Kim English targeted as Ed Cooley's successor as Providence men's basketball coach
Kim English, the George Mason men's basketball coach for the last two seasons, reportedly will replace Ed Cooley at Providence.
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Sources: George Mason's Kim English is finalizing a contract to be the next head coach at Providence. Official announcement expected soon. https://t.co/r6bmcOHFYV
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 22, 2023
Providence is hiring George Mason’s Kim English as its next head coach, sources tell Fox Sports.
— John Fanta (@John_Fanta) March 22, 2023
English has spent the last two seasons as the head coach at George Mason. He has ties to Providence through former coach Rick Barnes — English was a top assistant under Barnes at Tennessee prior to accepting an offer from the Patriots in 2021-22.
The Friars moved quickly after Cooley bolted for Georgetown on Monday afternoon. The city native declined on multiple occasions in recent weeks to shut down rumors of a potential departure and met officially with the Hoyas on Sunday. His last game was played Friday night, a 61-53 loss to Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament.
Who is Kim English?
English, 34, spent one more year than Barnes did at George Mason. He finished 34-29 with the Patriots, including 20-13 in 2022-23. George Mason’s overall win total was its best since 2016-17, and its 11 victories in the Atlantic 10 matched a program high since joining the league from the Colonial Athletic Association in 2013-14.
English was signed through the 2025-26 season and was bringing home a reported $925,000 annually — he figures to receive a significant raise in salary and have more program resources at his disposal. He was able to recruit and develop talent such as two-time all-league selection Josh Oduro, Tennessee transfer Davonte Gaines, Colorado transfer D’Shawn Schwartz and Justyn Fernandez, a top-100 prospect in the Class of 2023. English coached a pair of top-60 teams in assist rate and a pair of top-40 teams in defensive rebounding percentage during his brief stint with the Patriots.
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One Providence source said last week that the school — if Cooley was indeed serious about moving on — would be looking for a coach who could build the program in his own image and in partnership with athletic director Steve Napolillo. Cooley spent five seasons at Fairfield before coming to the Friars in 2011-12 and reached March Madness in his third year.
English made waves in his first season with George Mason by upsetting regional rival Maryland and winning at Georgia. The Patriots faded to a 3-9 finish over their last 12 games, and English bolstered his second roster with reinforcements such as Fernandez and Tennessee transfer Victor Bailey. They scored top-100 nonconference wins over Hofstra and Toledo, captured their final six games of the regular season and eliminated Richmond in the conference tournament before a loss to Saint Louis in the quarterfinals.
English has ties to the area through a graduate year at Notre Dame Prep. He’s a Baltimore native and former standout guard at Missouri who spent the 2012-13 season with the Detroit Pistons. English played professionally overseas until 2015 before joining the coaching staff at Tulsa.
English will have access to a league scouting report through one of his former coaches — he starred in the backcourt for Mike Anderson, the former St. John’s coach, with the Tigers. He’s been on staff for a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances with the Golden Hurricane (2016) and Volunteers (2021). English replaced current SMU coach Rob Lanier on staff with Barnes and served as the lead recruiter on a pair of future first-round NBA Draft selections — shooting guard Keon Johnson and combo guard Jaden Springer.
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What will next year's Providence Friars' look like?
English will have some quick work to do assembling Providence’s roster for 2023-24. Incoming recruits Garwey Dual and Drew Fielder have both decommitted from the Friars — Dual is a consensus top-100 prospect and Fielder requested a release from his letter of intent on Tuesday. Veteran guard Jared Bynum has entered the transfer portal and other teammates could follow depending on whether or not they would want to continue under English.
Napolillo said in a Sunday night interview with Fox Providence that he’d been in contact with Barnes, Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan and ESPN commentator Doris Burke to seek advice regarding the school’s coaching situation. Donovan received a contract extension from the Bulls prior to this season and was never a realistic candidate to make a return to the college game. Another experienced option with school ties, Rick Pitino, was introduced as the new Red Storm coach on Tuesday.
Barnes led Providence to its first conference tournament championship in 1994 before departing for Clemson. It was the last of his three NCAA Tournament appearances with the Friars. Pete Gillen reached the Elite Eight in 1997, Tim Welsh followed with two trips from 1998-2008 and Keno Davis stumbled through three seasons before Cooley was hired away from the Stags.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On Twitter: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Kim English targeted as next Providence basketball coach
