Mike White shares familiarity with Amir Abdur-Rahim, memories of him

On Oct. 24, South Florida head men’s basketball coach Amir Abdur-Rahim died. He was 43 years old. On Tuesday, Georgia head coach Mike White remembered Abdur-Rahim.

“I’m close to a few guys in this profession that are very close with him and that revere him as a human being,” White said. “I had a chance, obviously, to coach his nephew and I’ve been around Shareef, Amir’s brother. Amir did an amazing job at Kennesaw State and had South Florida rolling.

“Every interaction I ever had with him in coaching circles, whether it be bumping into him at a road game as one of few teams in the same hotel; or in July or April, recruiting paths being crossed — a guy that just always had positivity and positive energy. Just had a nice positive presence to him and was obviously a star in this industry.”

Abdur-Rahim “was undergoing a medical procedure at a Tampa-area hospital when he passed away due to complications that arose during the procedure,” according to a release from USF.

Abdur-Rahim, who played collegiately, was the younger brother of Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who went on to NBA stardom after playing in college. They had another brother, Muhammad Abdur-Rahim, who also played in college. 

Abdur-Rahim, who is survived by his wife and three children, among siblings and other family, was considered a rising star in coaching.

Abdur-Rahim took over as the head coach at USF before the 2023-24 season and went 25-8 in his first campaign. They won a regular-season AAC title but failed to make the NCAA Tournament.

Prior to his stint at USF, he had engineered a miraculous turnaround for the Kennesaw State program he led. After going 1-28 in his first season, Abdur-Rahim piloted the Owls to a 5-19 mark and then a 13-18 campaign.

His crowning achievement came a year later, a 26-9 season in 2022-23 that saw Kennesaw State win it’s conference and play in the NCAA Tournament. This spring, Abdur-Rahim was linked to even higher-profile head coaching jobs but stayed at USF.

Prior to Kennesaw State, Amir Abdur-Rahim was an assistant at Texas A&M (2014-18) and Georgia (2018-19).

He played his college basketball at Garden City CC from 2000-01 before a transfer to Southeastern Louisiana from 2001-04. He began his coaching career in 2006 with Murray State as an assistant and eventually landed at the College of Charleston in 2012.

Following his stint there, he ended up at Texas A&M, Georgia and eventually Kennesaw State. South Florida is slated to begin the 2024-25 campaign on Nov. 4 against in-state rival Florida.

On3’s Andrew Graham also contributed to this story.