"My biggest joy in this job is to see the excitement and true galvanization of the Friar community from what this has brought" -- Taking a walk through campus with PC AD Steve Napolillo

Apr 24, 2023

On one of those picturesque Friday afternoons in Rhode Island, Providence Athletic Director Steve Napolillo has to break from our conversation seemingly every minute or two to address someone he crosses paths with on campus. There are staffers touching base on upcoming meetings while we circle the track behind his office (he is committed to walking 15,000 steps a day, come hell or high water), a group of prospective students on a tour, a “Go Friars!” from an undergrad in the cafeteria check-out line, and then there was the type of conversation he’s had most frequently over the past 28 days.

A woman Napolillo clearly knows well broke away from the group of three she was with to greet him with a hug, ask about his family, and quietly share how happy she was for him with how everything turned out in recent weeks.

This has been life in the small state of Rhode Island since Napolillo hired Kim English a little under a month ago to take over for the coach who felt so utterly irreplaceable in Providence.

Seemingly everywhere Napolillo goes now in his home state, everyone wants to talk about the basketball program and the dramatic, yet ultimately satisfying, conclusion of the coaching change that led to the hiring of the 34-year-old English, a Baltimore native and former star at the University of Missouri who willed himself to the NBA and assuaged the deepest fears of Friartown within weeks of his introductory press conference. The former George Mason head coach has taken little time in winning over what was a scorned Friar fanbase.

No one saw this result coming: from shock and despair in Friartown to resurgent confidence in a matter of days.

Who could have guessed that Ed Cooley, a year removed from winning the Big East regular season title and reaching the Sweet 16, and just five months since signing his latest contract extension, would ever leave to take on the rebuilding job at Big East rival Georgetown?

How could anyone have imagined that Napolillo, less than a year into his tenure as Providence’s Athletic Director, could completely flip his own personal narrative in a matter of days? He went from pariah — the one who let the hometown hero slip away — to the man that began to change the narrative in the days following the loss of Cooley by defiantly reiterating his belief in the program and the great opportunity the next coach would have ahead of him.

Upon meeting with the media the day Cooley left, Napolillo said he had little concern about winning the press conference when he introduced Providence’s next head coach. Whether Napolillo cared or not, English’s introductory press conference amounted to a home run — a packed Alumni Hall, English striking just the right chord with his subtle conviction, and Napolillo delivering one of the lines of the day when he joked that the warm reception he received was a far cry from what he was hearing just a week prior.

English felt like the right hire on that day, and there has been nothing done to this point to call that into question. In an era in which everyone is transferring, he kept the PC’s core intact, plus he somehow got a recommitment from a top 40 prospect after having just met him three weeks prior.

Cooley’s departure struck so sharply in Providence for a variety of reasons, but one in particular really stung. Word started leaking nationally that it was simply too hard here. Raising NIL money was said to be an uphill battle for a smaller school, and the ceiling was supposedly higher at Georgetown with its endowment and recruiting base. Forever labeled a stepping stone by its detractors, Cooley taking off for an in-conference program was supposed to be the final verdict that it was simply so hard at little PC.

English wasn’t hearing it. In his first meeting with the local press he unequivocally stated that he had everything he needed to win at Providence: facilities that were as good as any he’d seen during his NBA career, a Name, Images, and Likeness program that would keep PC competitive with most, and a rabid fanbase with a wild home court advantage.

The new head coach still has to prove it on the floor, but since Napolillo’s comments in the wake of Cooley leaving, to a press conference that felt more like a statement than an introduction, and the building of a roster that has top 25 potential, something simply changed in Providence.

The energy shifted.

“Once I started hearing the noise (about Cooley leaving), I talked to Father Sicard and I said, ‘Father, this is real. You can see so many signs.’”

“You want to be respectful to other schools, so I had put together a list, and I met with Mike Tranghese. Instead of going through a search firm that pushed their own people, I already had a list of three-to-five candidates that I was really interested in,” Napolillo said on Friday, reflecting on the chaotic days leading up to hiring English.

“When Ed gave us the news and I was able to get in front of Kim, five to ten minutes in I thought, ‘This guy is exactly what I wanted.’ From his energy, his vision, someone that I wanted our players to believe in. I liked having someone young who had a really big upside.”

Napolillo also received a ringing endorsement from Rick Barnes, the former Providence head coach who had English on his staff for two years at Tennessee.

“Rick loves Providence College. In this business everyone who calls is trying to get their person the job. It’s not what’s best for Providence College. You have to read between the lines of what’s genuine and what’s not. Rick and I must have spoken over ten times as I was going through the process, and everything that I felt with Kim he would just reinforce. He kept saying, ‘Steve, this guy is going to be a superstar. He’s the next great one.’”

“When I got to talk to Steve, it was an instant connection. His energy, his positivity, his purpose, his passion — we were really aligned,” English said of first meeting Napolillo. “One thing Coach Barnes always told me is the most important thing about any job is who you work for, and I got really, really, really excited when I got to learn more about Father (Sicard) and Steve.”

Coming up on his 20th year working at Providence College, most recently as former Athletic Director Bob Driscoll’s right hand man and chief fundraiser, Napolillo circled back to the work of the many who played a significant role in helping Providence rebound from potential disaster — the partnership with President Father Sicard and guidance of former Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese (“During a very difficult time, they were great teammates in helping bring Coach English to Friartown”) and the work of CFO John Sweeney for supporting the athletic programs at the highest level.

He had little interest in looking back or rehashing any of the hard feelings he expressed about Georgetown in the days following Cooley’s departure: “I have chosen to remember all the great things we accomplished with Coach Cooley. We rebuilt a program under Bob Driscoll that was at its lowest point in years. I will never forget how he treated my dad with love and prayers over the past year. That is how I choose to remember Ed, and I wish him well.”

In looking ahead, Napolillo reiterated more than once that Providence hasn’t won anything yet, but despite any caution over seemingly celebrating too early, his underlying enthusiasm is unmistakable.

His job was to hire a coach who could keep the nucleus of a promising team together, but also to find someone who could recruit at a high enough level going forward to help PC work toward its ultimate goals of winning Big East and National Championships.

“There was a great core of players here that could have easily transferred,” he said. “I needed the players to believe in the next coach — that they would want to play for him, respect him, and get better under him.”

That was the message during the short window between Cooley’s resignation and English’s hiring. Napolillo met with each player individually, and Facetimed with their families. He had a simple request: “Give me three days. Before you enter the transfer portal, give me three days to hire a new coach and you decide what’s best for you, but I’m going to get somebody that you believe in, somebody that you are going to want to play for, and somebody who can win big here. They all made that commitment to me.”

The players were willing to wait it out. Star forward Bryce Hopkins shared how much he loved Providence — the school and the experience of playing at the AMP — and really wanted it to work. Not long after English was hired, Hopkins and two-way star Devin Carter announced at the same time that they were back in the fold.

Hopkins and Carter are part of a promising core of returnees, a group that also includes another two-way player with significant upside in guard Corey Floyd Jr. and freshman point guard Jayden Pierre, who entered the transfer portal, but decided to return to Providence.

The early returns on the new staff have been positive.

Napolillo shared, “I’ve talked to Bryce Hopkins and he says, ‘I love practice, I love the energy, I love the way he does it.’”

“Jayden is a great kid. He was the valedictorian of his high school. I think Jayden really wanted to be here, but he wanted to see if Coach Kim wanted him here. He said it well, ‘This is home’ and he loved it, and he loved Coach Kim.”

It’s a group that has unfinished business after a promising season fizzled down the stretch. Did all of the noise surrounding the program impact their late-season play? “I think you’d be ignorant to say that it didn’t. I think you could feel it in the department, obviously the team performance,” Napolillo said. “That is the saddest part of the story that I feel bad about is that so many people invest time, energy — these players play the whole year to have an impact, but as I’ve said several times, ‘Life happens and you’ve got to move on.’ I’m looking forward and I couldn’t be more excited. I really think the sky's the limit.”

“Coach Kim and his staff have done an amazing job across the board with the short-term goals we discussed. He deserves all the credit for these student-athletes wanting to play for him.”

To date, English has rounded out the roster with two-time All Atlantic-10 center Josh Oduro, a skilled big man from George Mason that the staff thinks still has significant room to develop after the summer of 2022 was wiped away due to a variety of injuries. Also coming along from Mason are quality pieces in Justyn Fernandez (an athletic wing who was ranked in the top 100 in the class of 2022 by most services), graduate transfer Davonte Gaines (a valued defender and culture builder), and incoming freshman Richard Barron, who had committed to Mason, but flipped to Providence after English was hired.

“I look at it threefold: the guys here wanted to stay to play for him, the guys who played for him at George Mason wanted to come with him, and a commit who only knew him for about three weeks, really wanted to come play for him,” Napolillo shared.

That recruit is class of 2023 point guard Garwey Dual. A virtual unknown a year ago who exploded onto the summer basketball scene so much so that he became a top 40 recruit in his class. Dual has tantalizing size, skill, and defensive upside.

“I had the opportunity to talk to Garwey after he re-committed and just to listen to him — he said he loved Providence, and he said, ‘I think Coach Kim is going to get me to the NBA, and I want to be like him,’” Napolillo shared.

“Garwey is a great story for all student-athletes because he didn’t just make a rash decision. He gave a new coach an opportunity to sell what his vision was, to sell why the place he committed to is still a great place, and he fell in love with Providence College. He said to me, ‘I love Providence College.’ And he loved Coach Kim.’”

Napolillo firmly believes he found the right man for the job in English — from his communication skills (relatable, direct, honest), to his background in the NBA, to the synergy he has felt with English since their first conversation.

“Coach and I talk multiple times a day. We have conversations about excellence, purpose, passion, integrity and accountability. While the first month has been incredible, we know we will be judged by the success we have on the court next season and future seasons.”

Providence had the infrastructure in place so that it was hiring from a position of power, not desperation. When English first met with the media he spoke of how, unlike other coaches leading new programs, he was not taking over a rebuild. Rather, PC had the facilities, talent, and fanbase that appealed to him. He’s repeatedly said he didn’t know how good of a job Providence was until he visited.

Providence has a Name, Image, and Likeness collective (The Friar Family Collective) that started last September, and has picked up significant traction of late. “I’ve been working since day one to make sure we had a successful Name, Image, and Likeness program. That was critical throughout this process. We’re doing really well, but it’s about sustainability. We’ve got to continue to keep revving this thing at a high level,” Napolillo said about the NIL fundraising efforts.

“We were able to keep all of these guys because we’ve done a good job with it…I never want it to be an excuse, and it’s not. I think some of the misinformation out there (when Cooley was rumored to be leaving), and what Coach Kim was able to do shows it was misinformation.”

The events of the past month have certainly raised awareness and urgency in the NIL space. “The Collective has done better over the past four weeks than the previous six months,” Napolillo said.

While not even a year into his tenure as AD, Napolillo was met with an incredible challenge, and landed with a promising coach he believes in, and a team with the talent to compete for a top spot in the Big East next season.

“If this experience has taught me anything, it’s that you need to stay humble, be prepared, work tirelessly and always hold yourself to high standards,” Napolillo said. “I couldn’t be more excited and happy for all members of Friartown. The Friar community came together with purpose and passion during a difficult time and the future is extremely bright.”

“You have to be ready in this job to be able to handle the unexpected. I saw this coming for a good six to eight weeks and was doing my due diligence to make sure that we were putting Providence in the best position possible moving forward. Working with Father Sicard and Mike Tranghese, I knew we would be ready. We attacked it the way we had to, and we’re moving forward.

My biggest joy in this job is to see the excitement and true galvanization of the Friar community from what this has brought. Coach English has galvanized a whole community to believe that we are great and that we can achieve and win a national championship.”

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