Report: Georgia will hire Florida head coach Mike White as next basketball coach

According to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, Florida Gators head coach Mike White will be leaving to become the next head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs. White will be making a switch between the two rivals and try to rejuvenate a poor Georgia program.

White will be taking over his third basketball program, previously being at Louisiana Tech before Florida. He spent time as an assistant coach at Jacksonville State and Ole Miss before earning his first head coaching role. Most of his career has been spent in the SEC and White will stay in the conference with the Bulldogs.

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Georgia will be looking for a full rebuild after only winning one game in the SEC last season. Previous head coach Tom Crean was fired after a loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament on Wednesday. He was only able to get six wins on the year, the program’s lowest total since 1973-1974.

As for White, Florida men’s hoops made it to four NCAA tournaments with him, but he failed the reach the heights of his predecessor. Billy Donovan won six SEC titles, four SEC Tournament titles, and went to the Final Four four times in 19 seasons at Florida.

Florida is 6-4 when entering the tournament with White, but an upset loss prevented a Final Four trip in 2017. No. 15 seed Oral Roberts beat the Gators last year to stop a potential Sweet 16 appearance.

On top of disappointing tournament appearances, Florida has failed to shine in SEC play in the regular season. The Gators haven’t finished the season in the top three in the last four years. They also lost to a 1-7 Texas Southern team in December.

Florida gave White an extension in June following the 2020-21 season that would have kept him in Gainesville through 2027. However, the Gators’ inability to get in the bubble with quality wins down the stretch killed their chances at the tournament. They beat Auburn but dropped home games to Arkansas and Kentucky to end the year.

White will now be facing off against his old team twice a season and is on the other of an intense rivalry between Georgia and Florida. Making the return trips to Gainesville will surely be intense and will want to get one over them for multiple reasons.