Danny White (athletic Director)

Daniel J. White (born October 28, 1979) is an American university sports administrator. He is the athletic director for the Tennessee Volunteers. White held the same position at the University at Buffalo from 2012 to 2015 and the University of Central Florida from 2015 to 2021. Prior to his tenure at Buffalo, he served as the senior associate athletic director for Ole Miss.

White's tenure at UCF included the hiring of new head coaches across several sports, significant facility upgrades, reestablishment of an official rivalry with the South Florida Bulls.

White’s departmental successes have earned him numerous awards—a Sports Business Journal 40 Under 40 honoree in multiple years, a spot on the Orlando Business Journal 40 Under 40 list, multiple selections as one of the 50 Most Powerful People in Orlando by Orlando Magazine and he was a finalist for the 2018 SBJ Athletics Director of the Year award. In the same year, SBJ named him one of the six most influential people in sports business.

In 2019, White was named NACDA Under Armour Athletics Director of the Year. The following year, Stadium rated White No. 4 nationally on its list of athletics directors based on the combined success of his coaching hires in football and men's basketball.

Early life and college career

Danny has been heavily surrounded by college athletics throughout his life. Born in Morehead, Kentucky when his father Kevin was a track coach at Morehead State University, he moved many times during his father's later career as a coach and athletic director—to Cape Girardeau, Missouri (Southeast Missouri State University), Dubuque, Iowa ( Loras College), Orono, Maine ( University of Maine), New Orleans ( Tulane University), and Tempe, Arizona (Arizona State University). After Danny's graduation from high school, his father went on to become AD at the University of Notre Dame, and now holds the same position at Duke University. His brother Mike White is the head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs men's basketball team, while his other brother Brian is athletic director for the Florida Atlantic Owls, and his sister Mariah Chappell is assistant athletic director for the SMU Mustangs.

White attended Towson University for three years (1998–2001) and was on the basketball team, but saw limited playing time and also suffered from major knee problems, missing all of the 1999–2000 season and playing only one game in 2000–01. He transferred to Notre Dame, playing there for one season. He graduated from Notre Dame in 2002, majoring in business administration, and from Ohio University, receiving master's degrees in both business administration and sports administration. He completed his doctorate from the University of Mississippi in 2016.

Administrative career

Non-AD positions

Prior to his first athletic director position, White served as the senior associate athletic director at the University of Mississippi, worked on development (fundraising) at Fresno State, and worked as an administrator at other Mid-American Conference schools, Ohio University and Northern Illinois University.

University at Buffalo

White's first athletic director position was for the Buffalo Bulls, where he was at the forefront of Buffalo's rebranding to become "New York's big time athletics department". He initiated a long-term capital funding project to develop Buffalo's athletic facilities, notoriety, reputation, and stature to represent the State of New York. During his time as Athletic Director, White restructured Buffalo's athletic department through its management and coaches. His most notable change was the replacement of Reggie Witherspoon for Bobby Hurley, a former 2-time NCAA champion with Duke University and son of star coach, Bob Hurley. At Buffalo, White oversaw an athletics program with 20 varsity sports and more than 500 student athletes. White also launched the New York Bulls Initiative (NYBI), which he believed served as a comprehensive initiative to cultivate a local and national presence. This initiative emphasized "NEW YORK" on the school's uniform, court and field athletic logos, rather than BUFFALO.

University of Central Florida

In November 2015, White was hired as the athletic director of the UCF Knights, replacing interim AD George O'Leary (who replaced previous AD Todd Stansbury). In the position, White also served as the executive vice president for the University of Central Florida Athletics Association, the private non-profit corporation that is responsible for the administration and financial management of the UCF Knights athletic programs. As UCF's director of athletics, White oversaw the hiring of a new head football coach, Scott Frost, and was given responsibility of directing over $70 million in athletic facility construction and upgrades. In addition to Frost's hiring, White's administration also oversaw the hiring of current men's basketball coach Johnny Dawkins, baseball coach Greg Lovelady, and Frost's successor Josh Heupel.

In 2016, he and South Florida Bulls AD Mark Harlan oversaw the creation of an official " War on I–4" competition series, rebranding the long-running unofficial rivalry between the two schools.

UCF football national championship claim

White generated significant media attention, both positive and negative, for himself and UCF by declaring the 2017 UCF Knights football team national champions in a January 1, 2018, Twitter video published moments after their Peach Bowl victory over the Auburn Tigers, reinforcing the claim the following day with national champions branding on UCF's verified accounts and plans to hold a Disney World parade, hang a national champions banner at Spectrum Stadium, and pay the assistant coaching staff bonuses for their performance. The claim came in response to UCF not being selected for the College Football Playoff despite an undefeated season and conference championship.

The claim sparked considerable controversy and debate over whether the College Football Playoff should be expanded to include teams such as UCF that are not in Power Five conferences. Despite the controversy, White fulfilled all his promises—including the Disney World parade, banner, and coaches' bonuses—and distributed national champion rings. Reactions to White's claim extended past the sports world to the Florida state legislature, with Florida governor Rick Scott signing a resolution declaring UCF national champions on January 8, 2018.

University of Tennessee

On January 21, 2021 White was hired as athletic director at the University of Tennessee. One of his first acts as AD was to hire Josh Heupel away from UCF to become the Volunteers' new head football coach.

In a move that was not publicized until the SEC released 2022 conference schedules, White canceled the game vs. Army on September 17, 2022. This game was scheduled for the same week as th
2022 Congressional Medal of Honor Society in Knoxville
and recipients would have been recognized at the game. Instead, Tennessee played Akron in a game scheduled by White in February 2021.

White's first semester at Tennessee - the spring of 2021 - was extraordinary. The combined 470.5 NACDA Learfield IMG College Directors' Cup points won by Tennessee teams was the highest spring points total in the 28-year history of the Directors Cup for Tennessee. Team successes were highlighted by the baseball team qualifying for the College World Series and men's tennis capturing the SEC Tournament title, advancing to the semifinals of the NCAA Championships and earning a final No. 4 national ranking to end the year.

In all, Tennessee teams have won 5 SEC championships since White was named Vice Chancellor/Director of Athletics.

Notes

The NCAA does recognize the Knights as a National Champion for 2017 per pg. 117 of the 2019 Official NCAA Record Book.http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2019/FBS.pdf

References

External links

Tennessee Volunteers bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Danny
1979 births
Living people
People from Morehead, Kentucky
Basketball players from Kentucky
Basketball players from New Orleans
Basketball coaches from Kentucky
Basketball coaches from Louisiana
Guards (basketball)
Towson Tigers men's basketball players
Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball players
Ohio Bobcats men's basketball coaches
Ohio University alumni
University of Mississippi alumni
Buffalo Bulls athletic directors
UCF Knights athletic directors
Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers athletic directors