Report: Florida's Mike White to Replace Tom Crean as Georgia's Men's CBB Head Coach

It seems likely that for just the second time in Mike White's tenure as Florida men's basketball head coach, the program will miss the NCAA tournament. And the head coach may be out, too.

According to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, Georgia will be hiring White away from Florida to serve as its next head coach.

Florida last missed the tournament in the 2015-16 season, White's first year as head coach after replacing the legendary Billy Donovan, who led the program to two national championships during his tenure. This year's bunch (19-13) is likely NIT-bound.

Under Donovan, Florida also won seven regular-season titles and four conference tournament titles. Under White, it hasn't done so once.

So it's certainly possible that White preempted a potential firing.

The Gators did reach the NCAA tournament four times under White, going 142-88 during his seven seasons. His best season came in 2016-17, when Florida reached the Elite Eight.

As one opposing assistant coach told The Athletic's G. Allan Taylor, White's tenure was something of a "mixed bag."

"They're usually really good defensively, but they haven't been able to put enough offense together to make a decent run, even though they've had some decent years," that assistant added. "Obviously, Donovan did something very special there and nobody before or after has really been able to get close to that. The question is, can you get enough really good players to get back to that spot? It starts with getting really good players. I don't understand how they haven't recruited better."

As for Georgia, the Tom Crean era was a disaster, with the Bulldogs failing to put together a winning season in his four years at the helm (47-75 overall). They went just 6-26 this season, and Crean was fired Thursday.

"Our expectation is to compete for postseason success in all 21 sports," athletic director Josh Brooks said in a statement. "We believe a leadership change in men's basketball is needed to achieve our goals."

The Bulldogs last made the NCAA tournament in the 2014-15 season, just one of three trips to the Big Dance since the turn of the century. White will be tasked with reversing those fortunes.