Larry White resigns at Macon County
By Mark Darnell
Macon County High School girls basketball coach Larry White announced at a press conference today that he would be resigning, announcing his retirement. White has been coaching basketball for 42 years.
White began his career at Red Boiling Springs High where he amassed a record of 566 wins and 556 losses. He took three teams to the state tournament while there and won four district championships.
After one year away from basketball he took over the program at Macon County in April of 2015. In the past seven years he has guided the Tigerettes to their most successful era in their history. They went to the state tournament five consecutive years, finishing four times in the final four. They were Co-Champions in 2020 (due to a Covid-19 shortened tournament) and won the state championship in 2021. White was named the Pat Summit Class AA Coach of the Year in 2020 and the TSSAA State Basketball Coach of the Year in 2020-2021. In his seven years his record at MCHS is 153-51 with three district and three region championships.
MCHS Principal Daniel Cook commented, “We are here to celebrate the wonderful contributions Coach White has made in the unprecedented success of our Tigerette program. We are so grateful for his contributions to the program.”
MCHS Athletic Director Beverly Shoulders said, “I have known Coach White for almost 50 years and I have watched him be successful in every position he has held. More importantly he has molded our young student athletes and made them state champions.”
“First and foremost want to thank all our students, athletes, the MCHS administration, our Director of Schools, and most importantly to the great fans of Tigerette basketball while I have been at Macon County. I could not have had the success here without some great players,” White announced.
During his program’s five year run in the state tournament White believes that his program had the best record, in all classifications, in the entire state. In the 2020 and 2021 seasons the program also set a school record with 40 consecutive wins.
“During my time here I made an effort to play the best teams we could in non-conference games. In order to be the best, we needed to beat the best. And let me tell the fans in Macon County I believe that the future of Tigerette basketball is bright,” White said.
Principal Cook stated that MCHS Assistant Coach Kailyn Thompson is the interim Coach and is currently with the girl’s program at a summer camp in Lebanon. An announcement about the future coaching position is expected near the end of the week.
“I want everyone to know that I will be 100% supportive of this program in the future. I believe that there are great things to come. If I set any records here, I hope they get broken,” White commented.
The last thing mentioned by Principal Cook was about some administrative success that fans and the public never saw. Cook said, “Coach White, at almost 70 years old, is as passionate as any coach we have about his program. The things he has accomplished to simply improve this facility are unknown.
“You never saw that Larry White had kids in fourth block at school, on home game days, here in the gym with Windex, paper towels, some kind-of apparatus, and two-by-fours spot shining the gym floor. At this press conference it’s noisy because they are putting a new roof on the gym and part of the reason why is Larry White constantly advocating to the powers-that-be to get that improvement. People will never know of the time, effort, and money he has put in our facility,” Cook said.
Coach White concluded by thanking his immediate family for all their support. “It was tough getting my wife to wear blue but she did. My son told me Saturday that all good things have to come to an end, and he’s right. I am blessed to have the family that I do.”
So on behalf of all the fans of Tigerette basketball, we say ‘Thanks’ to Coach Larry White for his leadership of the program. We wish him the best in any of his future endeavors.
