Big East Basketball: Ranking all head coaches going into 2023-24 season
By Caleb Hall
No. 10: Kim English, Providence Friars
Kim English will be entering the 2023-24 season as the new head coach of the Providence Friars, as he looks to establish himself to the college basketball landscape.
English played 4 years for the Missouri Tigers, led them to a sweet sixteen in his freshman year, was named all Big-12 honors his sophomore year, and led the Tigers to a Big-12 championship in his senior year. English and his senior class at Missouri gained 107 wins over 4 years, which was the most in Missouri basketball history. After getting drafted by the Detroit Pistons in 2012, he went to different summer leagues and overseas basketball, but in 2015 he was signed on to be an assistant coach at Tulsa.
English worked his way up to be Rick Barnes assistant coach from 2019-21 when he became the head coach for the George Mason Patriots. English led the Patriots to a 20-13 (11-7) record that was 5th in the A-10 conference that year. English finished with a 34-29 record there and was hired to man the helm for Providence in 2023-24.
English has proved himself more than Stubblefield just based on his success as a head coach alone. While Stubblefield seems to have fallen into the trap of transitioning from assistant to head coach in this league.
English has the player, assistant, and head coaching experience that teams seem to be looking for in head coaches now days. English looks to be the right man for the job in Providence, however, only time will tell if that will result in wins for the Friars. Providence was a storied Big East program but even under Ed Cooley the Friars struggled in the NCAA tournament. If English can translate his experience to wins and tournament success he will be in Providence for the coming years in the Big East.