How Mike White has turned UGA basketball into ‘one of the dangerous teams’

ATHENS — Mike White spoke of a “limitless future” for Georgia basketball, promising improvement when taking the head coaching job on March 13, 2022.

White has delivered, and based on a recent review of the salaries of SEC basketball coaches, his success is more than commensurate to his rank on the league coaches’ pay scale.

White’s new contract ranks 11th among the 15 SEC coaches at public universities in annual salary and includes a three-year extension through the 2030-31 season and a $210,000 raise.

Through an open records request, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution obtained details of White’s contract, which reflected White will make $3.9 million this season, with his updated contract calling for an annual escalator raise of $100,000 each season through the length of the contract.

UGA athletic director Josh Brooks first announced White was one of four coaches to receive extensions last September on the heels of the Bulldogs’ first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 10 years.

White set a program record this year with 22 regular-season wins when the Bulldogs won at Mississippi State on Saturday. This marks the third time in the program’s 120-year history Georgia has won 20 or more games in a season.

The victory, Georgia’s fifth in its past six games, all but assures UGA will make the 68-team NCAA tourney field in back-to-back seasons for what would be the first time in 24 years.

“One of the most underrated coaching jobs in the country is in Athens, as for years, the narrative has been, ‘Why can’t UGA win consistently?’” ESPN basketball analyst Dane Bradshaw told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday.

“Now, Mike White has done it, with the Bulldogs playing with an aggressive identity. No one wants to run with Alabama or Arkansas, yet UGA has been the only team that has done so and won.”

To Bradshaw’s point, White’s Bulldogs lead the nation in fast break points (20 points per game) and are fifth in the nation in scoring (90 points per game).

“It has been a spectacular story of hiring a top-flight coach, giving him the tools to be successful and show a modicum of patience,” SEC Network host Paul Finebaum told the AJC on Monday. “The result is an ascending program that is good and will continue to get better.”

Certainly, White has proved Brooks’ wisdom with the hire and in contract negotiations, as Georgia will be seeded seventh at the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee — its highest seed since it was a No. 6 seed in the 2016 tournament.

The Bulldogs open play at 7 p.m. Thursday in the second round against the winner of Wednesday’s first-round game between No. 15 seed Ole Miss and No. 10 seed Texas.

Arkansas coach John Calipari is the highest paid of the SEC coaches, on schedule to make $7.5 million this season, not including incentive bonuses, per published reports.

White’s Bulldogs beat Calipari’s No. 21-ranked Razorbacks 90-76 on Jan. 17 this season at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens.

SEC Network analyst Peter Burns said the win over Alabama on March 3 — UGA’s best of the season based on the Tide’s No. 17 NET ranking — was proof of White’s coaching acumen and the rise of the program.

“They couldn’t close out games, and then it was the Alabama game, with them closing out that game at Stegeman (Coliseum), it was awesome,” Burns said.

“They kept having clock malfunctions and that could have killed the momentum, and it never did,” he said. “It’s a credit to Josh Brooks, with Mike White, of bringing the students (seating section) down to the court. It has become one of the best home-court advantages in college hoops right now, and I think that’s a monstrous change.”

The Bulldogs are 29-7 in home games over the past two seasons, including a win over eventual national champ Florida last season and ranked opponents Arkansas and Alabama this season.

Bradshaw pointed to Georgia’s 86-78 win at SEC blue blood Kentucky on Feb. 17 — which snapped a 12-game UGA losing streak in Lexington — as the pivot point in the Bulldogs’ season.

“The Kentucky win was so huge; last year, the league was better metrics-wise,” Bradshaw said of the road win over the Wildcats, whose No. 28 NET ranking qualify the victory as a Quad 1 win.

“They (Georgia) have you chasing their guards, who can make tough shots. They are an unselfish team with a low assist rate — these guys know how to share — but they can get their own buckets.”

Finebaum credits White, who’s landed key transfers in Jeremiah Wilkinson (Cal), Marcus “Smurf” Millender (Texas at San Antonio) and Kanon Catchings (Brigham Young), while returning key starters in Blue Cain and Somto Cyril and developing emerging freshmen Kareem Stagg and Jake Wilkins.

Indeed, White knows talent, having led the Florida teams he coached to four NCAA Tournament appearances out of the five possible his final years in Gainesville (2015-22).

“Mike was always a good coach but came to Florida at the wrong time in the aftermath of unprecedented success,” Finebaum said, noting White followed Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coach Billy Donovan with the Gators.

“At Georgia, he is the right coach at the right time. It will pay Georgia dividends for many years.”

The Bulldogs are projected in ESPN’s “Bracketology” NCAA Tournament bracket as a No. 8 seed, but there’s optimism that with a degree of success at the SEC tourney, UGA could move up to a No. 7 seed and draw a more winnable game.

Georgia has not won an NCAA Tournament game since 2002, when it played as a No. 3 seed and beat Murray State 85-68 in a game later forfeited because of NCAA violations that occurred under former coach Jim Harrick.

Burns believes the Bulldogs could win not just one game in the NCAA Tournament, but perhaps even reach the Sweet 16.

“I think they can win two,” Burns said. “I think they’re one of the dangerous teams.”

Bradshaw said UGA’s postseason fate ultimately comes down to the Bulldogs’ ability to rebound and play big, which has been an Achilles’ heel at times this season.

“They’re good enough defensively to have first-shot defense be OK,” Bradshaw said. “But how can you make sure the offensive rebounding and second-chance points aren’t the sole factor for the opponent?”