While the North Carolina men’s basketball program’s hiring of former Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone received widespread praise, the management’s latest hiring has left fans with more questions.

To support Michael Malone, UNC is reportedly bringing in Kim English as an assistant. Kim English was the head coach at Providence last year and will now join UNC as an assistant coach, according to Pete Thamel’s sources.

While the 37-year-old failed to capitalize on a strong first year with Providence, leading to his exit from the Friars coaching staff, he has proven his coaching accumen, guiding George Mason to a 20-13 record in the 2022-23 season. This performance convinced Providence to hire English, who now returns to the assistant coaching role he had before his head coaching debut with George Mason.

Kim English’s hiring is positive news for the UNC faithful. However, the Tar Heels are divided on Kim English working under Michael Malone, despite having recent head coaching experience with George Mason and Providence.

‘The Friars Connection’ is in full flow as fans highlight English’s coaching pedigree

The Michael Malone hiring seems to have ushered in a new era for the North Carolina Tar Heels, and the fans are loving Malone’s latest move to add Kim English to his coaching staff.

One fan exclaimed, “Congrats to Kim! He is an elite recruiter. Malone and Kim are both Friars.”

While Malone and English haven’t worked together before, their Providence connection exists because both coaches’ initial journeys included a few seasons with the Friars. Michael Malone assisted legend Pete Gillen, helping the Friars reach the Elite Eight.

Meanwhile, Kim English was the Providence head coach until last season, and his results do not reflect the admirable recruiting job he did for the program. English helped the Friars recruit five-star forward Oswin Erhunmwunse in 2024, while also seeing Ryan Mela commit in the same year, a player who earned Big East All-Freshman honors.

During his assistant coaching tenure at Tennessee, English helped recruit Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer in 2020, with the duo going on to become first-round picks in the NBA.

Another highlighted the positive moves Malone has been making since his hiring, stating, “Can’t find a fault yet with any move that Malone has made thus far, love to see it.”

Kim English is the second outside staff hire under Malone, after the hiring of Arkansas’ Puerto Rican coach Chuck Martin. Recently, the former Denver Nuggets head coach brought in Neoklis Avdalas, the Virginia Tech guard who was a top-3 shooting guard in the transfer portal. This move would help the Tar Heels reinforce the guard position as Caleb Wilson looks set for the NBA.

Malone is equipping UNC in every aspect – Kim English’s recruiting savvy and transfer portal efficiency, and Chuck Martin’s over 25 years of experience and strategic excellence.

Talking about recruiting, one fan couldn’t help but highlight UNC’s need for a shooting guard. They said, “Couldn’t bring his SG with him, though.”

The fan’s comment likely refers to Stefan Vaaks, a breakout star for Providence whose individual success (15.8 PPG) didn’t translate to team wins. He represented a perfect transfer portal target to fill the void left by Caleb Wilson, but recent reports suggest UNC missed out as Vaaks is heading to Illinois.’

Another highlighted how Colorado could have hired Kim English. They opined, “Missed opportunity for Colorado.”

Despite a poor 2025-26 campaign with Providence, English is still widely considered a good coach whose reputation isn’t defined by one season’s record.

Rick Pitino’s opinion of Kim English should tell people about the latter’s coaching ability. Pitino said, “(English) is a young coach, but he’s a very good coach. He communicates well with his team… He’s going to have a long career. He’s a very good basketball coach — he gets his teams to play hard, and they like him a lot.”

This was after Kim English had coached his last Providence game, highlighting that Pitino’s opinion stays despite his lack of results.

Some fans seem divided on how Kim English could have been the head coach. They said, “He should be the head coach, not Malone.”

While Kim English may be an excellent coach, Michael Malone has NBA experience and has won two NBA Championships. His winning pedigree and experience dwarf the 37-year-old’s coaching career so far, and this move could help English return to his coaching roots of assisting college programs before resuming his head coach duties at UNC or elsewhere.

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