Fair and well-written…

Ya. I agree. It’s time to move on! Period! Thanks for sharing!

 

I agree it is a very fair and well written analysis of Mike White. I like the guy, I really do. I also liked Ron Zook and thought the FireRonZook.com thing was completely out of order. Mike and Ron both had the misfortune to have followed legends in their respective sports, and unfortunately, they each came up well short of hopes Gators fans have had. Each also seemed to be snakebit when it came to injuries and weird events during their tenures at UF. I would've loved Mike to have done well at UF. I never considered National Championships as the way his tenure should be evaluated. Those things are very hard to come by even for the BlueBlood programs. However, the progam has been floundering for the last five years, and this year with not even making the tournament as something to hang his hat on, the program has foundered. I wish it weren't so, but I don't know what people are seeing to make them think that there's anything better in the future other than wishful thinking. Mike is a good guy. There are a lot of good guys, but that doesn't make them good coaches, or good fits, for the University of Florida. It's been seven years, and I don't remember another coach at UF that has had this much rope with so little to show for it.

 

If he stays I will be cheering for CMW and the Gators next year but I think it's clear he has to have a more successful season. Significantly more successful.

If he moves on I will wish him well and success going forward. And..... My appreciation for running a clean program with integrity.

He has conducted himself with class and grace and not embroiled UF in ugly controversy like others in this conference.

 

The focus on Billy isn’t fair to Mike obviously, but it’s also a bit of a red herring - his level of success isn’t what most fans are asking for either. Just like Zook, there’s a middle ground between 7-5 and regular National titles that most of us would be content with.
And I will say again, MW’s problems with the fan base go beyond wins and losses, it’s an ugly style of basketball to watch most nights. We were sold an up tempo pressing team, and we got one of the most plodding (and often ineffective) offenses in the country, If you aren’t winning consistently, haven’t shown any improvement in the last five years and aren’t fun to watch, you won’t have many left in your corner, which is where he is now.

 

Yeah, I think fans just want to be in the mix now and then, and we aren't.

 

White's tenure is very similar to Zooks performance wise. Middle of the road results with no clear direction. Compete with most any team in the country but suffer inexplicable losses at the same time. Not a real contender for the SEC at the end of each year..People don't question his effort and is liked by all.

People just want to see some forward direction and growth. Our trend line is the opposite at this point.

 

I agree. @tilly used the word "agnostic" yesterday and I find myself agreeing with that too.

It's easier for fans to spend other people's money and it's easier for what they used to call arm chair QBs or Monday Morning QBs to second guess.

It was hard enough coaching AAU in Memphis some years ago . . . much less Division I and in the SEC.

Contrary to what many believe, I just don't see it as that far from where Florida is right now (in the middle of the SEC and around 19-13 each season) to being in the upper part of the SEC and around 25-7. It would require a course correction . . . similar to what Coach Donovan did, only in reverse . . . to improve scoring with the aggressive defense Coach White already teaches. It would also require playing the best or hottest players and not necessarily the oldest. Can he bring in an offensive assistant and trust that person? Does he even want to? He might prefer to hold his head high and take his honest brand of basketball elsewhere as some have suggested is in the works.

If Coach White chooses to leave, I'll thank him. Heck I'll thank him right now.

On the other hand, hiring a completely new and unknown coach might get Florida there and it might put Florida worse off. Then Florida spends even more time and money and starts over once again. It's a big decision for SS. Florida will never find a more honest and honorable coach who better represents the University.

I don't know Coach White but it seems his philosophy is to dig in and never quit. I'm not suggesting that if he leaves he quit . . . but am in the camp of hoping there is significant change with at least a new assistant, a more balanced roster, and being "agnostic" until seeing whatever actually happens.

 

I just don’t grasp how some are hoping for CMW to make ‘real changes’ and bring in an O mind and let them build the O. What evidence is there to cause such Hope ? He is what he is after 7 years.

 

Wishful thinking which I myself am guilty of but admittedly doubtful at this point.

 

When Mike White first took the Florida job, he should have kept John Pelphrey on the staff. It would have been a good bridge from the Donovan era. In not retaining someone like Pelphrey, it was like a clean break from the previous, much more successful era.

In Florida Football, Urban Meyer kept Charlie Strong on the staff who had a link to many Florida coaches going all the way back to the 80s/90s/00s: Galen Hall, Steve Spurrier and finally Ron Zook. Strong ended up being the DC of two SEC championship teams and national title winning teams.


Meanwhile, Pelphrey was on Donovan's 2000 team that had made it all the way to the NCAA final game and was also on three UF teams that had won 3 SEC titles ('00, '01, '02). Not to mention that Pelphrey was also coached by Rick Pitino while at Kentucky in the 1990s.

Being around winning people who had done it before would have been a helpful thing for a new coach like White.

 

This is what sticks out to me -- we should be the second best program in the SEC behind UK along with Arky. We are trending to be program consistently in the bottom half of the conference from a program that was arguably as good or better than UK for 16 years.

 

Yea I am under no illusion that we are Duke. But being a top 25 program is a fair expectation and we are almost never in the top 25.

He had bad luck, but I’d be more sympathetic if I saw progress when we were full strength ever.

 

This. The only glimmer of hope was the start of last year when we looked good even against fsu pre keyontae's tragic episode but even then we could say we have seen that before. Hot start followed by a typically inconsistent remainder of the season.

Even this year's texas southern debacle occurred with us at pretty much full strength.

 

Especially since he just had two openings on his staff last year. He had the chance to bring in someone on offense and chose not to.

 

Didn’t he bring in a couple of FAU assistants?

 

Well, being UF made the last four NCAA Tournaments and won at least game in each, UF actually finished #16-32 so they basically have been a Top-25 team the last several years.

I love the way fans use the term mediocre and average when describing the UF program under Mike White. It just shows the ignorance of our fan base in not recognizing how difficult it is to make the NCAA Tournament the last four seasons (and actually would have been five had the 2020 Tournament not been canceled). And the fact is UF was the only SEC school to do so. That is not average.

 

We all want more but UF’s program has not been floundering and to compare it to the Ron Zook era at football is ridiculous.

 

Jeez this is a sad take. Our expectations have really fallen.

 

One more year for a variety of reasons. Class act, coupled with bad luck on injuries and huge buyout, plus players do not seem to quit on him.