Actually I think it was Pat that left for a while (Jax or Palm Beach maybe?) and came back as primary sports columnist when little Mikey went to the Orlando Slantinel.
If he wants to continue in coaching, then he should grow a thicker skin and encourage his family to do so as well. I don't care where he goes or what he achieves, there will always be someone to criticize what he is doing. Additionally, if he and the team were so hurt by fan treatment, then why didn't they coach and play better? Ultimately that is what the fans want...a team that competes for titles. Mike White nor his teams did that very well. You don't have to have a crystal ball to perceive that Mike was a very big step back from the prior coach and that he nor the team were getting better year over year as the learning curve progressed. Best of luck to him at UGA, but unless he feels he can play by the "Kirby Rules" up in Athens, I believe UGa will have a coaching opening there in 3-5 years.
I’m not sure what you mean by it being a “dubious claim”. I do agree with much of your post. That said, Mike has the right snd ability to make decisions he thinks are best for he and his family. I was surprised by the destination, but I think moving on was the right call.
This suggests not doing so was something sort of conscious decision. I think the team and coach gave maximum effort. Not being “good enough” wasn’t by choice.
Saying that I don't trust (and no offense to you because the only other person that made this claim was a reporter on twitter) that his family was getting flak from fans. I liken Mike White going to UGA to someone breaking up with someone that is really attractive but high maintenance. He instead went with someone who isn't as attractive but it easy going, for now.
It is the easy way though life, I will give you that. It isn't always the most rewarding. If you want to be the best you don't settle and this feels like Mike White settled. Had he gone to Duke, then it would be a different story. Maybe UGA will be a better long term match for him.
I guess it depends on what's rewarding to each individual. I don't know that he settled, as I'm not sure he would've landed somewhere better at this time than UGA.
Just curious, was it treatment at the games? I don't hear vitriol flying out of my section. If its Twitter, I don't know why any person in the public eye would read comments on social media. Some fans lack of decorum is really frustrating....
One thing that doesn't help UF is that the one guy who has been around the program forever and still gets a broader platform for some reason (guest on Finebaum, invited to speak on opposing teams' radio shows during game weeks, etc) is Pat Dooley. Dooley has a long history of vilifying Gator fans publicly. He even coined a phrase for some Gator fans (Gidiots).
If Mike White is the one being targeted for criticism by fans, I don’t understand how that extends to his family. Daddy got criticized by some random person on the internet/twitter, and I care why? Daddy is getting paid $3 million to do a job. Most people don’t earn that much money in their entire lifetime. The reason some of that criticism hurts is because it has a grain of truth to it. White has underperformed and the program has been treading water the past 4-5 years. The twitter post made it seem that White was so worried about his kids being exposed to criticism of him that he had to move on to UGA. To me that appears to be spin put out by his camp to make the UF fanbase out to be the bad guy instead of the coach that was paid $3 million a year putting out an underperforming product. That is the issue I have with the stories that are now coming out which blame the UF fanbase for running off an “amazing” coach (SMH) and person (agree). Coach White gets a free pass for leaving his team before the end of the season and the writers get to bash the UF fanbase, which is a win-win in their eyes but doesn’t come close to telling the full story.
I agreed with the Mullen deal. I really however wanted Mushchamp to make it . I hate coaches leaving but that’s me . Thought Mac was gonna be a Home Run but ….
I hear you. But White is gone… And there was no real need for spin. I don’t know of the tweet you are mentioning, and perhaps it was a little bit hyperbolic. But I can tell you as someone without agenda … That the criticisms wore on him and family. And Mike, more than anything else is a family guy. Whether we agree with it or not… He made the decision he felt was in the best interest of his family, and moved.
So, you think mediocrity is the Gators standard? If so, we've been overpaying Mike for 7 years, because you can find someone mediocre to average 13 losses a year for far less than 3 million per year. Personally, regardless of how our history was pre-Billy, our standards have changed in basketball much the same as they have in football post-SOS. I kinda get the feeling you hope the next coach fails just so you can say, "I told you so."
In my mind, it is too much of a coincidence that almost as soon as it was announced that Mike White is leaving for UGA, there was a tweet (5:41 PM · Mar 13, 2022) from National columist Mark Long saying “Mike White leaving Florida for Georgia showsjust how badly he and his family wanted out. It had become really toxic with a vocal segment of the fanbase, and White didn’t want his young kids affected by it at school and via social media”. This was a National columnist who couldn’t give a crap about UF basketball suddenly tweeting this. That speaks to a narrative being created. Then less than a day later you had Pat Dooley use the term Gidiot in his never ending quest to present UF fans in the best light possible. There are just too many coincidences to belief this is spontaneous.
I watched Mike’s press conference at uga. He was very appreciative and complimentary of Gainesville and his time there. What you see as coincidence, I see as local sports journalists reporting the event and the story. Again- perhaps they were a bit hyperbolic… I don’t know. I don’t make it a habit to read either writer.
I completely get the frustration, but some folks really did go too far. Unfortunately that’s become all too common. Because a coach makes good money is not a good reason to say the things and behave the way some fans did. I’ve seen the , “ all fan bases do it, we’re no worse than any other fan base”. That’s a pitiful standard, and I hope we stop lowering ourselves down to it. Don’t kid yourself, fans can be, have been, and will continue to be, one of the reasons coaches want to leave a program.
I don't think it's a case of justifying it or using it as a standard rather that it's simply unavoidable when everyone idiot invested or not has a mouthpiece via social media. Every fan base will have loudmouths and journalists will run with it because they love to push anything for attention.
