With 10 minutes until tip-off, Mike White walked onto the O’Connell Center floor for the first time as the new head coach of Florida’s men’s basketball team.
His smile — warm, welcoming and contagious — was directed towards the student section that had filled up for an exhibition.
It wasn’t just the first chance for the Gators to play a competitive game in nearly eight months. It was the beginning of a new era, a realization that ‘this is actually happening’ for White.
Immediately after the tip, the heat of the moment may have understandably gotten to White, causing him to take off his suit jacket.