Northeast High Basketball Coach Teaching the Basics

Like any good basketball coach, Will White will admit that a chunk of his success was because of his players.

So when the former Boca Ciega basketball coach took the Pirates girls basketball team to three state semifinal berths in four seasons, he'll confess he wouldn't have been able to do that without talented players.

So when White decided to take over the moribund girls basketball program at Northeast this spring, he has to build pretty much from ground up.

In a recent summer league game against a loaded St. Petersburg High, the Vikings were on the wrong end of a lopsided score. But it didn't deter White for two reasons:

1. The team had three projected starters out of town on vacation; and,

2. White knows his team is still learning.

"We've had about 12 games and about as many practices and I can already see them doing things better," White said. "I'm excited. It's a great group of girls.

"This is baby steps. When we are at full speed we will be alright."

White has taken his new job just like the teacher he is: He's starting from the very basics like passing and working his way up.

"Boy, the first game of the summer we couldn't pass the ball to anybody because we didn't know how to get open," White said. "Now we are actually moving the ball around so that we can run through our plays.

"Basketball is like a foreign language. St. Pete, tonight, they are like at Spanish 3. They are speaking at Spanish 3 level and we are not even speaking Spanish yet. So if you change the word 'Spanish' to 'basketball,' we are at baby talk.

"It's not the skill level of the girls, it's just the understanding. That's why when you see a program in year two and year three, they begin to start turning things around."

For White, it's almost as if he's reborn as a coach.

"I'm having a blast," White said. "This is getting back to basics."