"Great Rebel" Mike White returns to Ole Miss
OXFORD - Mike White spent 11 seasons as a player and assistant coach at Ole Miss, dealing with heat and power outages, water leaks and surprise animal visitors at Tad Smith Coliseum.
He’ll now receive an opportunity in his first season coaching at Florida to see The Pavilion, the Rebels’ new $96.5 million arena, in its third game. The Rebels (12-4, 2-2 SEC) play host to the Gators (10-6, 2-2 SEC) at 7 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2).
“It’ll be a fun experience for us to see The Pavilion,” White said on the Southeastern Conference coaches teleconference Monday. “I’m proud of what’s been accomplished there at my alma mater and the excitement that’s surrounding the program.
“We thought it would just be a matter of time. I think the success that (coach) Andy (Kennedy) had his first few years kind of rejuvenated the administration and the fan base.”
White was partially responsible for that success.
Kennedy kept White on the Rebels’ coaching staff after replacing Rod Barnes as the head coach on March 24, 2006. Head coaches usually bring in people they’re familiar with whenever they’re constructing new staffs, but Kennedy saw something in White he couldn’t pass up.
“I knew the value he would bring our staff, especially his understanding of Ole Miss as I was trying to figure things out in a new situation,” Kennedy said. “A great Rebel.”
White started all but nine games during his four-season Ole Miss career, which spanned from 1995-99. The former point guard’s 370 assists rank seventh in program history.
He helped the Rebels win consecutive SEC West titles and reach three straight NCAA Tournaments. The team earned its first NCAA Tournament win ever in his final season against Villanova.
Kennedy, then an assistant coach at UAB, scouted White and the Rebels during a December 1998 tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico, though the two teams didn’t play each other.
Kennedy said he became more familiar with White when he was an assistant coach for four seasons at Jacksonville State, his first coaching job.
White joined the Rebels’ coaching staff in 2004, a position he held for seven seasons before leaving to become the head coach at Louisiana Tech. He went 101-40 in four seasons there and led the Bulldogs to 54th or better in the RPI rankings each season.
Kennedy may have played a part in White’s success.
“I remember the process by which we were all pushing, trying to help him get Louisiana Tech,” Kennedy said. “I remember talking to the powers that be there and singing his praises.
“I was not surprised to find my words so prophetic. I knew that he would go and do great things that he did at Louisiana Tech, and I think he’s going to do great things at Florida.”
Kennedy said he was excited to see what White’s reaction to seeing The Pavilion would be, considering the “sweat equity,” or years with the program, White put in.
White said he’s excited to return to Oxford, where he and his wife, Kira, who also attended Ole Miss, had four of their five children and have several friends. He enjoyed his time at Ole Miss, recalling several positive moments in the Tad Pad despite its lacking in other things.
“Have a lot of great memories,” White said. “Some big wins at home in front of a crowd back under Coach (Rob) Evans and Coach Barnes in front of a crowd that was experiencing sustained success really for the first time in school history in a facility that wasn’t attracting them because of how it looked or how it was built. But they generated excitement.”
Contact Daniel Paulling at dpaulling@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @DanielPaulling on Twitter.