Bill White - Baseball Coach

Bill White

Title:
Associate Head Coach
Email:
wwhite35@utm.edu
Phone:
731-881-3691

Bill White is in his fourth season on the University of Tennessee at Martin baseball staff and second as associate head coach in 2025, working primarily with the Skyhawk pitchers. He was promoted to associate head coach on July 31, 2023.

Last season, UT Martin made the Ohio Valley Conference tournament for the second straight season which marked the first time the Skyhawks had appeared in the postseason in consecutive campaigns. White helped produce four All-OVC honorees with three student-athletes making the second team (third basemen Mac Danford, outfielder Will Smith and relief pitcher Tucker Reed) while Tristan Walton (first team all-conference) became the first UT Martin pitcher to lead the OVC in ERA and make the OVC’s All-Tournament team.

In 2023, UT Martin amassed a school-record 14 Ohio Valley Conference wins - tying for the second-highest tally in league play and earning the Skyhawks the No. 3 seed in the OVC Championship tournament. Caleb Hobson became the school's highest Major League Baseball Draft pick (13th round to the Colorado Rockies) while White's pitching staff recorded 12 saves (second-most in school history), punched out 381 batters (fourth in the school's NCAA Division I history) and conceded the fewest home runs (24) of any OVC team in league play.

Amongst UT Martin's 19 school records that were shattered in 2023 was most All-OVC honorees (five) - including left-handed pitcher Zach Wager. The Columbus, Ind. native became the first Skyhawk hurler to pile up Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American honors and the first UT Martin representative to be named OVC Freshman of the Year. He tallied OVC second team accolades after posting a 2.44 ERA - the best of any Skyhawk with at least 40 innings pitched in the school's NCAA Division I Era (since 1993).

In 2022, UT Martin defeated Alabama for the second straight year, winning by a score of 7-6 on March 1. Rhett Fetner - one of White's pupils going back to their Chattahoochee Valley days - was crowned as OVC Pitcher of the Week on March 14, becoming just the 12th Skyhawk to earn that honor. Fetner was well on his way to a dominant season as his 3.27 ERA was the lowest by any UT Martin hurler with at least seven games started in the last two decades before the right-hander suffered a season-ending injury on April 1.

White came to the Skyhawks from Chattahoochee Valley Community College in Phenix City, Ala. He spent four seasons as an assistant under head coaches Adam Thomas and Hunter Vick, helping the Pirates to a 138-56 overall record with an 81-23 mark (.779 winning percentage) in the Alabama Community College Conference. During White’s tenure, CVCC won a pair of ACCC regular season championships (2018, 2021), two ACCC tournament championships (2018, 2019) and advanced to the NJCAA World Series twice – claiming a pair of victories at the 2019 event. Overall, White coached two All-Americans and 13 All-ACCC selections at CVCC.

As the Pirates' pitching coach, White presided over a staff that combined for a 3.35 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, a .228 opponent batting average, a 2.6:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio a 9.61 strikeouts-per-nine-innings average and 33 shutouts in his four years at CVCC. The 2021 CVCC hurlers ranked in the top-two nationally in ERA (2.63, first) and shutouts (11, second) while the 2018 Pirate squad ranked in the top-four in the country in shutouts (15, second) and ERA (2.65, fourth). He mentored 2021 ACCC Pitcher of the Year Jordan Armstrong (11-0, 1.65 ERA in 71 innings) and 2018 All-American Cole Ganopulos (10-0, 1.62 ERA in 89 innings).

Before his stint at CVCC, White spent the 2013 campaign working under head coach Wynn Fletcher at Central Alabama Community College in Alexander City, Ala. The Trojans captured the program’s first-ever national championship that season, finishing 43-14 after their victory over Palm Beach State in the NJCAA title game.

White spent nine seasons playing professionally, culminating with 17 MLB relief appearances with the Texas Rangers in 2007-08. He went 2-0 with three holds out of the Ranger bullpen as a rookie in 2007. He was selected in the MLB Draft on two separate occasions, being picked in the third round (99^th overall) by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2000 and in the 33^rd round (992^nd overall) by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1997.

As a collegiate pitcher, White starred at Jacksonville State University (2000) and Meridian Community College (1998-99). The southpaw still holds the JSU Division I school record for most strikeouts in a game (16 against Samford on March 17, 2000) and in a season (136) – leading all of Division I baseball with a 16.0 strikeouts-per-nine-innings ratio. He fired the program’s first no-hitter of its Division I Era when he accomplished that feat against Alabama A&M on March 12, 2000. As a freshman, he helped MCC to a third-place finish at the 1998 NJCAA World Series.

Hailing from Alexander City, Ala., White graduated from Jacksonville State in 2014 with a degree in liberal studies. He is married to the former Rachael Alexander from Auburn, Ala. and the couple has one son, Alex.