COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio high school football playoffs began Thursday night, and one former coach who once paced the sidelines, now has a different vantage point.
Many people who retire end up spending a lot of time on the golf course. That’s certainly the case for Brian White after ending a long run as the football coach at Hilliard Davidson.
But White is doing more than just swinging the clubs himself. Brian White made a name for himself as head coach for the Hilliard Davidson High School football team. He retired in 2019, but he’s back coaching in Hilliard.
This time he is at rival Darby High School he's taking a swing at coaching girls golf. He missed the competition; he said.
“I was looking to get back into something competitive after not coaching football for three or four years,” said White.
After his successful 21 seasons as the Hilliard Davidson football coach, including two state championship titles and 17 post season appearances. Whether it’s a football or a golf ball, he said athletes are athletes.
“The similarities are in the kids. Competitors want to compete. In football, our best players were our most fiercest competitors and I think you can say the something in golf,” said White.
One of his current competitors and leaders on the team is Madeleine Digel, and she only had great things to say about her new coach.
“He’s very motivational and supportive of us. He likes to send us lots of positive quotes and ways to be a good teammate to one another so we can prove ourselves and the people around us,” said Digel.
She said she knew his background on the gridiron and said she and her teammates were a little nervous about his coaching style.
“We were a little bit,” said Digel. “Me and my teammates joke sometimes and say if we missed a putt he’d make us drop and give him 20.”
The players have their own private swinging coaches, which White said takes some of the stress off him, but he’s happy to help motivate the team on and off the golf course.
“I enjoy playing golf. I wouldn’t call myself a golfer. I’m more of a participator than a golfer. My wife and I go out and she beats me. So that just kind of indicates to you how bad I am at golf,” said White.
White may be known as the Hilliard Davidson’s winningest football coach in the program’s history. But now he’s hoping to bring some of that fire to the green with the girls' team.