Kevin Michael White (born September 25, 1950) is an American college administrator, and former athletic director at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

. He held this position from May 30, 2008, until his retirement on September 1, 2021. White succeeded Joe Alleva as the Blue Devils' AD when Alleva accepted the same position at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

. He held similar positions at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

, the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

, and

Loras College Loras College is a private Catholic college in Dubuque, Iowa, United States. It has an enrollment of approximately 1,600 students and is the oldest post-secondary institution in the state of Iowa. Loras offers both undergraduate and graduat ...

Early life and education

White was born in

Amityville, New York Amityville () is a Political subdivisions of New York State#Village, village in the Babylon (town), New York, Town of Babylon in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, on the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long Island, in New York ...

. Earning a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1972 from St. Joseph's College in

Rensselaer, Indiana Rensselaer is a city located along the Iroquois River (Indiana-Illinois), Iroquois River in Marion Township, Jasper County, Indiana, Marion Township, Jasper County, Indiana, Jasper County, Indiana, United States. The population was 5,733 at the 2 ...

, White went on to earn a master's degree in athletics administration from

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a Public university, public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, United States. It was established in 1892 as a private normal school and became a state institution in 1895. CMU is one of the eigh ...

in 1976. He completed his Ph.D. in 1983 at

Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of T ...

with an emphasis in higher education administration. He has done postdoctoral work at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in the Institute for Educational Management.

Teaching and coaching careers

High school

White is a career educator, having started as a high school teacher at

Gulf High School Gulf High School is a four-year public high school in New Port Richey, Florida. It is part of the Pasco County School System in Pasco County, Florida. It is the first high school in western Pasco County and the second school in Pasco County to ...

, in

New Port Richey, Florida New Port Richey is a city in Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is a suburban city included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was counted at 16,728 in the 2020 census. History By ...

. While at Gulf High, he coached cross country and track and assisted with the football and wrestling programs.

College

Holding a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in education, White taught management courses at Notre Dame's

Mendoza College of Business The Mendoza College of Business is the business school at the University of Notre Dame, a private research university in Notre Dame, Indiana. Founded in 1921, it offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Apart from its main campus, it also ...

in the

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

program during spring semesters of his tenure at the school. As a coach, White served at

Southeast Missouri State University Southeast Missouri State University (Southeast or SEMO) is a public university in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In addition to the main campus, the university has four regional campuses offering full degree programs and a secondary campus housing t ...

(1981–1982) as the head track and field coach, and as assistant track and field and cross country coach at

(1976–1980). While at

he originated the National Catholic Basketball Tournament.

Administrative career and controversies

Notre Dame's flagship football program struggled during White's tenure. Notre Dame football teams have started 0–3 only two times in the school's history: in 2001 (the season after White negotiated an extension of coach Bob Davie's contract) and 2007 (two seasons after White gave coach

Charlie Weis Charles Joseph Weis Sr. (born March 30, 1956) is a former American football coach. He was the head coach for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 2005 to 2009 and the Kansas Jayhawks from 2012 to 2014. He also served as an offensive coordinator in ...

a 10-year contract extension, which Notre Dame was paying off six seasons after Weis's 2009 firing). White is also responsible for the hiring of

George O'Leary George Joseph O'Leary (born August 17, 1946) is a former American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets from 1994 to 2001 and the UCF Knights from 2004 to 20 ...

(who was fired a week later after falsifying his resume) and

Tyrone Willingham Lionel Tyrone Willingham (born December 30, 1953) is a former American football player and coach. He was the head coach at Stanford University (1995–2001), the University of Notre Dame (2002–2004), and the University of Washington (2005–2 ...

(who started 8–0 but finished 13–15, with eight of those losses coming by 22 points or more, more than any coach in school history). White is also responsible for the hiring and retaining of Duke women's basketball coach Joanne P. McCallie (even after McCallie was investigated by Duke for the mistreatment of players and assistant coaches).

Family

White and his wife Jane have five children, three sons and two daughters. Four of their children work in college athletics:

Mike Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documen ...

, head coach of the

Georgia Bulldogs men's basketball The Georgia Bulldogs men's basketball program is the men's college basketball team representing the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. Established in 1905, the team has competed in the Southeastern Conference since the conference’s ince ...

team;

Danny Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to and short for the male name Daniel.🖾🖾 People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist * Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer * Danny Baker (born 1957), English j ...

, newly hired in January 2021 as athletic director of the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...

; Brian, athletic director for the

Florida Atlantic Owls The Florida Atlantic Owls are the athletics teams of Florida Atlantic University. The Owls participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I as members of the American Athletic Conference. On October 21, 2021, Flori ...

; and Mariah Chappell, assistant athletic director for the

SMU Mustangs The SMU Mustangs are the sport, athletic teams that represent Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas, United States. SMU was founded in 1911 and joined the Southwest Conference, competing against Baylor Bears, Baylor, Rice Owls, ...

. Their eldest child, Maureen Treadway, is a high school English teacher in Arizona.

Hall of fame inductee

White was inducted into the

Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame The Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame is an American sports hall of fame based in Suffolk County on Long Island, New York. The non-profit was established during 1990 to honor outstanding people, living or deceased, who have gained prominence and made s ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

in the Athletic Directors Category with the Class of 2006.

References

External links

Duke profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Kevin 1950 births Living people American track and field coaches Arizona State Sun Devils athletic directors Arizona State University faculty Duke Blue Devils athletic directors Maine Black Bears athletic directors Notre Dame Fighting Irish athletic directors Tulane Green Wave athletic directors College track and field coaches in Missouri High school football coaches in Florida High school wrestling coaches in the United States Central Michigan University alumni Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni Southern Illinois University alumni People from Amityville, New York Sportspeople from Suffolk County, New York