Mike White (softball)
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| Current position | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Title | Head coach | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | Texas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Conference | SEC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Record | 347–95–2 (.784) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Biographical details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | November 19, 1967 Wellington, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Mount Mercy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003–2004 | Oregon (asst.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2010–2018 | Oregon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2019–present | Texas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coaching record | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Overall | 782–201–3 (.795) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Accomplishments and honors | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Championships | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Mike White (born November 19, 1967) is a New Zealand-born American softball coach who is the current head coach at Texas.[1]
A native of New Zealand's capital of Wellington, White grew up playing multiple sports, most notably soccer and softball. In a 2023 interview, White told ESPN writer Dave Wilson that he had hopes of making the national soccer team, but a planned training trip to Fiji and New Caledonia was scuttled due to civil unrest in Fiji. He had been a star pitcher in New Zealand, a hotbed for men's fast-pitch softball, and around the time his soccer trip was canceled, he received a call from the U.S. inviting him to play softball there. At the time, men's fast-pitch had a noticeably higher profile in the U.S. than it does today.[2]
White then spent the next decade-plus playing for various fast-pitch teams while running a resale shop in Iowa. In that day, many New Zealand men's softball players were recruited by American fast-pitch teams, typically spending a season or two in one place before moving to teams that offered more money. By contrast, White spent most of his U.S. playing career in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, attending and graduating from the local Mount Mercy University and marrying a local woman. He became a U.S. citizen in 1994. In softball, White won 70 games in world championship tournaments between 1990 and 2006, more than any other men's pitcher in that period. He pitched for 11 teams that won championships in the American Softball Association or International Softball Congress, and was named MVP of one of those organizations' tournaments five times.[2]