SAN DIEGO -- San Diego State head coach Sean Lewis has announced the hiring of Scott White as the linebackers coach. White comes to The Mesa after spending the past two seasons at UCLA.
White was the associate head coach and inside linebackers last year in Westwood, where JonJon Vaughn finished with 107 tackles en route to being an honorable-mention all-Big Ten selection. Isaiah Chisom was the Bruins’ second-leading tackler with 84 stops.
A defensive analyst at UCLA in 2024, White worked directly with a linebackers group that featured first-team Associated Press All-America selection Carson Schwesinger. White was previously on UCLA's staff from 2011-17, a stretch that saw national award winners Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks and the Bruins reach five bowl games. In 2024, Schwesinger recorded 136 tackles, the ninth most by a Bruin in program history, including a nation-leading 90 solo stops. He was a Butkus Award finalist and a Burlsworth Trophy semifinalist, also landing on the all-Big Ten first team. Kain Medrano also starred for the linebackers, making the all-Big Ten third team.
White spent 2018-23 at San Jose State, where he was nominated for the Broyles Award as one of the top FBS assistant coaches in 2021. Across his five seasons as a Spartan, linebacker Kyle Harmon tallied 442 career tackles. Harmon twice had more than 100 tackles, including the third most in the country in 2021 with 133 total stops.
White got his start at San Jose State as an analyst before spending his last five years as linebackers coach. He added the role of special teams coordinator in 2020. SJSU made two bowl games in his tenure, including the 2020 Arizona Bowl after winning its first Mountain West Championship and the 2022 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
Hired as a quality control coach in 2011 and promoted to linebackers coach and special teams coach in 2015, White helped develop seven linebackers into NFL draft picks during his initial stint at UCLA. Among them were Jayon Brown and Kenny Young, who helped the 2015 and 2016 teams each give up just 4.9 yards per play. The 2016 group gained 23 turnovers (38th in nation) and held opponents to a third-down conversion rate of just 34.7 percent (20th). Brown was an all-Pac-12 first-team defender that year, accumulating 119 tackles. White was voted Pac-12 Recruiter of the Year by 247 Sports in 2016.
In 2014, Eric Kendricks was chosen as UCLA’s first Butkus Award winner and second Lott IMPACT Trophy honoree. Kendricks finished his career with a school-record 481 tackles, totaling 150 (third in program history) in 2012 and 149 (fourth) in 2014. Kendricks' 2019 season with the NFL's Minnesota Vikings ended with first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl accolades.
In 2013, Myles Jack became the first winner of both the Pac-12 Freshman Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year awards. The linebacker/running back was also a finalist for the Paul Hornung Award and received Freshman All-America acclaim from Sporting News. Jack, like Kendricks the year prior, was a second-round NFL draft pick in 2016. Anthony Barr was chosen in the 2014 first round, ninth overall by Minnesota, after claiming the Lott IMPACT Trophy and earning consensus All-America status in White's third season with the Bruins.
As the special teams coach in 2015, White oversaw UCLA's second Lou Groza Award winner in Ka'imi Fairbairn. Fairbairn became the program's all-time leading scorer, kicked a school-record 60-yard field goal and was named a consensus All-American as a senior.
White played collegiately at Washington, where he started at outside linebacker. Across 45 games from 2003-06, he totaled 278 tackles, 38 tackles for loss and 11 sacks, while also logging five interceptions, five forced fumbles and five fumble recoveries.
White was named CIF-San Diego Section (SDS) Defensive Player of the Year and San Diego Union-Tribune Defensive Player of the Year in 2001 after compiling 167 tackles, 11 sacks, one interception, four fumbles recovered and two blocked punts. He also rushed for nearly 1,000 yards and 20 touchdowns on the offensive side of the ball. White helped lead Mission Bay High School to back-to-back CIF-SDS Division II championships in 2000 and 2001.
San Diego State is coming off a 9-4 season in 2025.
Aztec Football Adds Scott White to Coach Linebackers
White has spent 17 seasons on college staffs, including nine at UCLA.
