Northeast Girls Basketball Lands Former Boca Ciega Coach

In his eight years as coach of the Boca Ciega High School girls basketball squad, Will White returned the Pirates to their glory days and in the process became one of the state's top girls basketball coaches.

So it was a bit of a shock among local basketball circles when White stepped down in the spring after leading the Pirates to three consecutive state tournaments and compiling a 193-45 record.

At the time, White maintained he resigned to spend more time with his family. It turns out he just couldn't stay away from a basketball gym.

On Monday morning, White signed a contract to coach girls basketball and teach social studies at Northeast High School.

White suggested Monday afternoon that the stars aligned just right for him to return as a basketball coach.

"It was a perfect storm," White said.

In fact, it was a combination of many factors that led White to Northeast. Had he not been offered the job at Northeast, White was content with teaching at Boca Ciega and spending as much free time with his family as allowed, he said.

White lives just blocks from Northeast, and the proximity to the school will allow him to devote more time to his family and still be able to satisfy his basketball fix.

Also, White was familiar with the administration at Northeast. The school's principal, Paula Nelson, previously was an assistant principal at Boca Ciega. Northeast assistant principal/athletic director Greg Zornes has had a personal relationship with White for some years.

"Absolutely that was a factor," White said. "It has nothing to do with the current administration at Bogie. But knowing Ms. Nelson, already having a relationship with her, that played a factor. I was able to go there and work for someone I've worked with before."

"To me, this was a perfect storm of possibilities. I live just a few minutes from Northeast, my kids go to school a few minutes from Northeast and will go to high school at Northeast down the road, the school had a social studies position open up, I've worked for and know the administration ... they were all factors."

"If Bogie was (located) where Northeast is, I never would have resigned."

But there was a hidden factor White admitted to. He's a competitor. He has seen other Tampa Bay area coaches move from program to program and succeed under very different circumstances between schools. Northeast has long been an afterthought in area girls basketball, and the chance to turn the program around, building the program from the ground up, appealed to White, who said he is already doing research on how coaches are able to succeed at different schools at different levels with sometimes far different rosters.

"I have DVDs of all games looking at teams that are successful," White said. "I am looking forward to [a rebuilding project]. What we were doing at Bogie was great, but it was stagnant to me. Now I'm trying some different things and a new system. New is always tough at first. Girls have to adjust, but I think we can quickly build up and compete at a high level.

"We want to compete every night."