Louisiana Tech Athletics Director Bruce Van De Velde announced today that men’s basketball head coach Michael White has agreed to a contract extension pending approval from the University of Louisiana System’s Board of Supervisors.
Coach White has led the Bulldog basketball program to extraordinary new heights since being named the 17th head coach of Louisiana Tech just two years ago. Length and terms of the contract extension will not be released until after it’s been approved by the University of Louisiana System’s Board of Supervisors.
After posting a six-win improvement in his first year with an 18-16 record and leading LA Tech to its first WAC Tournament final since joining the league in 2001, White has exceeded expectations in his second year as well.
White’s Bulldogs began the 2012-13 season with an 8-3 mark before reeling off a streak to remember from late December to early March – an 18 game winning stretch that was the second longest streak in NCAA Division I and also the program’s longest streak in its 84-year history.
On Feb. 25, LA Tech made history again by cracking the AP Top 25 poll as the No. 25 team in the country – the first national ranking for the Bulldogs in 28 years.
The team rounded out the season with a 26-5 record, tied for the sixth best win-loss percentage in the country, and a 16-2 mark in the Western Athletic Conference which earned the `Dogs its first ever WAC regular season championship and its first ever No. 1 seed in the WAC Tournament.
White was rewarded by the league for his efforts as the Don Haskins WAC Coach of the Year, the first Bulldog coach to receive the honor, and by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) as the District VII Coach of the Year.
The 36-year old currently has his Bulldogs in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) after upsetting No. 4 seed Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla. The win over the Seminoles is only the program’s second win ever over a current ACC school.
White has accumulated an overall record of 45-22 which is the most combined wins in the first two seasons of any head coach in LA Tech history.
Stay with HoopDirt for the latest college basketball coaching news and rumors.
