Oak Ridge girls basketball coach stands alone with fundamental approach — and 700 wins
Steve White hasn’t aged much over the years, adding a couple of pounds to go with speckles of gray on his closely cropped hair and beard.
The 60-year old White is still wired intensely — is still a master of the stoic, hard glare. Time hasn’t dulled him a bit. He still works a sideline, still works over a referee or a player for not boxing out. All of this to the tune of 701 victories over 29 seasons at Oak Ridge High School in El Dorado Hills.
That’s a Sac-Joaquin Section record for wins for girls, and it’s testament that fundamentals and effort are the ingredients to success.
White has another team in the section large-enrollment Division I playoffs, having reached section finals before, always the team goal. The Oak Ridge Trojans, seeded No. 5 in CIF Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs, will face No. 4 Lincoln of Stockton on Thursday night, in Stockton after defeating Kennedy on Tuesday.
White’s girls have won the blue banner four times, losing other times on half-court shots at the buzzer. His last such conquest came in 2022.
White isn’t in this to stuff the trophy case, or to bask in the limelight, such as when he won his 700th on Feb. 7, on Senior Night. The old coach was moved by the balloons, the cake, the hugs and the scores of former players who stopped by to watch the master at his craft, though the ever-humble boss was a bit embarrassed that all the bells and whistles meant that the boys varsity contest against Jesuit would be delayed a bit.
“It’s never about me, and I don’t like it when things run behind, but that was really a special night,” White said.
White lost all of that hair once, in 2010, when he wagered a bet with his players and students across the El Dorado County campus. He offered extra credit in math as a teacher of the subject if students made the 600-mile round trip to Bakersfield, home of that season’s CIF state championships, to cheer on the team. He promised to let students shave his head and face in the campus quad if his upstart Trojans beat nationally ranked No. 3 Long Beach Poly.
That Poly team had six Division I scholarship signees. Oak Ridge had one in Sara James, who went on to play at Stanford. The Trojans with their lineup of tall talents with pony tails and firm expressions matched Poly’s athleticism with fundamentals and pulled it off, leading CalHi Sports Editor Mark Tennis to say then and now that it is the greatest girls basketball upset in state history.
Did students shave the coach clean?
“Absolutely,” White said with a laugh. “Great memory.”
Elevating a program and the girls game
White’s career has been a great memory. He took over a solid Oak Ridge program before the 1995-96 season, and in quick order made it a superb program. No regional program in the last 30 years has been as consistently good or great like the Trojans. He has been the constant, and he’s achieved record heights with rosters predominantly of home-grown kids, a rarity for prep powerhouse programs any more.
White continues to value the teaching part of the game, of players moving without the ball, of setting screens, of making the extra pass and defending. He urges players to study, to be good students, to be good kids, to maximize their high school experiences by being involved in all things extra curricular.
To get a high-five or a hug from White is a big deal. To earn his wrath means you also caught his attention. He is old school in that he sugarcoats nothing.
“Steve is blunt with his players, demanding, and he tells them the truth,” said Eric Cavaliere, a longtime Oak Ridge coach, including now in girls flag football. “But the girls know he means well. He wants the best for them.”
Said White: “Playing hard — that’s how we have to be successful, and it’s always been that way. We have to out hustle and outplay the other teams. We’re not always the most athletic, tallest or fastest team, and we have to play together, with that passion and joy.”
White once said that, yes, he does play favorites. He was peppered some 10 years ago by some Oak Ridge parents who suggested that he played favorites. Said White then, “I used to get offended when a parent would say, ‘You’re playing favorites!’
“Finally, I said, ‘You’re right!’ I play those who work the hardest, who earn the time. Give me the things I can’t coach. I can’t coach effort, intensity, aggressiveness. Give me those things, and we as a staff will teach you the X’s and O’s, the fundamentals, and then we’ll have something.”
The Trojans have something, to be sure. All of the players can handle the ball or shoot it, and all of them can defend. Thirty years ago, that was not the norm, but White has done his part to elevate and grow the girls game, because the more skilled and gritty players you have, the better.
White appreciates reserves because he can relate
White appreciates every one of his players, right on down to the last one on the bench. He has a soft spot for the reserves, or those who hardly ever see game action because he can relate, having played sports at Santa Teresa High School in San Jose a generation ago.
“I want to get every kid in games because I was that kid at the end of the bench, and I know what it’s like to practice every day and to not get in a game,” White said.
White made sure that his best player this season, one who hasn’t played a moment all season, got to have her moment on Senior Night. Liv Yergensen started against St. Francis with a bulky knee brace limiting her to a labored walk after a ligament tear cost her the season, and she scored on the opening possession.
St. Francis coaches were agreeable to this because it was the sportsmanship and human thing to do. Yergensen will play on scholarship at the University of Pacific in Stockton.
“Liv deserved it, a very special player, and even in rehab, Liv is killing it,” White said. “She does scouting reports for us, will text players tendencies. We miss her.”
Yergensen said White is more than a good coach with a stern expression and big heart.
“Coach White always wants us to succeed, not just in basketball, but in life. Although sometimes his coaching comes in the form of tough love, he always wants the best for us. Coach White also is someone you can go and talk to about anything outside of basketball and is helpful with advice. He is always going to be honest with you and tell you the truth even if its hard.
“He sacrifices so much for our team, and I think sometimes people don’t realize how much he puts into the program. I wouldn’t be the player I am today without Coach White. He taught me that nobody should be able to take your confidence away and that being mentally tough is so important. Seeing him smile and proud of the team means so much because it is 100% genuine. He loves us and we love him.”
White’s coaching approach is similar in his math classes. Give it your best shot.
“In math, there are not a lot of new discoveries,” he said. “Keep grinding away.”
Held up at gunpoint in LA County
White got his coaching start in Los Angeles County in his 20s, coaching high school boys. He enjoyed the coaching, but not the off-the-floor things so much.
White said he was once held up at gunpoint, had a car stolen, and knew a coach who was carjacked. He drove players home after games, well into the night, and was pulled over, the flashing lights brightening the street. The police officer told him that people dressed with a tie were either selling or buying, and he didn’t mean groceries.
White and his young bride, Rita, sought a change of scenery. He wanted to coach girls, and he longed for a return to Northern California. He landed the Oak Ridge job a year after applying for it and not getting it. White knew of El Dorado Hills because he and his father, Karl, in the 1970s and ‘80s would drive up Highway 50 on their way to Tahoe.
White was coached by his father in youth sports, and White had his father sit on his Oak Ridge bench as an assistant coach for years.
Karl died during the COVID-19 pandemic, no hospitals visitors allowed, which crushed White. He couldn’t say goodbye to the most influential person in his life.
“The players loved him, called him Senior,” White said. “He was a great man, a great human being, who loved being around sports. I got all of my knowledge from him from all sports.”
‘It all starts with Steve White’
White insists he is just the leader of the band, that the 700 wins is a credit to his coaches, his players and the campus and community support. Aaron Palm agrees with all of that. He is the Oak Ridge principal.
“It all starts with Steve White,” Palm said. “Great coach, teacher and person.”
White isn’t sure when he will step away from the grind. He likes teaching math, is a tireless athletic director who has earned statewide honors for his work in that field, and he’s often the last man on campus after a late sporting event. His passion remains basketball.
He is Oak Ridge, and Oak Ridge is Steve White. Rita, his wife of 31 years, has already retired as an Oak Ridge teacher, and she hustles around the house to keep up with an 18-month-old granddaughter. The mother of that little ball of energy is Kayla, daughter of Steve and Rita. She is a fourth-year English teacher at Oak Ridge.
“I don’t know when he’ll retire, and I ask him weekly,” Kayla said at a recent game, where she scanned tickets at the front door, not too far from a trophy room heavy on Oak Ridge girls basketball feats. “I know he loves it here. Everyone loves him.”
“My timeline is when my wife is ready for me to,” White said with a laugh. “The jobs I’ve had as a coach, teacher and athletic director, there’s not a lot of window for vacations. I’m still enjoying this. We have a lot to play for.”
Coaching greats
A peek at the winningest girls coaches in Sacramento history:
613 — Mike Takayama, Del Oro (1987-2016)
The classy “Taka” went from arm-wrestling campus champion in the 1960s to an all-time coach.
602 — Bill Baxter, El Camino (1988-2011)
Resistant to even coach the sport, Baxter led some of the greatest teams in regional history, including going 34-0 in 1994.
505 — Allison Johnson, Vanden (2003-current)
Along — with husband Jake Johnson, the Vikings roll on, big on skill and drive.
489 — Duwaine Ganskie, Bear River (1988-2007)
The founding coach turned a small-school novelty into a section powerhouse.
420 — Craig Strohm, Nevada Union (1985-2004)
Fiery, fuming and fun to watch, Strohm won four straight Division I section crowns.
▪ Sacramento Bee archives/CalHi Sports