When basketball coach Mike White started the business of putting together his staff, having a “Georgia presence” on it was one of his major goals.

The first step in accomplishing that occurred when he brought in former Bulldog Charles Mann as his Director of Recruiting.

But White hasn’t stopped there.

Mann has been joined by former Bulldog teammate Kenny Gaines, who is back in Athens as a graduate assistant following a five-year professional career playing ball overseas.

“Kenny has been fantastic in different roles,” White said Monday in a sit-down interview with UGASports.com. “He can get on the court with our guys more than Charles with his graduate assistant role, and he’s been fantastic with our guys coming off a professional career where he had a lot of success.”

Gaines enjoyed a solid career with the Bulldogs under former head coach Mark Fox, playing from 2012-2016, including a senior season that saw him average 12.8 points per game.

Following a summer ball stint with the Houston Rockets, the former Whitefield Academy standout played overseas with teams in France, Lithuania, and Italy before calling it a career.

White said Mann has already made quite the impression.

“Charles has been fantastic. He’s a young guy who will be really successful in this business for a long time, and he’s been instrumental in bridging the gap between me and our current staff, and a lot of former players,” White said. “So, we’re going to do a lot with Charles as far as bringing back former Bulldogs that we need to be a big part of this program.”

Mann and Gaines aren’t the only Georgia natives making an impact with the Bulldogs.

Associate head coach Antonio Reynolds-Dean is a former two-time all-state performer at Douglass High School in Atlanta before embarking on an outstanding career at Rhode Island, where he was inducted into that school’s Hall of Fame in 2015.

Reynolds-Dean spent the previous five season as an assistant at Clemson

“A lot of times with Antonio, you walk into a gym, and he’s recognized immediately. He’s a well-liked, great human being, a very well-liked guy. I’m excited to work with these guys,” White said. “We certainly wanted to have a significant Georgia presence on our staff in numbers, and we’ve done that and will continue to evaluate that moving forward.”