Georgia basketball found coaching duo ready to elevate both programs

After a wild March, Georgia basketball officially has two new basketball coaches as both the men’s and women’s basketball teams are turning a new chapter.

Athletic director Josh Brooks hired Mike White from Florida to take over the men’s program and recently hired Katie Abrahamson-Henderson for the women.

The two hires seem like they are what Georgia needed for its hoops teams. While the women’s program had a lot of success going for them, head coaches sometimes leave for other teams, which happened with Joni Taylor.

We all know that the men’s program didn’t have the right coach in charge, so the change stood welcomed there.

Georgia basketball officially begins a new chapter with both its programs.

Brooks hired a former Lady Dog,  who has had success as a head coach the last 20 years. Another alumni in charge of a team is interesting and will be interesting to see if it’ll be successful like it was with the football team.

Coach Abe, which is what seems like people call her, has a 372-157 overall record from her time at UCF, Albany and Missouri State. That record gives her a 70% win percentage, which means she is a proven winner, and hopefully, that continues at Georgia.

I like that she returns to coach for the team she played because that tells us Abrahamson-Henderson knows how important it is. She knows what it’ll take to keep this program at the current level, and maybe she is the missing piece that will eventually help the ladies win a title.

White came from the University of Florida and is also a proven winner. He spent the last seven seasons in Gainesville and had a record 11-3 against Georgia teams. Multiple teams that White coached have gone onto the postseason and contended in the NCAA and NIT tournaments.

Both coaches seem excited about coming to Athens with their families, and now it’s time for them to hit the ground running. He and Abrahamson-Henderson will need to make sure they get a jump on the recruiting and keeping current players in Athens.

Georgia men’s basketball has a few guys on the current team that need to stick around, including Kario Oquendo and Jabri Abdur-Rahim. If he can keep this squad together and add a couple of newcomers to help out, then Georgia will be better than it was.

Abrahamson-Henderson needs to find a way to keep what Taylor did recruiting-wise together. With Sarah Ashlee-Barker announcing that she was hitting the transfer portal, maybe Abrahamson-Henderson can find a way to save her.

The Lady Dogs have a young team, so she must get to know these ladies, and hopefully, this talented group will stick together because they have the making of putting together a great squad.

Basketball season may be over for the Dawgs, but the work never stops because now it’s time to build relationships. It’s time to recruit and get to know the community.

For now, these two hires are strong from Brooks, but time will tell if success will come to the Dawgs’ basketball programs.