Sunday Morning Chat: Cypress Bay Manager Mike White

Mike White is one of the longest-tenured coaches in Broward County. He has dealt with various extraneous circumstances over his career, including his most difficult challenge last year when he lost his wife Angela to Cancer. His baseball family carried him through that time, and this week he sat down with HSBN Senior Writer Anthony Uttariello to discuss various topics. Enjoy!

Anthony: Many people don’t know this but you’re one of the longest tenured coaches in Broward County. Talk a little bit about what has kept you going all these years.

Coach White: The players. I love the players. I love just being around them. They keep me laughing and keep me going. I’ve been associated with a lot of great assistant coaches that have helped me over that long time. But I mean, it comes down to the players. I’ve had a great group of kids; ten years at South Plantation and this is my eighth year here [at Cypress Bay]. I enjoy it, I have the passion for it still and the kids keep me going.

Anthony: Baseball can serve as a lot of different things to a lot of different people. It can represent joy, pain, excitement and in some cases, healing. Last year you dealt with one of the toughest things anyone can go through, when you lost your wife Angela. How much did baseball help you get through that time?

Coach White: It was a tremendous help. Probably right before we got the news that…well actually, for two years before, she was going to beat the battle; beat cancer. And then the doctor told us that she just had a few days left. They kind of waited until the very end to tell her. I came out and talked to the team and told them that I needed to take a break. That Angie my wife, they knew her, that she was going to probably pass in a few days. And she hung on for three weeks. Basically the last thing I told those kids is “Don’t quit, don’t ever give up” and they took it to heart. I took a thirty-day break. My first day back was the game against Western. We were down the whole game and we found a way to tie it up in the seventh inning and win the game in the eighth inning. My first game back in thirty days and we won the game. It just kind of carried on from that. The kids never quit, never gave up. It was kind of a blur. I was probably still in shock for the rest of the season. But being around the players, my coaches, it was a tremendous help getting me through that tough time.

Anthony: Was there anytime during that process where you thought about walking away from coaching?

Coach White: No, because I’ve known her for, we were married for twenty-three years. She has been with me for every game I’ve coached in for eighteen years. We met in college and my first coaching job was assistant coaching in ’88 and she was there with me. My first head job was ’97, she was there with me. She was a big part of my baseball life. To come home every night and talk baseball with your wife is something that I’ll never forget, and she helped me all the way through. She was like my top assistant coach.

Anthony: We all know you made the decision to stay. Now you head into this season with your team starting strongly the first couple weeks. What’s your take on this year’s team so far?

Coach White: We have a great group of seniors and blended it with six talented sophomores. It’s a great mixture. It’s a young pitching staff with a solid defense and hitting behind them. We still haven’t played a game I think we can play, but we’re getting better every game. The older kids have taken to the sophomores. They help them in practice. They’re not sophomores, they are on the varsity so they are not considered sophomores, they are considered varsity baseball players. So hopefully as the season continues, even tonight, hopefully we will play a better game than we did against Cooper City last Thursday night. But it’s a good mixture of players. We’ve got good speed, good defense. We’ve got everything there for a good team; we’ve just got to put it together. And like I said, it’s basically how you finish, it’s not how you’re doing right now. As each game goes on, we get better and by district playoffs hopefully we’re peaking.

Anthony: How much has the approach changed now that you guys are in a different district as opposed to last year and the last couple of years you’ve known you had to get by Flanagan and West Broward? So how much has the approach changed with a different district?

Coach White: It hasn’t. The approach is still there. You’ve got to prepare to play your best games against the Flanagan’s and the West Broward’s and if you’re off that night they’ll find a way to beat you. These new teams, we don’t know a lot about them. We do know Cooper City and Western, but South Plantation and Piper, if you’re not ready they’ll sneak up on you. There are certain games you can’t lose and those are district games. At the end of the season it’s all about seeding. We’ve only played one district game but we’ll approach every district team the same. You’ve just got to go out and play your best and you can’t let up. You can’t let up.

Anthony: What’s the best moment you’ve ever experienced on a baseball field as a coach?

Coach White: I haven’t won too many championships because coaching, it’s not about winning championships. It’s just about…a big part of my life has been baseball. All my life has been baseball. In 2009 we did win a championship, a district championship. So that was probably a big moment of mine, winning the district championship. At that same time we beat Taravella in the first round of regional playoffs. We had a nice team in 2009. A lot of those kids went on to play college baseball. So I had some exciting moments back then. Everything about the game of baseball is exciting. With over 18 years I’ve had a lot of moments. I don’t know if I could really tell you the best one. I’ve had a lot of good moments; I just love the game.

Anthony: Give me a time when you lost your cool with one of your players. You don’t have to say the name, just the situation.

Coach White: Last year, against Western, my first game back. Bottom of the seventh inning, one out, runner on third base. A long fly ball to center field and before we pitch you tell a player “any ball in the air, get back to the bag. Any ball in the air, get back to the bag.” The ball is hit deep into center field, he’s jogging home. Hands up in the air like we won the game. I’m screaming at him, “GET BACK, GET BACK!” He gets back, tags up and can’t score. The team is out waiting for him to score to win the game in the bottom of the seventh inning and he’s still on third base with two outs. Luckily we found a way to win the game in the eighth inning but I kinda lost my cool with him. We had just got new hats that night and my hat, it had some white on it, it was stained orange for the season. I probably told him he’d never see the field again [laughing]. But to win the game in the bottom of the eighth is probably the time I lost my cool. The first game back after being out with my wife for thirty days.

Anthony: Coaches are all students of the game, constantly learning from their peers. Give me some of the lessons you’ve learned from some of your fellow coaches.

Coach White: I was an assistant coach at South Plantation from basically ’87 to ’97 and Jim Overfield was my head coach for those ten years and I became the head coach in ’97. Really he’s been the only coach that I’ve had as head coach that I was able to carry some things over. Pat McQuaid is one of my good friends. When I first started coaching we did a lot of things together, did a lot of tournaments together. I always asked Pat for a lot of help when I first started coaching. I’ve also always been surrounded by really good assistant coaches. A lot of my former players who have played college baseball have come back and coached with me. Some of them are now head coaches. And they bring new ideas to the game so I would rely on my assistant coaches quite a bit through my 18 years. Coach Portice from Fort Lauderdale, we came in together at the same time in 1987, I respect him, we’ve been coaching the same time. He also experienced his wife passing last year during the baseball season. He’s someone I look up to and respect very much too. Every year, going to the baseball conventions and learning new ideas and just trying to stay fresh with the game.

Anthony: If there is one thing you could change about your career, one situation you may have handled differently if you had the chance again, what would it be?

Coach White: Like a certain game or something?

Anthony: A game or second guess where you went home and you said, “Man, I messed that up. If I had to do that over again I would have done that differently.”

Coach White: There’s been probably in eighteen years and of all the coaches, I’d probably lead the coaches in getting runners thrown out at the plate. In that category, I’ve had quite a few runners thrown out at the plate. It’s high school baseball, you’ve got to field it. It takes a great fielding play, it takes a great throw, a great tag. So there’s a lot of things that can go against you and sometimes that backfires and I’ve had quite a few players thrown out at plate. You know, being over-aggressive sometimes, I doubt myself. A lot of times a pitcher will have a good inning and my pitching coach will come out and say, “Let’s get someone in there.” Or “He had a great fourth inning, let’s get one more inning.” And he goes out there in the fifth inning and sometimes he doesn’t get out of the fifth. So you second guess yourself there too. But all coaches are doing that. All coaches second guess themselves, that’s just part of the game.

Anthony: People always talk about how the game has changed for the worse over time. Generation after generation always talks about how their generation played the game the right way. Give me one thing you think is BETTER about high school baseball today then it was ten years ago.

Coach White: Ten years ago being 2004. I think the kids are stronger. I think the weight room has become, the off-season weight room has become a big part of baseball training from the early 2000’s until now. The kids are bigger and stronger. Definitely the equipment has gotten more expensive, you know the bats and stuff like that. Just like a lot of sports, it’s all changed and you have to as a coach, being my first year in ’97 and now still coaching in 2014, you have to be a coach able to adapt to all the changes. Again I credit my assistant coaches who have always come in and helped me get through a lot of the changes over time.

Anthony: What’s the one thing you still want to accomplish in your coaching career before you call it quits?

Coach White: Of course the state championship in baseball. I had the luxury of winning a state championship this fall in girls golf. I coach golf here in the fall. I kind of did that to get a little break here from baseball and do something different. I love golf, all my kids have played. It ended up being a pretty competitive team getting into some big tournaments. And for high school, the girls golf ended up winning a state championship and it was pretty exciting. Getting that ring for the state championship for girls golf was special. So of course, that’s always been my goal from the moment I stepped out on the field was to win a state championship in baseball.

Anthony: Part of our goal here at HSBN is to bring the personalities of coaches to our readers. So we’re going to play a little either or game with you. I’ll give you some choices; you pick which of the choices best suits you… Classic Rock or Country?

Coach White: Classic Rock.

Anthony: Pizza or a burger?

Coach White: Burger.

Anthony: A good book or a good movie?

Coach White: A good movie.

Anthony: Beating Flanagan or beating West Broward?

Coach White: (Chuckling) Beating Flanagan. I haven’t had too much success over the years beating Flanagan; they’ve kind of have beaten us pretty good over the course of the last couple of years.

Anthony: Hockey or boxing?

Coach White: Boxing.

Anthony: Hunting or fishing?

Coach White: I don’t do much of either of those but I’ve fished more than I’ve hunted.

Anthony: Worst offense for you, a player being late or a player missing a sign?

Coach White: Well we’ve already had one player miss a sign this year and that wasn’t too exciting, but…being late. We really pride in ourselves having our kids coming to school on time; they have to sign in every morning with one of the coaches before they go to class. We really don’t tolerate being late.

Anthony: Okay, last one. A game winning walk-off single or a game saving catch?

Coach White: Over the years I’ve been on both ends. I’ve seen some great catches, that’s exciting but I think anytime you win with a walk-off single or walk-off hit, that’s a great feeling.

Anthony: Ok coach, thanks for sitting down with us and good luck the rest of the season.

Coach White: Thank you.

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