Scorching Seat: Why Kim English’s Tenure at Providence Is Reaching a Breaking Point

After only four games into the 2025-2026 season, Kim English finds himself on the hot seat. And no, that is not an overreaction even though you may think it may be one.

Here are the facts:

• Kim English is 35-36 through two plus seasons as Providence's head coach. He has only two signature wins and none since December of 2023.
• English ranks seventh among PC head coaches in win percentage in games decided by less than six points or overtime over the last 40 years (.333, 7-14).
• English is 2-17 in his last 19 games away from the AMP with the two wins being over DePaul (OT 122nd ranked KenPom) and Seton Hall (two-point win 204th ranked KenPom).
• Tony Skinn at George Mason already has more wins in his two seasons there than English had in his two years (38 vs. 34) only two thirds of the way through Skinn's second season after English took Josh Oduro, Ticket Gaines, and Justyn Fernandez to Providence.

Take with that information what you will, Friday night's disappointing loss against Colorado serves as a microcosm of English's tenure as Providence's head coach.

Defensive Failures Doom the Friars

Going into the game Colorado was favored as only a one-and-a-half-point favorite, was ranked 15th in the preseason Big 12 coaches' poll, and the 26th best scoring team in the country. Providence was ranked 17th in points per game. Take with these statistics what you will as well, but the moral of the story is that the biggest thing holding this team back is the lack of defense and getting consistent defensive stops. It is no surprise that the Friars currently rank 226th in the country in team defensive efficiency this season. What is most infuriating about the defense is how English and his coaching staff fail to make adjustments throughout the game, the defensive gameplan is literally the definition of insanity. This coaching staff does not even want to try to play a four out one in zone defense with Oswin Erhunmwunse down low in the paint as your best rim defender and overall defender. Instead, they settle for playing drop coverage in pick and roll defense, are too slow on close outs, and do not have any defensive depth behind Erhunmwunse who has been finding himself in foul trouble early in every game this season as Cole Hargrove and Duncan Powell have looked like two misses in this offseason transfer portal class. In this game particular, PC was outrebounded 43-32 and outscored 54-42 in the paint. That won't cut it, especially in Big East play.

Too Much Talent, Too Few Results

This team is good on paper, but games are played on hardwood floors. I think everyone in the Friar faithful can agree that English's biggest strength as a coach has been his recruiting. We have it on this team with Jason Edwards, Jaylin Sellers, Stefan Vaaks, Jamier Jones, etc but the results have not shown up. This team is way too talented to find themselves sitting at .500 only four games into the season. If anything, this team should be 4-0 if not 3-1 with NCAA Tournament hopes still greatly alive. Last season we had a lack of depth and not enough production from multiple players, this season we have the depth and production from multiple players, but the defense is the only missing piece in making this team complete. As English said postgame, "I didn't recognize the team out there tonight and that's an unsettling feeling as a coach," and "[I] didn’t have the guys ready, and that’s on me. It’s a tough pill to swallow because they did exactly what we anticipated.” The Buffaloes did exactly what the coaching staff anticipated, yet they still did not make any defensive adjustments throughout the entirety of the game. How can one trust English and the rest of the coaching staff when you know what to expect yet do not make any changes based on the result? Baffling.

Talent Travels, but Defense Doesn't

As the third stat at the very top mentions English is 2-17 in his last 19 games on the road, overall he is 8-17. Even at quasi home games site such as the Mohegan Sun Arena English's record is 0-2 over the last two seasons and 3-8 overall in neutral site games. One saying in sports is that defense travels regardless of other factors of team production, after more than two plus seasons under English it's safe to say that his team defense does not travel well on the road. This point goes hand in hand with the above one that the talent is there, but the results are not, only proving that English has fallen short of expectations that this fan base has had on him. Looking at the man, he replaced in Ed Cooley, the Georgetown Hoyas are 3-0 on the season already with a statement 10-point road win over Maryland with less talent than English's squad. Providence has zero after not being able to capitalize on two prime opportunities against Virginia Tech and Colorado. At Providence you are expected to win all, if not most of your home games with the rabid fan base and incredible home court advantage, when you cannot win on the road you may as well just leave the luggage at the Ruane Friar Development Center.

The story of the Kim English hire goes that Athletic Director Steve Napolillo stating that "I had a list in a drawer" from an article that had English's named highlighted amongst other upcoming head coaches in college basketball, along with Napolillo relying on Rick Barnes to essentially hand pick him for Providence. If English does get fired and this was Napolillo's way of hiring English, one cannot possibly trust him to make the next correct head coaching hire.

Napollilo's story at Providence remains to be written, but English's very well may be coming to a close very soon as his seat is scorching and will only get hotter as losses continue to pile unless the defense figures things out, this team starts winning on the road, and different results show the rest of the season.

Time will tell, but English must do everything he can to put out the fire.