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Jones: Maybe Florida's Mike White can fill Billy Donovan's shoes after all

 
Florida Gators head coach Mike White, right, takes selfie photos with Gators fan Zev Goodman, 13, during open practice that was available to the public at the Madison Square Garden in New York City on Thursday. Tonight the Nov. 4 Gators take on the No. 8 Wisconsin Badgers. [OCTAVIO JONES | Times]
Florida Gators head coach Mike White, right, takes selfie photos with Gators fan Zev Goodman, 13, during open practice that was available to the public at the Madison Square Garden in New York City on Thursday. Tonight the Nov. 4 Gators take on the No. 8 Wisconsin Badgers. [OCTAVIO JONES | Times]
Published March 24, 2017

NEW YORK — At first, it sounds awesome. Some might call it a dream come true.

You're not yet 40. You're coaching at a small school and one of the nation's elite programs calls to ask if you want to be their head coach.

You say yes. Of course you say yes. This is what you've always wanted. Dream job. Then when the goose bumps settle and you crash-land back on Planet Earth, it hits you.

Maybe this wasn't such a swell idea after all. Maybe this won't be all unicorns and rainbows, milk and honey. Maybe it's not so good to be the man following The Man.

Who wants to play shortstop after Jeter? Who wants to host after Letterman?

See, that's what Mike White signed up for, agreeing to become the basketball coach of the Florida Gators after Billy Donovan. You know Donovan: greatest coach in program history, winner of back-to-back national championships, four Final Fours, six SEC titles, a sure-fire Hall of Famer. A legend.

"Not the easiest thing following Billy," CBS analyst Jim Spanarkel said.

Someone tell White that. On Thursday at Madison Square Garden, the now-40-year-old White met with the media and looked like he just had a two-hour nap and a long, hot shower. Refreshed. Relaxed. Confident. Why wouldn't he be?

In just his second season with Florida, White has the No. 4 seed Gators in the Sweet 16 with a date tonight against No. 8 seed Wisconsin.

MORE NCAA TOURNAMENT: Just call Bronson Koenig and Nigel Hayes thinkin' Badgers.

"Billy made this a tremendous job," White said. "The University of Florida is a special place, and we're going to work at it every day as long as we are here to do the best job we possible we can do."

So far, so good. But what about that pressure? You know, following the legend and all that jazz?

"There's pressure on every coach … at every level," White said. "Some coaches deal with it differently. Some coaches probably put more pressure on themselves than other coaches."

That's White.

"No one's going to put more pressure on me and my team than I am," White said.

Then again, these days it is all gravy or icing or whatever goes on top of the tasty season Florida has had.

After four years at Louisiana Tech and a getting-to-know-you first season in which White led the Gators to 21 wins and the NIT quarterfinals, the man born in Dunedin, raised in New Orleans and schooled at Ole Miss has been as good as any coach in the country.

"Replacing Billy Donovan wasn't an easy task, not only with all this winning (but) his personality, well-respected, well-liked," ESPN analyst Dick Vitale said. "If I had to make my vote for national coach of the year, (White's) one of my five guys. He had done a fantastic job."

White's Gators are 26-8. They beat Kentucky. When they lost their big man, John Egbunu, to a knee injury in February, we all assumed their season was toast. Instead, they went on a roll. They embarrassed fifth-seeded Virginia to get here.

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How? Maybe White knows what he's doing. Maybe Florida knew what it was doing when it hired him.

Let's be honest, White's hiring was a bit of a surprise. He had no ties to the Gators. He didn't come from a big school. His resume was thin. He never had been a head coach in an NCAA Tournament game.

The only thing riskier than White thinking he could handle this job was UF thinking he could handle it.

"He just has a real good understanding of what he's trying to accomplish," Spanarkel said. "He's a hard-nose guy. His reputation before that as a player was a well-prepared — maybe not the biggest superstar type of player — but he was prepared for what he needed to do in the course of game. And I think he has taken those talents and that learning curve that he has had an applied it well at Florida."

Someday, getting to the Sweet 16 won't be enough. Donovan still casts a long shadow over the Gator program. Just like Dean Smith at North Carolina or Bob Knight at Indiana or John Wooden at UCLA. It never really does go away until a coach has more than moderate and occasional success.

"One thing I've learned is that you have to be comfortable in your own skin," said Wisconsin coach Greg Gard, who also followed a great coach in Bo Ryan. "That would apply to Mike, too. For as terrific a job as Billy did there, Mike had to come in and be his own person.

"I give Mike credit because it's not an easy position to walk into. From what I've noticed … he stayed pretty true to himself and not worried about whose shoes he had to fill."

So far, White is filling Donovan's shoes. It took Billy D three seasons to get to the Sweet 16. The season after that, however, Florida went to the NCAA final. This is the 10th anniversary of Florida's second of back-to-back titles under Donovan.

The shoes will get bigger. But White just might have what it takes to fill them.

Contact Tom Jones at tjones@tampabay.com. Follow @tomwjones.