Colorado Buffaloes head coach Tad Boyle has hired Kim English to take over the assistant coaching position vacated by Jean Prioleau, according to Jeff Goodman of ESPN. Prioleau left Colorado last week to take over as head coach for San Jose State.
This is a brilliant hire for Boyle and the Buffs.
You may recall English playing basketball for the Missouri Tigers not too long ago. (If you’re a weirdo like me and memorize NBA rosters for fun, you may also remember him being on the Detroit Pistons in 2012-13.) He left professional basketball in 2015 and has since name his name known as one of the brightest young minds in college basketball. In his two years at Tulsa, English distinguished himself with his recruiting ability. It certainly helps that English learned from Frank Haith — his former coach at Missouri and his boss at Tulsa — who is known (perhaps notoriously) for being one of the best recruiters in the nation.
With the hires of English and Bill Grier (who replaced current Denver head coach Rodney Billups) in successive offseasons, it’s clear that Tad Boyle is going all in on recruiting. Grier has connections to California and overseas, both which were instrumental in CU securing their best ever recruiting class. Now with English, it seems Boyle is looking to expand his recruiting domain into Big 12 country. Missouri and Tulsa always targeted the finest recruits in Texas and its neighbors, so expect Colorado to look back to the region that provided them Alec Burks, André Roberson and George King.
As great as the 2017 recruiting class was for the Buffs, this may only be the beginning.