Who is Mike White? Texas softball coach has Longhorns as No. 1 seed for NCAA Softball Tournament
With the combination of a common first name and a common last name, the name Mike White can be referring to any number of notable people.
There’s the NFL quarterback Mike White, now with the Miami Dolphins. There’s Georgia basketball coach Mike White, formerly the coach at rival Florida.
Beyond the world of sports, there’s Mike White, a writer, actor and producer perhaps best known for creating the HBO series “The White Lotus” and appearing on reality television shows “The Amazing Race” and “Survivor.”
In Austin, Texas, though, and among Texas Longhorns fans, there’s a different Mike White who comes immediately to mind.
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Mike White is in his sixth season as Texas’ softball coach, a time in which he has elevated the Longhorns into one of the country’s best programs. This season has been perhaps his finest work yet, with Texas entering the 2024 NCAA softball tournament with a 47-7 record and the event’s No. 1 overall seed, just ahead of archrival and three-time reigning national champion Oklahoma.
As the Longhorns embark on the quest to win their first-ever softball national championship, here’s what you need to know about White:
Mike White softball coaching career
White was named the new head coach at Texas on June 25, 2018, taking over a program mired in a dip that saw it go 33-26 in each of the two seasons before his hiring.
It only took him so long to get things rolling again for the Longhorns. In his first season, in 2019, his team enjoyed a 13-win improvement from the previous season and advanced to the super regional round of the NCAA Tournament.
After a promising 2020 season was cut short after just 27 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic — Texas was 24-3 at the time — the Longhorns have won at least 43 games in each of the past four seasons, a run that has included two super regionals and a trip to the Women’s College World Series in 2022, where they fell to Oklahoma in the championship series.
Prior to his arrival in Austin, White was a highly decorated head coach at Oregon, where he transformed the Ducks from a competitive program that regularly made the NCAA Tournament to a consistent national championship threat. Oregon made the NCAA Tournament in each of White’s nine seasons at the helm. In each of those seasons, the Ducks made it to at least the super regional stage of the tournament. In five of those nine seasons, they advanced to the Women’s College World Series.
White was familiar with Oregon before taking over as head coach. From 2003-04, he was an assistant coach with the Ducks.
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Mike White record
Now in his 15th season as a college head coach, White has amassed a total record of 687-189-3, giving him a career win percentage of 0.782.
White’s Oregon teams went 435-111-1 while he’s 252-78-2 at Texas entering this year’s NCAA Tournament.
Where is Mike White from?
White is a native of Wellington, New Zealand who went on to attend Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
He became an American citizen in 1994, allowing him to represent the U.S. national fastpitch softball team in international competition. A pitcher, he helped Team USA win silver medals at the 1995, 1999 and 2003 Pan American Games, as well as a bronze medal at the 2000 International Softball Federation World Championships. Previously, he competed for New Zealand, who he helped lead to gold medals at the ISF World Championships in 1984 and 1996. In 1996, he threw a perfect game in the championship game against Canada.
Between his work as a player and coach, White is a member of seven different halls of fame: the International Softball Congress World Hall of Fame, the International Softball Federation Hall of Fame, the ASA/USA Softball Hall of Fame, the New Zealand Softball Hall of Fame, the Oregon Hall of Fame, the Missouri Hall of Fame and the State of Iowa Hall of Fame.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Who is Texas softball's Mike White? Record, more to know of Longhorns coach
