In the final game of Louisiana Tech’s foreign trip to the Bahamas, head coach Michael White could sense his team had had enough of paradise. It was the third game in four days with the scheduled tip against the PJ Stringers set for 8 p.m., giving the team little time to rest before waking up at 4 a.m. the next morning to catch a flight home.

The game came down to the wire with senior guard Raheem Appleby stepping up, and making several clutch plays down the stretch to come away with a 100-94 overtime victory.

“Our guys were kind of halfway mentally checked out. Got off to a rough start. We started five freshmen, and we just really weren’t playing really well,” White said. “It was nice to see late in that game Raheem Appleby step up and make winning plays, which is something hadn’t seen Raheem do in a long time.”

Appleby had missed 12 games during the 2013-2014 season to an ankle injury. The trip showed the senior guard was back to full strength, averaging 16.6 over the three games. Appleby, like Kenneth ‘Speedy’ Smith and center Michale Kyser, have been part of with White from the start of his coaching tenure. In that time, the group have compiled a record a 74-31 record going from the Western Athletic Conference to the new-look Conference USA along the way.

White, 37, one of the nation’s top rising head coaches, has built an NCAA tournament caliber team in Ruston, Louisiana, and he has no plans on leaving for what some would consider “greener pastures” anytime soon.

“I’ve said this 100 times, I got by the motto, ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it,’” White told NBCSports.com last month.

“I’m just very thankful to be a coach here. I love my job and Ruston and Louisiana Tech. Maybe most importantly I love our roster. The group of young men I get to work with is special. We’ve enjoyed building something and I’m going to continue to enjoy building this program. At the same time my wife and kids are very comfortable here. We came here with the idea of laying roots, and that’s still our plan.”

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White is an awesome coach and he never stops working. We are very fortunate to have him at Louisiana Tech.

I wonder how long we can keep him at 700k if he has a another good season. We may be able to pay 1 million but not any more and that would really be a stretch for us. Anyway I hope he stays and was really surprised when he passed on Tenn and Missou last year so who knows.

We get to the dance this year, I'm pretty sure his salary will be pumped up to $1M range.
Heard he is building his house in Ruston so I guess he won't plan to leave anytime soon :)

We're going to have to raise his salary.

he probably really does want to be in Ruston

If we average over 6k per game this season then I think we might be able to give him another raise and a raise for his assistants and/or increases in recruiting budgets, but we have to get the fans to show up and sell a few of the big home games out. It's been a long time since we have had 8k plus at home for a men's BB game. That said I hope we get it done and wish I lived closer to go to the games.

I agree - we will have to give him the tool to compete and to build his empire. White is very smart guy - he knows his ability and when/where to cash in. He turned down Tenn last year while the SMU coach just jumped right in. It took a lot of gut and calculation for him to do so. Really hope he wants to build his legacy at Tech.

He is a very good coach, but when they say they are happy where they are, watch out.....Tyndall said the same thing.

The more quality basketball coaches CUSA hold onto to, the better for the league. Hopefully LaTech does what's needed to keep him.

(11-01-2014 08:08 AM)nastybunch Wrote:  He is a very good coach, but when they say they are happy where they are, watch out.....Tyndall said the same thing.

(10-31-2014 10:23 PM)Saint Greg Wrote:  We're going to have to raise his salary.

I don't think that is nearly as important to him as increasing his recruiting budget and pledging some money to pay a really great OOC opponent or two to come to Ruston. He has it pretty good right now, and yes, he can be paid more. But I think there are more glaring needs for the program that can be addressed to keep MW happy.

(10-31-2014 11:12 PM)NanoDawg Wrote:  I agree - we will have to give him the tool to compete and to build his empire. White is very smart guy - he knows his ability and when/where to cash in. He turned down Tenn last year while the SMU coach just jumped right in. It took a lot of gut and calculation for him to do so. Really hope he wants to build his legacy at Tech.

That LTech fans don't know the difference between SMU and USM, and no other Tech fans even correct them, shows more the lack of rivalry between our schools than anything eager ever posts.

(10-31-2014 10:23 PM)Saint Greg Wrote:  We're going to have to raise his salary.

by a bunch after this year.....

(11-01-2014 09:47 AM)Luckyshot Wrote:  

(10-31-2014 11:12 PM)NanoDawg Wrote:  I agree - we will have to give him the tool to compete and to build his empire. White is very smart guy - he knows his ability and when/where to cash in. He turned down Tenn last year while the SMU coach just jumped right in. It took a lot of gut and calculation for him to do so. Really hope he wants to build his legacy at Tech.

That LTech fans don't know the difference between SMU and USM, and no other Tech fans even correct them, shows more the lack of rivalry between our schools than anything eager ever posts.

Just did - does that count?

(11-01-2014 08:08 AM)nastybunch Wrote:  He is a very good coach, but when they say they are happy where they are, watch out.....Tyndall said the same thing.

That's the first thing that came to my mind as I read the first couple of posts. Eustachy said the same thing before that and made comments along the line of "I can see myself retiring here. It's no longer about the money. I want to stay in one place and I can see myself and my 2 children being here a long time". And following the next season that saw us go to the NCAA's he was gone to Colorado St. I could see if he would've gone to a basketball power school but I wouldn't consider Colorado St that.....just my opinion though.

In saying that though, I do hope White stays with you guys for years to come and builds on what he has already done as that is what this conference needs.

One difference between Tyndall and White is age. Tyndall may have seen UT as one of his last opportunities to get an extremely high paying, high profile (ish) job.

White is still in his 30's. He could be taking the Shaka/Stevens approach where he'll only leave for the absolutely perfect job for him.

Edit: The age thing may be irrelevant. Tyndall is younger than I thought. I thought Tyndall was in his early 50's, not mid 40's.

:) sorry for the misplaced U but you know who I was talking about!

You can't trust a single thing a coach says when it comes to their future beyond the current season or past the end of their contract. Everyone has their price.

(11-02-2014 10:13 AM)RonBurgundy Wrote:  You can't trust a single thing a coach says when it comes to their future beyond the current season or past the end of their contract. Everyone has their price.

so true. Look at former UTEP coaches Gillespie, Barbee, and Sadler. Although, I don't know if Barbee was too happy with El Paso.