Loren Smith’s Sports Column: The Steg and the Coach
Published 10:07 am Tuesday, January 30, 2024
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The Steg in winter is now the place to be unless you have a fireplace,
firewood, and a TV in your den. Even if all of that is at your fingertips, you
are missing something if you don’t find your way into Georgia’s aging
basketball arena and become immersed into the environment that the soft-
spoken Mike White has wrought.
The long season is far from over, and heartbreak could find its way
into the mix. The ever-present fickleness of sports often brings about, but
as a bearded Bulldog basketball aficionado said aloud with poignant
enthusiasm in the VIP lounge which accommodates the most substantial
UGA supporters, “We got us a basketball coach.”
Seasoned observers give the coach high marks, and passionate fans
have joined in. One thing about fans—while they may not know as much
as they sometimes think they do, they certainly pick up on selfless attitude
and redeeming hustle and second effort. They recognize competitors who
have heart that is deep and abiding.
Mike White has a team that constantly fights and scraps for the ball
and is as unselfish as I can remember in Stegeman. Expertly utilizing the
portal, he has literally cobbled together a team which believes, plays
unselfishly, and is developing a standard that should bring Georgia
basketball dividends for the future. The “White mantra,” however, is to
engender lofty results here and now. Get into the SEC tournament, make it
to the regionals and on to the big dance. To win a championship, first you
must think big.
The Bulldog coach reflects humility, intensity, and intellect. With him
there is an unfailing underscoring of fundamentals. Central to his modus
operandi is to give defense the highest priority.
Some of playing good defense is attitude, wanting to be good when
the competition has the ball. Make the rubber burn. Defensive savvy
defines championship teams.
This team will get in your face, this team will go after loose balls like
an otter diving for a muskrat. They make mistakes, hard not to in heated
competition, but some of the plethora of miscues is a result of trying so
hard. They go all out to position themselves to score a basket, make a
steal on defense, block a shot, deliver a timely assist. Some of their faux
pas’ result from being the epitome of “Charlie Hustle.”
The packed house saw that against LSU recently. Give the fans
credit. They did their part. They came, hoping to be emotionally fulfilled in
a big conference game. Games like that will bring them back. Again, and
again.
Georgia may not have the firepower and depth to win against the best
teams in the league as it was when they visited Rupp Arena in Lexington in
the last fortnight, but the LSU outing brings about confidence that they
know they can win big games. For a Mike White coached team to win a big
game is certainly not an anomaly.
I enjoy watching this man do his thing on the court. He is not given to
histrionics. He has electric enthusiasm that confirms he has enduring
competitive passion. The teacher in him wants his teams to conserve
energy, maximize effort, play under control, and play defense. Take
percentage shots, hustle on both ends of the court and play defense.
In his first year in Athens, he realized early on what needed “fixing.”
It went beyond personnel. Bring about game action encroachment with the
students. Get them closer to the scene and make them part of it. Get them
involved, impact the environment around the visitor’s bench.
He does not want the confines of Stegeman to be the least bit friendly
to anyone wearing opponents’ colors. This is not to suggest he would want
the atmosphere to be hostile with anything demeaning and
unsportsmanlike—but make it an uncomfortable place to play if you are not
wearing red and black.
As a former SEC player and coach, he visited Stegeman many times
over the years. It was a place with a benign atmosphere. There was no
home court advantage. That has long been a tradition here. When Hugh
Durham, the winningest coach in Georgia basketball history, explored an
opportunity to take over in Athens, he had to insist that he would not take
the job if there would not be seats on the floor. He wanted his constituency
to have the opportunity to frustrate the opposition.
The Steg now is so tight and cozy with abundant, flashing neon all
about the building, a crowd that is on top of the action with capability to
cause a deafening din as it did with 2.3 seconds left in the game against
LSU. Mike White, an especial coach, has an athletic director whose full
support he can count on.
He is a teacher who is also a promoter, an indefatigable worker, a fine
recruiter and is bringing defining moments to Georgia basketball, which the program has sorely needed for some time.