Mike White could not be happier for his former assistant after Saturday’s Elite 8 thriller in Madison Square Garden. Dusty May, a former assistant under White at Louisiana Tech and Florida, is taking Florida Atlantic to the program’s first-ever Final Four. No. 9 seed FAU defeated No. 3 seed Kansas State 79-76 to win the East Region.

White made the trip to New York City to see the game in person. The Georgia head coach spoke to NCAA.com’s Andy Katz after FAU’s historic victory.

“Wow! Cloud Nine,” White said to Katz. “The best hire in the history of college basketball and the best coaching job done in any single season, ever, in my opinion. Are you kidding me? The FAU Owls going to the Final Four. Wow.”

May, who has guided FAU to a 35-3 record in 2022-23, was on White’s staff at Louisiana Tech from 2011-to-2015 and at Florida from 2015-to-2018. May, though, isn’t White’s only tie to the Owls. Brian White, Mike’s brother, is FAU’s athletic director.

“He’s amazing. He’s relentless,” White said of his brother. “Incredible hire. Obviously great relationship, alignment with Dusty. I’m so happy for him.”

White had a third tie to the game: Keyontae Johnson. White called his former Florida player’s return to the court for the 2022-23 season an inspirational story.

“The individual story of what Keyontae accomplished this year is absolutely off the charts,” White said. “As inspirational a student-athlete as there is in college athletics. Love him to death. He’s making us all proud.”