Michael Kavanaugh White (born January 4, 1936) is former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

player and coach. He has 16 years experience as a

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

, including stints at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

(1972–1977), the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

(1980–1987) and the Oakland Raiders of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) (1995–1996).

College coaching career

During his college coaching career, White was twice named National Coach of the Year, first in 1975 at California. He coached a team led by

Joe Roth Joseph Emanuel Roth is an American film executive, producer and director. He co-founded Morgan Creek Productions in 1988 and was chairman of 20th Century Fox (1989–1993), Caravan Pictures (1993–1994), and Walt Disney Studios (1994–20 ...

Chuck Muncie Harry Vance "Chuck" Muncie (March 17, 1953 − May 13, 2013) was an American professional football player who was a running back for the New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers in the National Football League (NFL) from 1976 to 1984. He wa ...

and

Wesley Walker Wesley Darcel Walker (born May 26, 1955) is a former professional American football wide receiver who played for the New York Jets from 1977 to 1989. Walker graduated from Carson High School in Carson, California, where he set many receiving ...

to the Pac-8 co-championship—the school's first conference title in 18 years. White moved to the University of Illinois in 1980. He succeeded

Gary Moeller Gary Oscar Moeller (; January 26, 1941 – July 11, 2022) was an American football coach best known for being head coach at the University of Michigan from 1990 to 1994. During his five seasons at Michigan, he won 44 games, lost 13 and tied 3 f ...

, who in three seasons at Illinois finished no higher than eighth in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. White quickly turned around the Illinois football program, posting a winning season in only his second year. In 1982, he led the Illini to the

Liberty Bowl The Liberty Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in late December or early January since 1959. For its first five years, it was played at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia before being held at Atlantic City ...

, the school's first bowl appearance since the

1964 Rose Bowl The 1964 Rose Bowl was the 50th Rose Bowl Game, played on January 1, 1964. It featured the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Washington Huskies. Illinois was led by co-captains Dick Butkus and George Donnelly, Jim Grabowski, Lynn Stewart, and Ar ...

. The 1982 Liberty Bowl was also notable as the final game coached by

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

head coach Bear Bryant. In 1983, Illinois won its first Big Ten title in 20 years with an overall record of 10–1, including a 9–0 conference record, and played in the

1984 Rose Bowl The 1984 Rose Bowl game, played on Monday, January 2, was the 70th edition. The unranked UCLA Bruins upset the #4 Illinois Fighting Illini by a score of 45–9. Rick Neuheisel, UCLA quarterback, was named the Player of the Game.UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

Coach of the Year. The 1983 Illinois team is the only team in Big Ten history to beat each of the other conference teams in a single season, an achievement made possible by the fact that rarely in conference history have teams played all the other teams in a season. White also led the Fighting Illini to the

1985 Peach Bowl The 1985 Peach Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game at Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia between the Army Cadets and the University of Illinois Fighting Illini on December 31, 1985. The game was the final contest o ...

, which they lost to Army 31–29. In eight seasons at Illinois, White's teams had a combined record of 47–41–3, for a winning percentage of .533. Along the way, White coached future NFL

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

s Dave Wilson,

Tony Eason Charles Carroll "Tony" Eason IV (born October 8, 1959) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons, primarily with the New England Patriots. Taken 15th overall by the Patriots in t ...

, and

Jack Trudeau Jack Francis Trudeau (born September 9, 1962) is a former professional American football player and morning show co-host on Fox Sports Radio. He was selected by the Indianapolis Colts in the second round of the 1986 NFL Draft. A quarterback from ...

, and record-setting wide receiver David Williams. White resigned as Illinois coach after the 1987 season due to recruiting violations.

NFL coaching career

White's years as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders are best recalled for the team's collapse in the 1995 season, the team's first in Oakland after a 12-year sojourn in Los Angeles, when the 8–2 Raiders went into a nosedive, losing their final six games to finish 8–8 and not make the playoffs. Following a 7-9 record in 1996, White was fired by the Raiders on Christmas Eve, being given the news by Bruce Allen though Al Davis was involved in the decision. It is likely that the call was made in the morning, allowing White's family to enjoy Christmas Eve. White was on the coaching staff of the Rams from 1997-1999, including a Super Bowl victory at the conclusion of the '99 season. White later served as the Director of Football Administration for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The ...

Personal and later life

White is a member of

Delta Upsilon Delta Upsilon (), commonly known as DU, is a collegiate men's fraternity founded on November 4, 1834 at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is the sixth-oldest, all-male, college Greek Letter Organizations#Greek letters, Greek-let ...

fraternity. White is a board member for the

Lott IMPACT Trophy The Lott IMPACT Trophy is presented annually to the college football defensive IMPACT player of the year. IMPACT is an acronym for: Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community, and Tenacity. The award purports to equally recognize the ...

, which is named after

Ronnie Lott Ronald Mandel Lott (born May 8, 1959) is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback and safety in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons during the 1980s and 1990s. Lott played college football for the Univ ...

and is awarded annually to college football's Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year.

Head coaching record

College

National Football League

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Mike 1936 births Living people American football ends American football halfbacks California Golden Bears football coaches California Golden Bears football players Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches Stanford Cardinal football coaches Los Angeles Raiders coaches Kansas City Chiefs executives San Francisco 49ers coaches St. Louis Rams coaches Oakland Raiders head coaches Players of American football from Berkeley, California Sportspeople from Berkeley, California