BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Mike White, who had a successful career as a college coach with California and Illinois and later coached the NFL's Oakland Raiders, has died. He was 89.
Cal said White's family confirmed that he died Sunday in Newport Beach.
White helped the Golden Bears win a share of the Pac-8 title in 1975, led the Illini to their first Rose Bowl in 20 years in the 1983 season and coached the Raiders in their first two seasons back in Oakland in 1995-96 after leaving Los Angeles.
He also worked as an assistant for the San Francisco 49ers and was on Dick Vermeil's staff with the St. Louis Rams when they won the Super Bowl following the 1999 season.
“Mike was special,” said Burl Toler Jr., a linebacker who played at Cal under White from 1974-77. “He treated us like men and with a lot of respect. Mike was a very gifted and smart coach who loved Cal and loved being a coach, and he surrounded himself with a lot of like minds who instilled in us a will to succeed.”
White was a four-sport student-athlete at Cal in the 1950s and spent time as an assistant with the Bears and at rival Stanford before getting the head coaching job at his alma mater in 1972.
White had a 35-30-1 record in six seasons at Cal, with his biggest success coming in 1975 when he was named coach of the year after the Bears finished tied with UCLA for first place in the conference. Cal finished 14th in the nation with an offense that featured Chuck Muncie and quarterback Joe Roth.
White also coached quarterback Steve Bartkowski earlier at Cal and helped develop him into the No. 1 overall pick in the 1975 NFL draft.
He then left for the NFL, spending two seasons as an offensive line coach for the 49ers, before returning to college in 1980 with Illinois. He led the Illini to a 47-41-3 record with three bowl trips, including a loss in the 1984 Rose Bowl to UCLA.
That 1983 Illinois team went 9-0 in the Big Ten and is the only team in conference history to beat every other conference opponent in the same season.
White then returned to the NFL in 1990, spending five seasons as an assistant with the Raiders before taking over as head coach. He had a 15-17 record before getting fired after the 1996 season.
FILE - Oakland Raiders head football coach Mike White, left, speaks with Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese, and Raiders owner Al Davis, right, after the teams worked out, in Austin, Texas, Aug. 1, 1995. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck, File)
BOSTON (AP) — Brian Walshe was found guilty Monday of first-degree murder in the grisly death of his wife, whom he was accused of killing and dismembering nearly three years ago while he awaited sentencing in an art fraud case relating to the sale of two fake Andy Warhol paintings.
Ana Walshe, a real estate agent who immigrated from Serbia, was last seen early Jan. 1, 2023, after a New Year’s Eve dinner at the couple’s home.
There was no reaction in the courtroom or from Walshe as the verdict was read. Walshe, who faces life in state prison without parole, is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday. He was handcuffed and shackled before being led out of the courtroom. Last month, Walshe plead guilty to lesser charges of misleading police and illegally disposing of her body.
“It’s not about winning or losing. It’s about getting the right answer and this was the right answer,” Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey told reporters outside court. “We don’t look at cases as wins or losses. We look at getting justice for someone, so let's not lose sight of that fact.”
Morrissey said his office had heard from Ana Walshe's sister, who told them “justice had been served.”
Prosecutors leaned heavily on digital evidence in presenting their case against Brian Walshe, including online searches such as as “dismemberment and best ways to dispose of a body,” “how long before a body starts to smell” and “hacksaw best tool to dismember” that were found on devices connected to him.
Investigators also found searches on a Macbook that included “how long for someone missing to inherit,” “how long missing to be dead,” and “can you throw away body parts,” prosecutors told the jury.
An article titled “is it possible to clean DNA off a knife,” a search for “best way to dispose of body parts after murder” as well as websites and searches about “cleaning blood with ammonia, bleach and hydrogen peroxide” were also highlighted during trial.
Surveillance video also showed a man resembling Walshe throwing what appeared to be heavy trash bags into a dumpster not far from their home. A subsequent search of a trash processing facility near his mother’s home uncovered bags containing a hatchet, hammer, sheers, hacksaw, towels and a protective Tyvek suit, cleaning agents, a Prada purse, boots like the ones Ana Walshe was last seen wearing and a COVID-19 vaccination card with her name.
Prosecutors told the jury that the Massachusetts State Crime Laboratory examined some of the items for DNA and found Ana and Brian Walshe’s DNA on the Tyvek suit and Ana Walshe’s DNA on the hatchet, hacksaw and other items.
There were several possible motives for the killing that were floated by prosecutors.
It could have been financial. An insurance executive testified that Brian Walshe was the sole beneficiary of Ana Walshe's $1 million life insurance policy.
But prosecutors also portrayed a marriage that was falling apart, with Brian Walshe confined at home in Massachusetts awaiting sentencing on the art fraud case while Ana Walshe worked in Washington, D.C., and commuted back home.
Also the year before she died, his wife had started an affair, details of which were shared in court by her boyfriend William Fastow. Brian Walshe's attorney denied knowing about the affair.
In his opening, Walshe’s attorney, Larry Tipton, argued this was not a case of murder but what he called the “sudden unexplained death” of Ana Walshe. He portrayed a couple who loved each other and were planning for the future before Ana Walshe died after celebrating New Year’s Eve with her husband and a friend.
The couple, who have three young children now in state custody, lived in the affluent coastal community of Cohasset, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southeast of Boston.
The expectation was that the defense would put up a case proving that theory and raising doubts about the investigation.
The defense considered calling several forensic DNA experts as well as Michael Proctor, who was fired from the Massachusetts State Police after he came under fire for his role in investigating the Karen Read case. There was also speculation that Walshe would take the stand.
But in the end, Walshe's defense team rested without calling any witnesses.
When initially questioned by investigators, Walshe said his wife had been called to Washington, D.C., on New Year’s Day for a work emergency. But witnesses testified there was no evidence Ana Walshe took a ride service to the airport or boarded a flight. Walshe didn’t contact her employer until Jan. 4.
Walshe later admitted that he dismembered her body and disposed of it in dumpster, saying he did so only after panicking when he found his wife had died in bed.
Brian Walshe, left, and lawyer Larry Tipton listen as the jury is polled about their guilty verdict of the first degree murder of his wife Ana in 2023 by a Norfolk Superior Court jury in Dedham, Mass., on Monday Dec. 15, 2025. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Judge Diane Freniere gives instructions to the lawyers during Brian Walshe's murder trial, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Stuart Cahill/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)
Brian Walshe's mother Diane sits in court as the jury starts their second day of deliberations in Dedham, Mass., on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Brian Walshe, left, is escorted out of court after being found guilty of the first degree murder of his wife Ana in 2023 by a Norfolk Superior Court jury in Dedham, Mass., on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Brian Walshe looks at the jury while seated with his attorney Kelli Porges in Norfolk Superior Court on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025 in Dedham, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Brian Walshe, facing a first-degree murder charge for allegedly killing his wife Ana Walshe, speaks with his lawyer during testimony in his trial, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via AP, File)
