Investment banker to top SEC assistant: Spotlight on Brad White for Kentucky vs. Tennessee
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Preview: No. 19 Kentucky at No. 3 Tennessee
Click below to read more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s preview coverage ahead of Saturday’s Kentucky-Tennessee football game scheduled for 7 p.m. at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.
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The man tasked with developing a game plan for Kentucky football to slow the nation’s top-ranked offense Saturday did not intend to be a coach.
UK defensive coordinator Brad White was ready to move on from football when his playing career at Wake Forest ended in 2004. With a master’s degree in accounting already finished, White started a career as an investment banker in Dallas.
Two years later, White’s wife, Kate, was tired of hearing him yell at the television while watching football games on the weekend. When an opportunity to return to his alma mater as a graduate assistant became available, Kate pushed White to give coaching a try.
A dinner with his former Wake Forest coach Brad Lambert sealed the deal.
“He’s good with the guys,” Lambert, who returned to Wake Forest as the program’s defensive coordinator before the season, told the Herald-Leader this week. “He knows how to handle people, motivate people and care about people. That’s a lot of our job, building those relationships and then putting them in the right positions on the field. He’s that kind of person.
“We just saw that early and always thought he would be really good at it. I told him he can be successful at whatever he does. If he’s in the financial world, he can be successful doing that. I just always thought he would be a really good coach.”
It did not take long for White’s decision to return to football to be validated.
After two years as a graduate assistant at Wake Forest, he landed his first full-time coaching job as safeties coach at Murray State. He spent one year there and two years at Air Force before making the jump to the NFL.
After six years with the Indianapolis Colts, White returned to college football as Kentucky’s outside linebackers coach in 2018. That season, he helped mold Josh Allen into the National Defensive Player of the Year and a top-10 NFL Draft pick.
A year later, Mark Stoops promoted White to Kentucky’s defensive coordinator. Seven games into his fourth year in that position, White’s Kentucky defense is ranked ninth nationally in fewest points allowed per game (16.4) and 14th in fewest yards allowed per game (295.4).
The challenge grows much harder this week.
No. 3 Tennessee brings an undefeated record to its matchup with the Wildcats. The Volunteers lead the country in points per game (50.1), yards per game (571.7), plays of at least 30 yards (32) and plays of at least 40 yards (21). Tennessee has scored at least 30 points in a school-record 10 consecutive games.
White likes to remind reporters there is no magic call or no perfect defense to shut down an offense as dynamic as Tennessee’s. Shutting out the Volunteers is not realistic, but White has to develop a game plan that can slow Josh Heupel’s team enough to keep Kentucky within reach of the upset.
“If anybody can get it done, Brad will,” said former Kentucky assistant and first-year Troy head coach Jon Sumrall.
AN UNUSUAL PATH TO COACHING
White’s path to being one of college football’s best defensive coordinators started as a walk-on linebacker at the University of Georgia. A Rhode Island native, White was named the Bulldogs’ scout team defensive player of the year as a freshman while redshirting in the 2000 season.
Georgia fired coach Jim Donnan before the end of the season, sending ripples through the locker room.
When White was asked to give a speech at an end-of-season banquet to accept his scout team award, he surprised a crowd of boosters and teammates by announcing that he was likely to leave the program since the coaching staff that had promised him a scholarship in the future was out.
Lambert, Georgia’s defensive backs coach during White’s one season in Athens, landed at Wake Forest as linebackers coach. With a scholarship available, Lambert suggested to Wake Forest Coach Jim Grobe he use it on White as a transfer.
“He believed in us and wanted to follow us,” Lambert said. “I was really fortunate that he came to Wake, for sure.”
White went on to start 34 of his 35 career appearances at Wake Forest. He left the program with 227 tackles, 19 tackles for loss and four sacks.
“I think the one thing that stood out about him was just how hard he studied,” Lambert said. “He wanted to be a really, really good player, so he studied the game and did all the things you want your middle linebacker to do. Study the game and make sure we’re all in the right spot.”
Despite the strong college career, White was pragmatic about his future.
He did not participate in Wake Forest’s pro day after his senior season, instead choosing to focus on finishing his master’s degree. Wake Forest coaches offered him the chance to immediately join the staff as a graduate assistant, but he politely declined with the banking job already lined up.
But football was not finished with White.
Even after returning to coaching there were bumps in the road. His stint at Murray State ended when the entire staff was fired after just one season. He could have stayed at Air Force, working for former Wake Forest assistant Troy Calhoun, but bet on himself to pursue a job with the Colts.
In the NFL, he learned the 3-4 defense that would make him an attractive candidate for Stoops when he went looking for a coach to help take Allen’s game to the next level.
“It was extremely important, No. 1, to develop the talented outside backers that we had in the program and then, No. 2, he was a big-picture guy,” Stoops said. “I knew right away that was important to me and to our staff. … With college football there’s extremes and different styles, and I think it’s important to have as many big-picture guys as you can.”
‘ONE OF THE BEST DEFENSIVE COORDINATORS I’VE BEEN AROUND’
Following Kentucky’s 10-3 2018 season, the program’s first 10-win season since 1977, defensive coordinator Matt House left the program for the NFL. Rather than look outside for a replacement, Stoops chose to promote White.
Just 10 years after his first full-time coaching job, White was now in charge of an SEC defense. That same year Sumrall joined Kentucky’s staff as inside linebackers coach.
“It doesn’t get any better as a human than Brad,” Sumrall said. “Then, he is a very detailed, thoughtful, considerate designer of a game plan. He really is. I’ve got a ton of respect for Brad and just how he goes about his work. He is tremendous at maybe identifying what an opponent’s strengths and weaknesses are and also identifying what maybe his own team’s strengths and weaknesses are.”
Kentucky has ranked in the top 50 nationally in scoring defense and total defense in each of White’s four seasons as coordinator.
Stoops, a longtime defensive backs coach and former defensive coordinator, maintains an active role in defensive game-planning. Before he left for Troy, Sumrall did as well. Sumrall was replaced on the staff this season by Mike Stoops, Mark’s older brother with years of defensive coordinator experience.
But the 40-year-old White is in charge of the defensive meeting room.
“He’s one of the best defensive coordinators I’ve been around,” Kentucky first-year offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello said. “I’ve said this to a few people. Actually reminds me a little bit of (former Broncos head coach) Vic Fangio in the way that Vic just had this mind and he was known as an odd-defense savant. He was one of the best and always the hardest to go against. He adapted and adjusted and understood his defense and he understood himself.
“I feel like Brad is that guy. He’s super intelligent. He sees the game through the quarterback. He sees the little things. He coaches the details. He’s versatile. He can adapt. He’s a really good teacher. I’ve been very, very impressed by Brad.”
Built around a veteran group of linebackers, Kentucky’s defense this season appears to be its best since the 2018 group that was considered one of the best in program history.
The defense has not been perfect but it is difficult to poke holes in the results.
Kentucky held Florida, Ole Miss and Mississippi State to at least 14 points below their season averages. It recorded the program’s first shutout since 2009 in a win over FCS Youngstown State. Only one team has surrendered fewer passing touchdowns than the Wildcats (four).
White and the UK defense have shown an impressive ability to adjust in games.
Opponents are averaging just 5.6 points per game against Kentucky in the second half this season. The Wildcats held the Ole Miss, Florida and Mississippi State offenses to a combined 10 points in the second half. (Mississippi State also scored on a interception return for a touchdown in the second half.)
The analytical mind that first led White to investment banking can be particularly useful in those in-game adjustments.
“That’s probably why I lean on him,” Lambert said with a laugh, noting he still occasionally calls White to exchange ideas. “Because he’s got that and I don’t. No question, that’s a huge help for you in situational football, always. The numbers are going to tell you something about a guy that’s calling plays on the offensive side. He’s kind of natural at that.”
HOW TO STOP TENNESSEE
Considering Tennessee scored 52 points and totaled 567 yards in a 52-49 win over Nick Saban’s Alabama, elite coaching alone is not enough to slow the Volunteers.
A year ago in its first year playing Heupel’s offense, Tennessee totaled 461 yards in a 45-42 win over Kentucky. Considering Kentucky surrendered 438 yards and 31 points to Mississippi State last season then held the Bulldogs to 225 yards and 17 points two weeks ago, there is hope the year-to-year improvement from the defense can lead to a better result in Knoxville this weekend.
“Anytime you can work with a staff and figure out what you have player-wise and build a game plan, that’s part of the fun of this profession and this job,” White said. “Also the challenge of it. There is no perfect blueprint for any offense that you face, any team that you face. Especially the one that we’ll face (in Knoxville).”
Heupel’s offense is unlike any other Kentucky will face this season.
While the Wildcats impressed against Ole Miss’s up-tempo style, Tennessee operates at an even faster pace. The Volunteers frequently line up their receivers close to the sidelines, forcing defenders into one-on-one battles regardless of the type of defense being used. Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker, a leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy, has thrown just one interception this season.
Volunteers wide receiver Jalin Hyatt leads the country in receiving touchdowns (12), and he is not even considered the team’s best draft prospect at the position. That honor goes to Cedric Tillman, who could return from a four-game absence due to an ankle injury this week. USC transfer Bru McCoy has recorded two 100-yard receiving performances this season too.
Like he did against Mississippi State, White has emphasized the importance of open-field tackling against Tennessee to avoid as many big plays as possible. That is a particular concern since the bye week will mean it has been 14 days since Kentucky defenders have tackled an opponent to the ground.
Kentucky players and coaches have acknowledged Tennessee will have some success regardless of how well the Wildcats play. Not letting any mistakes spiral into multiple plays will be important.
If Kentucky does slow the Volunteers, it is likely White will have something similar to say after the performance as he did after the Mississippi State game, what he called the defense’s first complete-game performance of the season.
“These are the games as a coach that it wasn’t about any magical calls,” he said then. “It wasn’t about anything except watching those guys play football at a really high level and do it with a joy and a step and an energy on the sideline. It’s so much fun for me. I could do that all night.”
An upset of Tennessee would surely raise White’s national profile even further.
He already turned down a chance to jump to LSU as its defensive coordinator in the offseason. Head coaching opportunities are likely on the horizon. He will probably have the opportunity to return to the NFL at some point if he wants to.
White has shown admirable loyalty to Kentucky to date, but eventually a job offer that is too good to turn down might come.
That only happens if his defense continues to perform though.
“One, he’s very smart,” super senior linebacker DeAndre Square said. “Two, he takes the time. He has a passion for coaching, a passion for football and a love. I feel like that paired with his intelligence makes him such a great coach and able to muster up these game plans.
“And then you have players that’s willing to do anything for the coach.”
SATURDAY
No. 19 Kentucky at No. 3 Tennessee
When: 7 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 5-2 (2-2 SEC), Tennessee 7-0 (3-0)
Series: Tennessee leads 82-26-9
Last meeting: Tennessee won 45-42 on Nov. 6, 2021, in Lexington.
This story was originally published October 27, 2022 at 10:25 AM.
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