Crazy the last 3 coaches left on their terms. Sloan was forced to resign, but Kruger, Billy and now White all leave on their own terms. That doesn’t happen often. You basically have to go back to Sloan’s resignation in 1989 since the last time a Florida coach was forced out.
White and Kruger both were given long enough leashes that they could leave before the hammer dropped. If anything it’s a credit to UF.
White was given 7 years, and then left on his own choice. UF gets a payout from UGly. We go and find the biggest, bestest name out there and break open the bank to get him here. This really couldn't have worked out much better.
Hope it works out for us. To just get another mid major, well, been there done that. I am not sure SS can handle a big name basketball coach that would demand there is enough money for him and assistants, and probably people who could research the best way to go about the NIL which CMW never got a chance to use. The SEC is not about average coaches anymore. Recruiting now has opened so that the schools that cheated have rolled their efforts into the NIL as a recruiting tool, nothing has changed, it is legal to pay the players, Congress has spoken. Don’t think these teams won’t be pushing these beyond these limits. Because there is no vetting what is going on or control. Ask Greg Sankey about control on this, he defers to the NCAA lame duck argument, there are no boundaries!,
There were only two graceful paths here: first, MW stays and our teams the next few years compete for sec titles and easily make the tourney. While possible there are very few folks who think that was probable (or possible). MW voluntarily leaving is the other path. All other paths involved continued program weakness, fan disinterest, and MW getting fired. We are lucky UGA paid us $1M+ to solve our issue!
Billy Donovan is the only coach who left UF truly on his own terms. Lon Kruger was a good man and a good coach who had issues primarily with recruiting. And despite taking the Gators to our first Final Four, the bloom had come off the rose when he left Gainesville. Mike White is a good man and a good coach, but he has not demonstrated an ability to take a program to the next level and his time at Florida was clearly nearing its end, even if not as soon as it happened. Kruger and White each arrived at UF under vastly different circumstances. I would say Kruger was closer to leaving on his own terms than was White, but neither was officially fired. Gotta believe that there were "discussions" with White that it might be best if he were to look for another opportunity. That it was UGA is the surprise, not so much that he left.
Define who, what you'd like to see as our next head coach? Then let us know what your expectations are.
