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College basketball teams have found themselves dealing with an unprecedented amount of turnover made possible by the transfer portal and NIL deals, and Providence College coach Kim English highlighted another issue that’s arisen while calling out opposing programs for tampering with his players.
Kim English had some pretty big shoes to fill when he replaced Ed Cooley as the head coach of the men’s basketball team at Providence College.
His predecessor earned an invitation to the NCAA Tournament in seven of the ten seasons he spent with the Friars before becoming Public Enemy No. 1 in Providence by heading to Georgetown, but English held his own while leading the team to a respectable 21-14 record during his inaugural campaign before they were arguably snubbed by a Selection Committee that didn’t have much respect for the Big East this year.
PC has some work to do if it wants to build on that success after star guard Devin Carter declared for the NBA Draft, but it does have some promising talent in the form of Bryce Hopkins and Jaydon Pierre—who may or may not have attracted the interest of other schools based on an accusation their coach has floated.
On Tuesday, English hopped on Twitter to call out the “tampering Head Coaches and Assistant coaches and flunkies” he claims have attempted to get some of his guys to jump ship while implying some of them have even reached out to members of their families to try to poach them.
Type shii… To all the tampering Head Coaches and Assistant coaches and flunkies… just call me and lmk if you want to recruit our players. Leave them and their families alone. Call me. I’ll see if they want to play for your programs. Yall have my number. https://t.co/SHdlRT4d6d
— Kim English (@Englishscope24) April 30, 2024
The NCAA’s tampering rules are very clear-cut, as Bylaw 13.1.1.3 states:
An athletics staff member or other representative of the institution’s athletics interests shall not make contact with the student-athlete of another NCAA Division I institution, directly or indirectly, without first obtaining authorization through the notification of transfer process.
If English has evidence to support his claim, he could easily escalate the issue by taking his concerns to the NCAA, but it seems like he’s content with firing a warning shot until further action is warranted.