It's now official, Kim English has left to become the new head coach at Providence
English leaves George Mason after just two years
Rumors that Kim English was leaving to take the Providence head coaching job have been swirling for a couple of days now. It just became official this morning that he is in fact leaving George Mason. English leaves Fairfax after just two season and going 34-29. English follows the same footsteps as his mentor Rick Barnes, who left George Mason for Providence after one season as head coach back in 1988.
Even with that end of the season winning streak the team had, it’s very difficult to understand why a Big East program would be this interested in his body of work. The thing with English though has always been his potential as the next great, young coaching prospect. Providence feels like they are getting him now before it’s too late and they are unable to obtain him. Makes sense but what a big risk for a program that has gone to the NCAA tournament 7 out of the last 9 years and had success there. We all know from hearing him engage with fans and media that he’s a hell of a salesmen. So far it’s been mostly talk for what he’s done at the head coaching level.
English didn’t really recruit at Mason but rather brought in transfers from his prior stops to try and make a quick fix. The rest of his starting lineups including former Dave Paulsen guys Josh Oduro and Ronald Polite, so is he this great recruiter we keep hearing about? We never really got to see that here at Mason and perhaps he will have more success with the resources and NIL money at a school like Providence.
George Mason itself isn’t off the hook and can’t just play the victim. They failed to get him an extension early, like they did with previous coach Dave Paulsen, and it most likely was the reason why English chose to leave. Did not having an athletic director in place play a part in all this? Is the school all in for men’s basketball like they were trying to get us all to believe they were? I have my doubts now after watching this unfold.
The search for a head coach replacement is now on and the early favorite among fans is former ‘06 Final Four hero Tony Skinn. Skinn is currently an assistant under Maryland head coach Kevin Willard. Before that he had stops on the coaching staffs at Louisiana Tech, Seton Hall, and Ohio State. Skinn is probably the only guy that could actually excite the fan base at this point and I think it’s important they bring back someone with ties to the school if at all possible.
Even if KE would have left anyway for a Big East program that has had a lot of recent success (and not for nothing, almost fills a 12K venue every game so that helps with recruiting...imagine Kim’s sales pitch when he brings a recruit to the mostly empty EBA!), the bottom line is our administration is not committed to the success of this program. We still don’t have an AD. Kim wasn’t offered the extension after our 20 win season and showing foundational progress.
We can get excited about a new coach, whoever it is, all day. But until some foundational things change, it’s going to continue to be a revolving door for coaches looking to raise their profile and move on.
Guys, I have never been more down on the program. Dr Washington is too busy making woke statements and banning discussions about the Iraq War instead of trying to win a conference championship. Who the hell is Nena Rogers? I heard she got mad that there wasn't enough transgender basketball players on the Mens team and cried to Dr Washington not to offer English an extension because of it.