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Michael Malone appeared to have filled his first North Carolina Basketball staff on Tuesday. Now Kim English goes from incoming UNC assistant to backing out of Chapel Hill.
ESPN college basketball insider Pete Thamel revealed the reversal on English’s side Sunday afternoon.
“Sources: Kim English has informed UNC officials that he’s decided not to pursue an assistant coach position at North Carolina. English is the former head coach at Providence College and George Mason,” Thamel posted on the social media website X, formerly Twitter.
English originally looked ready to his the free agent college basketball market during the season. Providence and English hit shaky ground amid a disappointing 2025-26 season. The Friars have since turned to Bryan Hodgson as head coach.
But English rose as a pivotal hire just five days ago at UNC.
The move showed that Malone wanted to lean into a previous successful college basketball head coach in his UNC transition. Especially with Malone jumping from longtime NBA coach to diving into the CBB game. English went 82-81 overall at both Providence and George Mason University.
English’s change of heart now leaves Chuck Martin as the lone Malone assistant with CBB experience. Martin comes over via John Calipari’s staff at Arkansas.
Now Malone has a new assistant job to fill. There’s no telling if he’ll tap into his NBA connections or pluck from another university.
Malone did pull off one key UNC offseason move: Retaining forward Jarin Stevenson on Monday, which prevented him from jumping into the College Basketball Transfer Portal. UNC still has a roster and coaching staff to fill out, though.
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