of years. That would seem like a bad sign.

 

No I dont disagree and I thought about that as i wrote it but didn't add to the post because I'm pretty vocal about not wanting to sell our souls for football and basketball success. I'd argue fsu wasnt much to start with outside of their early 90s run so Hamilton rightfully had some leeway. I do think their talent acquisition is suspicious as well.

 

I have another question. Do we think NIL will help us even the field in basketball? I know NIL is pushing the elite programs to be more elite but if you have an elite recruiter, that should give coach a chance to get his fair share if the boosters are doing their part to add to it. We have the Gator Collective and a pretty rich alumni base as well to tap into. Hopefully, we get the full support of the administration to throw NIL money around legally to combat the dirtier programs.