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Comments from Kim English being hired

Posted on: April 18, 2019 at 11:31:07 CT
FIJItiger MU
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https://247sports.com/college/tennessee/LongFormArticle/What-Rick-Barnes-Kim-English-said-about-joining-Tennessee-Vols-basketball-131261469/#131261469_1

Rick Barnes on hiring Kim English

“With Kim, I really got to spend a lot of time with him, what was it, two or three years ago in Augusta at the Peach Jam. We spent a lot of time together, just Kim and I, coach (Mike) Schwartz. I knew from that day if I ever had that opportunity to hire him, that he would be the guy that we would hire. Obviously I coached against him. He didn’t remind me until after he got the job that he beat us five times (at Missouri). He held that card. But the fact is, he already has made an impact in just a few days being here with us. Beautiful family. Has a daughter and another child that will be here in five weeks now. I was in Missouri last night at the United State Basketball Writers (Association) banquet at the Missouri Athletic Club and I can’t tell you how many people came up to me and told me that Kim English was one of their all-time favorite Missouri Tigers. We’re excited. Our players, I can tell you they're excited. Welcome to Rocky Top.”

BARNES ON IF HE WANTED TO GET HIS STAFF YOUNGER BY HIRING 30-YEAR-OLD KIM ENGLISH
“(Age) had nothing to do with it. I’ve said before, I take pride in thinking I’m going to get people that are better than me. When I look at Kim, I don’t look at his age. I’ve watched him work. I’ve watched the way he was with people, the way he interacts. Honestly, that’s the first time I’ve considered age (when hearing the question). I’ve never thought about that. I really haven’t. I’ve always thought I’ve never hired what I would call a quote-unquote recruiter. I’ve hired guys that I think want to come into this business and do it for all the right reasons.

"One (wanting) to be head coaches, wanting to coach basketball. There is no doubt that we all have to understand recruiting. But there is more to this, having the program that you want to have. Player development is the most important thing. Kim, certainly with his age, is going to add to that. He can go out and play with guys today. But the fact is Kim is a package, he’s the total package. When I look, when we have to make these type of hires, I want somebody that has it all, wants it all and somebody that understands what our program is about. He fit every part of that.”

KIM ENGLISH ON THE PROCESS OF GETTING HIRED AT TENNSSEE
“It was exciting. I kind of always looked at the University of Tennessee, especially with coach Barnes, that if an opportunity ever came up, it is a place I would like to be. We spoke. He asked if I was interested. I obviously said yes. Discussions kept going. I was here on early Wednesday morning. It was pretty quick. My wife is 34 and a half weeks pregnant. She is from southeast Missouri, so it gets her closer to home for her. It gets me closer to Maryland, where I’m from. It was a no-brainer on a lot of front. I think the thing I do best as a coach is I connect with our players. I connect deeply with the guys at Colorado. The was the hardest part for me. Again, like I said earlier, I am so excited to get to work with these guys. Obviously, they are great athletes. They were No. 1 in the country for four weeks this year, SEC champions, Sweet 16. But I was blown away by Grant Williams, the person. Lamonte Turner, the person. So on and son on. That is what I am most excited about.”

KIM ENGLISH ON HIS FIRST MEMORIES OF RICK BARNES AS A COACH
“In 2003, I was in my Dad’s bed watching the national semifinal, Texas versus Syracuse. Carmelo was from Baltimore. I remember watching that game and being impressed with Coach Barnes’ team. Fast forward five years, I’m a freshman in the Big 12 and played four years against Texas and obviously had great respect for their team, their players and Barnes and his staff. My senior year, I played for a man by the name of Frank Haith, who was on Coach Barnes’ staff at Texas. When that happened and then when I started coaching, I felt like I was brought into the Rick Barnes family being that I worked with Coach Haith at Tulsa. Coach Mike Schwartz and I became close. I spent time with Coach Barnes on the road. We know a lot of the same players, same people and that relationship just grew. Sitting watching AAU games together. We went to have dinner in Charlotte, North Carolina after a tournament at Queens College and we just stayed close. Beyond the basketball stuff — obviously I think Coach Barnes is an elite coach in the country — I’m really impressed by the man and the father and the husband he is. His son is a missionary. He’s a man of God. If I don’t learn anything from a basketball perspective, which I know won’t happen, I know I’m going to take away a lot from the man that he is, the Christian that he is and I’m really excited about that aspect.”

Barnes: "Are you going to tell them how you thought I was a stick in the mud?"

English: “That is true. His stature at Texas, when I was a player, I held him in such high regard, I thought he was like this regal figure. Just this mammoth of a man. Then when I got around him, he jokes and pokes fun. I kind of was surprised that he wasn’t — I’m not saying he wasn’t the figure that I thought he was, but he wasn’t the serious stern person that I thought he was.”

Barnes: “Kim walked into Peach Jam one night for the last game and it was very, very crowded and he was looking for a seat. At that time, he didn’t have my number and when he sat down I texted him, ‘Hey man, get out of my seat. I’m going to kill you.’

English: ‘He was texting me from a number that I didn’t know.’

Barnes: "I said, ‘I’m not kidding you, man. Meet me at the front door and we’ll settle this right now. This went on for like 45 minutes.”

ENGLISH ON HIS ABILITIES AS A RECRUITER, AS AN ASSISTANT COACH
“I think I can’t just answer a singular question about my strengths as a recruiter. I think it goes to a deeper level of what I feel like my role is an assistant coach. I feel like it’s three things. I feel like it’s making the players that you have better, obviously with their skills in basketball and people. I feel like it’s game-planning, preparing for games, how are we gonna beat our opponent. And then it’s evaluating, identifying, recruiting and signing players. I think all of those things come together. When I hear that Grant Williams is one of the best recruiters for Tennessee basketball, I think that’s because of his development here. You can recruit guys that look like him if they see the success he has on the court. And if he has a good relationship with his coaches, he’s gonna convey that to recruits. And evaluating, I’m evaluating the type of workers these kids are, what type of students, what type of teammates these guys are. It’s not just a shallow, broad-based fishing of random talent. We’re trying to find the right guys. We’re trying to recruit the right guys. Those three areas.

"Will they understand the game plan? What’s their basketball IQ like? So recruiting to me goes back to my core three as a basketball coach. I’m from Baltimore, so we’re gonna he heavily involved in Baltimore and D.C. I played prep school in New England, so I have great connections there. I played college in Missouri, so Kansas City and St. Louis. I played with the Pistons, and I have great relationships in Detroit. I worked in Oklahoma. I played basketball in Europe and South America. I feel good about my authentic relationships in all those places. Obviously, obviously Tennessee is so critically important. The players in East Tennessee, the players in Nashville, in Middle Tennessee, in Memphis, taking care of those players, keeping them home, is so important. But I think this brand, this Tennessee basketball brand, is global. We’re gonna be involved. We’re gonna find talent, we’re gonna identify talent, we’re gonna recruit talent, we’re gonna evaluate talent and sign the best players to play for Coach Barnes.”

Edited by FIJItiger at 11:31:17 on 04/18/19
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Comments from Kim English being hired - FIJItiger MU - 4/18 11:31:07
     and CM has MPsr hitting the recruiting trail...which = - tigertix MU - 4/18 17:25:23




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