White named Crestview boys hoops coach

By RANDY DICKSON

Florida Freedom Newspapers

Crestview didn't have to go far to find its new boys basketball coach. In fact, the search committee didn't even need to leave the home gym.

Keith White, who coached the Crestview girls basketball team this past winter, has accepted the job coaching the Crestview boys, taking over for Brian Humphrey.

"The thing about Keith is he's coached boys before," Crestview principal Ed Coleman said. "He stepped up to the plate last year and helped us out with the girls program, and there was great improvement in the girls program.

"Keith's passion and his heart - and everybody knew it - was he wanted to coach the boys. He was our first choice by far."

The biggest question wasn't if White was the right man for the job of boys basketball coach, but rather if he would even have a job. White's position in the Crestview math department originally was scheduled to be cut, but additional state funding allowed the school to reinstate his position.

"When I got picked back up, (Coleman) asked me if I would be interested in taking over the boys," White said. "I said, ‘By all means, I'd love to,' because that's what I had coached before (at Holmes County and Vernon). I'm interested now in taking this challenge, and I'm real excited about coaching the boys.

"I'm going to miss the girls because it was probably one of my top years coaching, not as far as the record, but in seeing them girls grow and learn the game and watching them get better and better and better. They really bought into the coaching."

Coleman is confident that White will have the same influence on the boys basketball team as he did with the girls.

"I believe Keith is going to move the program in the right direction," Coleman said. "He has a positive approach with the kids. He's going to work them very hard.

"And hopefully through Keith's direction, Keith is going to get the program back to where it needs to be. I think he's going to work well with players, the parents and the community and get the program back to the prominence it used to (have) many years ago."