Former Tennessee basketball assistant coach Kim English is on the move. English leaving his post as George Mason’s head coach to become the newest basketball coach at Providence College, numerous outlets including ESPN and CBS reported Thursday morning.
According to the reports, English signed a six-year deal to become Providence new coach. The 34-year old Baltimore native replaces Ed Cooley who left his perch atop the Friars program after 12 years to become the new coach at Big East foe Georgetown.
Cooley leaves the program in a strong spot, taking the Friars to seven of the last 10 NCAA Tournaments including the Sweet 16 last season. Prior to Cooley’s arrival at Providence, the Friars had made just three NCAA Tournaments in the 17 years between his arrival and Rick Barnes’ departure.
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English spent two years at George Mason, leading the Patriots to a 34-29 mark in his two seasons as coach and a 20-13 mark this past season. With a pair of former Vols, Davonte Gaines and Victor Bailey Jr., George Mason finished fifth in the 15-team A10 this season.
The former Missouri standout English is following a nearly identical head coaching career path to Tennessee coach Rick Barnes. Barnes spent his first season as a head coach at George Mason before leaving to take over the Providence program.
English was an assistant coach at Tennessee from 2019-2021. Those two seasons were transition years for Tennessee’s program as they looked to rebuild after Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield’s departure.
The new Providence coach is viewed as one of the best and brightest young basketball minds in the nation and gets his first big time college basketball job at 34-years old.
