It doesn’t seem like a stretch for a successful coach to be the face of a program in college sports, but it’s not an easy task to reach that status, either. Donovan won back-to-back national championships with Florida in 2006 and ‘07 after his team was the runner-up in 2000.

MORE: Florida wins thriller with buzzer-beating 3

Couple that with the fact that the Gators chomped their way to NCAA Tournament berths in 15 of Donovan’s 19 seasons, and it’s easy to see how beloved Donovan was in Gainesville.

But Mike White, in just his second season as Florida’s coach, is on a pretty successful arc as well.

Wait, who? Mike White? He’s not Billy Donovan. Surely, the man who was asked to take over after the face of a program must have worried about following up the future Hall of Famer.

Apparently not, as White highlighted during the Gators’ media session on Saturday at MSG:

But that won’t stop Donovan comparisons from being mentioned. In his second year in Gainesville — and in a deceptively tough SEC — White has led this Gators team to the Elite Eight. He has amassed a .671 winning percentage (47-23), and the Gators’ 2017 recruiting class has three 4-star commits. And now they’re on the cusp of a Final Four berth.

That’s a lot of success for a second-year coach, even if it has come at an illustrious college basketball program. But this Florida team isn’t like those Donovan teams of the 2000s. The best word to describe this Florida team? Grit. And the Gators showed a swamp full of it Friday.

“We want to come out and be the team that hits first. Be the tougher team,” said Chris Chiozza, whose last-second 3-pointer advanced Florida to the Elite Eight over Wisconsin. “The team that wants it more. The more disciplined team.”

It’s not about a system or a style of play. It’s about blood, guts, sweat, tears and all those other sports clichés that make great B-movies.

MORE: Three reasons why Florida is in the Elite Eight

Sure, Florida blew an eight-point lead with just 1:44 to go in the game. But they had just enough — enough, at least, for a Chiozza prayer — to outlast the Badgers in overtime.

The Gators took the Badgers’ best punch in the first half, when they were down by as much as 11. Then Florida went on a 21-8 run heading into halftime. Highlighting that run was Chiozza getting in the grill of Badger guard Bronson Koenig, talking trash, chest up, voice loud and showing loads of that fight that White preaches.

The Gators allowed Wisconsin to shoot 70 percent from the floor for the majority of the second half — the Badgers finished out the game shooting 53 percent — yet, Florida found a way to outfight Wisconsin and steal a victory. And White is a big part of that, as he highlighted during Saturday’s media day:

That was the biggest theme players revisited on Saturday. Words like “fight,” “toughness” and “grit” were all mentioned. But Florida forward Kevarrius Hayes highlighted arguably the most important part of what White has accomplished with Florida.

“Regular season, we hadn’t really focused on big picture,” Hayes told Sporting News. “It was all about the next game, who’s up next. One game at a time. And then when we got here, we tried to carry on that same aspect, but then kind of using the whole big-picture idea to push us a little more.

“We’re here to build a strong culture and make our legacy. To make it to the Final Four, that’s a part of what we all really worked for.”

If building a new culture at Florida is the driving force behind this Gators run, then White and Co. are certainly on the right path, Final Four berth or not.