Providence coaching candidates: Could Kim English or Bobby Hurley replace Ed Cooley?

June 03, 2024

More than a few people expected Providence wouldn’t find itself in this position, at least not for a very long time. Ed Cooley was Providence. In every sense. He wasn’t tied to the place as much as the brick and mortar of it. There was simply no way he could leave.

Then he did, taking the Georgetown men’s basketball gig on Monday and leaving a lot of hard feelings and existential questions behind. The Friars missed the NCAA Tournament in 12 of 14 seasons preceding Cooley’s arrival. They’d reached seven of the last nine under his watch and likely would have been eight times out of 10 had the 2020 tournament not been canceled. He created an identity that worked at the place, and now everyone is left to wonder if a different identity can produce the same results.

Those who know athletic director Steve Napolillo expect him to answer a haymaker with a big swing of his own. Hiring a name for the sake of the name is dangerous business, though. Providence needs another good ball coach. Period. And the search is on, even if no one there ever expected to do one.

Job evaluation

This is no mom-and-pop operation, to be clear. Providence reported $13.55 million in men’s basketball spending in 2021-22, according to U.S. Department of Education data. That’s more than North Carolina reported in the same span. The on-campus facilities are absolutely up to power-conference standards, and the crowds at Amica Mutual Pavilion can be among the most, uh, saucy that you’ll find around the Big East. The job isn’t lacking in the fundamentals to be successful.

Providence’s NIL infrastructure is going to come under scrutiny with Cooley departing for another school in the same league. If that’s indeed a missing piece, maybe this transition is a helpful thing. Maybe it will spur those at the school and the money folks on the periphery to rev up those efforts and get the program on equal footing. It’s a hard reality to swallow, but it is the reality of college basketball.

Ed Cooley is doing what few at Providence figured he’d ever do: Leaving Providence.

Next stop Georgetown.@TheAthletic news + analysis 👇https://t.co/xqfKvdi0qq

— Brian Hamilton (@_Brian_Hamilton) March 20, 2023

Providence can do nothing about its location, and there is really no natural recruiting ground in the state of Rhode Island. The smallest state in the union produces Division I prospects but doesn’t teem with them. The next coach has to have the inroads to identify the high-ceiling prospects in the region that maybe some others ignore — or at least have the recruiting chops to build those connections quickly.

It’s not easy. It’s not abominably hard. Providence can win, regularly, but it takes some work.

Call list

(in alphabetical order)

John Becker, Vermont head coach. Hard to find a more consistent winner in the region than the 54-year-old Connecticut native, who’d be on a streak of five NCAA Tournament appearances in seven years had a pandemic not interfered.

Kim English, George Mason head coach. Does this qualify as something of a budget-friendly splash? Place a bet on a 34-year-old who led the Patriots to 20 wins in 2022-23 — a six-win improvement from the year prior, including 11 wins in the Atlantic 10?

Bobby Hurley, Arizona State head coach. A 23-win season took some of the pressure off in Tempe, but maybe after eight seasons Hurley uses that as a springboard and a return to the East Coast. Also: Danny Hurley vs. Bobby Hurley at least twice a year? Yes, please.

Martin Ingelsby, Delaware head coach. Had the Blue Hens not lost Andrew Carr to the transfer portal before 2022-23, there was a confidence that it would be two straight NCAA Tournament bids for a program that was a dumpster fire when Ingelsby arrived. As a former Notre Dame player and assistant, he certainly cuts the profile of a Big East coach.

James Jones, Yale head coach. Another consistent winner in the region. He’s now a four-time Ivy League coach of the year after winning the award again this season, and the Bulldogs have finished atop the league during the regular season in three of the last four seasons.

Archie Miller, Rhode Island head coach. Providence would have to sell Miller’s track record at Dayton and power-conference experience at Indiana, because a 9-22 record in Year 1 with the Rams isn’t alluring. But it’s also Year 1. What Miller had to work with merits further inspection.

The hire is…

Everything depends on the war chest Napolillo has to work with. Cooley reportedly made $3.4 million, and that money was hard-earned over time. To land someone like Hurley, does Providence have to creep toward paying the head coach $4 million a year from the jump, without that guy having won a single game there?

Here’s guessing Napolillo, who sources say is already contacting candidates, doesn’t make that move. Here’s guessing he might bet on English’s upside, that one of the leading young coaches in the business is ready for the Big East. It worked with the last guy.

(Top photo of Kim English: Mike Strobe / Getty Images)

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