Not true. White has gotten an enormously long leash at UF. He have been fired at nearly all top 40 programs by now
Billy D had the Gators in the NIT in 1998, 2008 and 2009, so having an off year where you don’t make the tourney is understandable and happens to many programs. However, Billy led UF to regular season SEC champ in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2013 and 2014 and SEC tournament champ in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2014. Excluding national championships, the concerning factor for Coach White is the lack of any regular season or SEC tournament championships.
I believe that Billy also went to the Elite Eight 7 times. White went there once, and it was mostly with Billy’s players.
Not so fast my friend We're back in it. Maybe. Some consistency under White would be pretty great. It is nice winning games we aren't expected to win, but it would be great to lose by surprise on the flip side of that.
Considering we were in Lunardi's second four out before the loss tonight I would say we had to do all that. We have no resume this year with bad losses and one which is arguable the worst in modern Gator hoops history.
The problem is not having a down year, it’s never having an up year. We’ve had zero good regular seasons under White.
I read this and thought it deserved a response. Obviously the question is NOT "how long until coach X" wins their first national championship b/c in your example you cite Mary Wise, who has never won a national title. I think the point is "how many years does a coach get to prove they are a potential championship level coach." You cite sully and Wise as examples. OK Sully- CWS in year 3. National runner up in year 4. Always made regionals and half the time made the CWS in 8 years. Won the SEC east 4 of 8 years. Clear championship level coach at that point, won conference championships, and played for a national title. Wise - won the SEC title every year her first 8 years. Went to the national finals 6 of 8 years and the regional finals the other 2. Best coach and team in the sec bar none from day one. Mike white - conference finishes are 2,3,4,5 and 8th twice. This year will not help. He has one Elite Eight. The defense is we have made the tourney 6 of 7 years. We are one of the 64 best teams in the country.... and certainly not the best in the conference. So, no, Mike White is not in the conversation with either of those coaches, and if they prove anything it is that he has not even contended for a conference title in one year while they contended or won conference titles every year. You just made the point how bad MW looks in comparison to these two Gator legends. Admittedly, Sully and Wise are high bars, but White is not even in their league as far as product.
Florida was 29-7 (14-4) in 2016-2017 Ya can’t even grant him that as a good year? I knew this was a tough crowd, but ….jeeesh!
I took "championships" as National Championships. So now it is other championships. Do we count in-season tournament championships? Mike White has some. Mary Wise and Sully are great coaches and I am glad that they are Gators. I was just taking exception to the claim that our basketball program should be competitive for a National Championship every year. That is not going to happen no matter who we might hire as a replacement.
I’m trying to think of that year as Donovan’s 2000 year and these years as Donovan’s 2001-2005. But it’s hard.
Those were good seasons that flamed out early. These recent season have not matched those 2001-2005 years.
Then the premise of your question is in error as Mary Wise has never won a national championship. You can count "tournament championships" but that seems pretty shallow. You compared the 3 coaches and only one of them did not win a conference title in their first 8 years. Only one of them did not play for a national title in their first 8 years. That one is Mike white. If Mike White had 4 sec titles like sully or 8 like wise in his first 8 years then this conversation would not be happening. Your comparison does nothing but prove White's lack of success in comparison to those coaches, and perhaps your incapability of fairly judging Mike White relative to them.
I said before Auburn we were 90 percent out, which is probably not far from where we are now ( maybe 80?). 3 more wins minimum, and one of those needs to be a quality win. Winning out last three regular season games might not even be enough. Lose to either GA or Vandy and it’s all but over barring a big tourny run. Basically hanging by a thread now.
TBH this year’s team is less frustrating as they are actually putting in maximum effort and we just don’t have the athletes or bodies for a few reasons. I don’t feel like we are overthinking ourselves out of wins this year as in years past. Take it for what it’s worth, but I do enjoy watching this team play more than in the previous few years.
We were a 4 seed, a consider top 4 seeds as good years. And we made the E8, so I’ll concede it’s a good year Still 1 good year out of 7, with no great years is not good enough
Wouldn't say I enjoy it more but I do appreciate their effort and realize their limitations which is a roster management issue.
