This wasn’t about criticism of his family, which is out of bounds, but his family being exposed to criticism of him on the internet or at school. The narrative seeming to be that UF fans are unreasonable and White took the job at UGA to escape those unreasonable UF fans and their “evil/nasty” social media posts.
It’s interesting seeing some emotionally angry responses here. People can’t let a “Thanks” thread pass in peace without taking another turn pissing on the guy. It’s just really important to chime in.
For his kids to see posts about their dad online is par for the course with public figures. The line is crossed when fans attack family members who aren’t involved, which I haven’t see any proof of being the case here. The complaint seems to be White’s children may be exposed to the criticism White receives for how he has performed at his $3 million dollar a year job. This would be like a President complaining about his kids having to read some of the criticisms posted online about him. How dare he be criticized and his children read about it. It comes with the territory of being a public figure.
I'm not putting faith in the Twitter post. I don't know that guy. It seems like his speculation to me. What I do know is that we (and most other fan bases) have a very aggressive vocal group of fans and many of them have children. Nobody knows what the White children were exposed to at school or anywhere else. My point is that when the family and children are affected, I completely agree it crosses a line. I'm not saying they were or weren't . . . but I suspect they were. Why? Take this thread started by @akaGatorhoops to say "thanks" to Coach White for his integrity. So many couldn't leave it alone and had to take their last shots. It got nasty and had to be cleaned-up. So I do suspect his children were affected by fans although I haven't seen any proof.
This is all due to someone posting a tweet by a national writer that the reason White left is due to some “toxic” UF basketball fans, and that White left for UGA to save his children from being exposed to that toxicity. So the narrative being pushed by that writer is that UF fans are toxic and unreasonable. I am a little tired of the narrative that UF fans are unreasonable.
It's always interesting to watch people post their confirmation biases. No proof or facts needed, just some Twitter poster saying what they already think or want to believe.
did I say they wouldnt? They are Pastranas recruits not CMW. I certainly hope we stop interacting on this site
Hate Georgia but like M White so hate he went there. Still since it's not football makes it easier not much but a Little. I really thought he would do well here, dang now second time since 72 I was wrong.
I wanted him gone. It’s just a matter of whether I’ll root for him or not. At nearly every other school I would have rooted for him and hoped he had good success. At Georgia I want every single coach to fail. Now that includes White
Not me. SOS was a UF alum and he gets to be a "Gator" no matter where he coaches. Unless of course he had gone to UGA... Shoot. Did I mention how much I hate the Chicago Bulls. I can still be happy for BD. I really, really hope I was horribly wrong about CMW and all you GC posters who blamed him for our shortcomings were correct. Oh and thank you CMW for what you put in to our BB program. I have always been a true fan of yours. May you never win another game.
I hate Georgia as much as any Gator fan. But I've gone through too many UF game threads, trying to enjoy and experience the game with fellow gators, while reading the bile posted by a certain segment of our fan base (only when games were lost or going badly) to not have some understanding of why Mike White would want to leave and not give a flying F*** about where it was he was going. Not saying all criticism wasn't warranted or understandable but a lot of it seemed to be shots when UF was down. Our fan base is passionate and that's part of being a gator but... I will root for UGA bball when it doesn't affect the Gators and the haters that want to hold grudges can go frick themselves.
I understand the sentiment but doubt that he was giving UF the finger. He probably thinks he'll get a fair shake there as he believes that's all he needs (this is where folks chime in about "seven years" and the record not being good enough). He was probably thinking that things have gotten so bad at UF that he needed to get to the final four or things would have gotten worse. I would agree with his assessment. I'm in the uncomfortable position of hoping that the "fire Mike White" crowd was correct and that UF basketball will return to its glory days of the Billy Donovan era now that we're rid of Mike White. I'm not optimistic.
MW is a good man. But don't kid yourselves. IF a large portion of the fan base at UGA feels he is underperforming he will receive the exact same vitriol he did here, and his family will see & hear it. Mark Richt was a good guy, he got lambasted, and I'm sure his family knew it. Fans are the same everywhere, unfortunately. I can't even imagine how ugly it may get when the Dawgs come to G'ville, but MW put himself in that situation.
The Mike White tenure taught me a lot of lessons about our fan base that i wish I never learned. I like chatting about Gator sports with someone other than my wife who is German and doesn’t care. I don’t have any close close friends who follow and care about the Gators like I do. But unfortunately, on forums you don’t get to pick and choose who you associate with. You can’t tell people to stop certain behavior. You can’t make someone stop rating serious posts as funny. You can’t stop someone from ruining game threads. I appreciate guys like you and others who come to enjoy Gator sports and support our athletes and coaches. Too many feel as though this is the place to live out their being a University President or Athletic Director fantasies. I get it if people are upset with results, but the incessant whining, the made up narratives, the cherry picked stats, the disrespect of young athletes… it just goes too far and even if/when we may start achieving our goals, a part of me will always resent a certain segment of our fan base for how they conducted themselves.
If White does the smart thing and stays focused on UGA being a "new challenge" or some other spin that doesn't point the finger at UF and its fans, then I think there will be very minimal booing drowned out by cheering when he is first announced as the road coach in Gainesville. The vast majority of fans that wanted him gone acknowledged all along that he is a very hard worker and by all accounts is a good person. Another segment of fans wanted to keep him. Add those two groups together and there aren't many left who would be inclined to vocalize their disdain. So I don't foresee it getting "ugly" at all. However, if White amplifies the nonsense that Gator fans are uniquely unreasonable and it becomes a bigger story that he left purportedly to protect his kids, then I agree that he will be loudly booed when he brings the Dawgs to Gainesville. As I said before, if it becomes clear that White is the one pushing the story seeking to pin to blame for his departure on UF fans, then I will lose a lot of respect for him too (even though I'd never boo him). But I think he's smarter (and better) than that. IMO, the story is unlikely pick up any legs in the media and White will steer the discussion toward the future, not the past. I think White will recognize that trying to bad mouth his UF experience will reflect badly on him too. Nothing good will happen for either side if an ongoing debate ensues in the media about who was at fault for his departure. UF will stay above the fray for the same reason. IMO, by next season, no one will be focused on this tweet about saving the kids other than certain Gator fans who constantly push the narrative that our fans are somehow uniquely bad.
