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Gators Introduce Michael White As New Men's Basketball Coach

Michael White was formally introduced as the new Florida head men's basketball coach. White will replace Billy Donavon who spent 19 seasons as head coach for the Gators.
Michael White was formally introduced as the new Florida head men's basketball coach. White will replace Billy Donavon who spent 19 seasons as head coach for the Gators.

Michael White was formally introduced as Florida men’s basketball coach Monday morning.

White, 38, is replacing Billy Donovan after he accepted a job as the Oklahoma City Thunder’s head coach. Donovan spent 19 seasons as the Gators' head coach.

"It's such a pleasure to join such a prestigious institution, a top ten public university in this country, and the most Googled university in the world," White said.

Director of athletics Jeremy Foley introduced White, saying he was impressed with White’s reputation.

“We reached out to a lot of different people, and Mike’s name kept coming up aces,” Foley said.

White was the men’s basketball head coach at Louisiana Tech from 2011 to 2015. During his coaching tenure, he posted an overall record of 101-40 and had the highest winning percentage of any coach in school history.

He is familiar with the SEC, having played for the University of Mississippi men’s basketball team from 1995 to 1999. White is the son of Kevin White, the director of athletics at Duke University.

White said he is honored to take over for Donovan.

“It was a good job when (Donovan) got here, and now it’s a great job,” he said.

White looks forward to moving his family to Florida and getting to know the team.

When asked if he felt any trepidation about replacing Donovan, White said
he didn't have any whatsoever.

White has been blown away by how much help the former Gator coach has been to him, Foley said. He said that White isn’t worried about being compared to Donovan.

“That doesn’t impact Mike White at all,” Foley said. “I think he’s excited about it.”

Thomas is a reporter for WUFT News who may be contacted by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news @wuft.org