Director of Athletics
16th Year

Throughout English’s 15-year tenure as Director of Athletics, Park University has steadily improved its athletics facilities, enhancing an already first-rate student-athlete experience. The 2011-12 academic year will add to the list of facility improvements under English’s watch, when the Park University cross country and track and field squads will begin the season with a new track adjacent to Julian Field, a 1,500-seat soccer stadium also built under English’s watch in 2001.

Breckon Sports Center, home to Park’s volleyball and basketball programs, as well as the baseball and softball complexes, have continued to see playing-surface and aesthetic upgrades in English’s 15 years as Athletics Director.

In 2010-11, English was honored for his service as an athletics administrator by being inducted into the McLendon Minority Athletics Administrators Hall of Fame, June 23, 2010, in Anaheim, Calif., representing the NAIA in a group of seven individuals honored by the John McLendon Minority Scholarship Foundation. The Foundation supports the John McLendon Memorial Minority Postgraduate Scholarship Awards is presented to senior-level minority students who intend to pursue a graduate degree in athletics administration.

English was joined in the 2010 McLendon Hall of Fame induction class by Percy Bates, Bernie Bickerstaff, Howard Gentry, Sr., Michael Haynes, Rafer Johnson and Don Newcombe, while a second group of Pioneer Award winners was also honored. That group included Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez, Ernie Davis, USC AD Mike Garrett, Tom Goss, UCLA AD Dan Guerrero, Charles Harris, Tommy Hawkins, Kim Ng, Fritz Pollard, Burl Toler and former Washington and Notre Dame head football coach Tyrone Willingham.

Later in the 2010-11 academic year, he added a second hall-of-fame induction, earning a spot in the Chattahoochee Valley Sports Hall of Fame in his home town of Columbia, Ga.

English began his affiliation with Park University in the 1992-93 men’s basketball season, coaching the Pirates through the end of the 2004-05 campaign. For his final 10 seasons at the helm of the Park men’s basketball program, English also assumed the duties of Director of Athletics, a position he will continue into his 15th year in the 2011-12 academic year.

English is the winningest coach in Park University men’s basketball history, compiling 182 wins to push his overall win total to 227. From 1981 to 1984, English was the head men’s basketball coach at his alma mater, Rhode Island, where he was named Atlantic-10 Conference Coach of the Year in the 1981-82 season.

His coaching tenure at Park was highlighted by the Pirates’ run to the NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament semifinal round in 1997-98, which ended with a school-record mark of 27-8. English was honored at the national tournament with the Charles A. Krigel Award for outstanding sportsmanship, while his team was awarded the Dr. James Naismith-Emil S. Liston Sportsmanship Award for the team recognized as most sportsmanlike at the tourney.

After a stellar collegiate playing career for Christian College in Dallas, Texas, and the University of Rhode Island, English was selected in the NBA draft by the Portland Trail Blazers where he played the 1970-71 season. English also played in the Eastern Basketball Association for the Hartford Capitals, the affiliate team for the Philadelphia 76ers. In 1973-74, English won the Eastern Basketball Association Championship with the Capitals. He was a three-year captain at Hartford.

As Director of Athletics at Park, the Pirates have captured 50 conference championships, and in each of his 15 previous seasons as athletics director, at least one Park program has advanced to NAIA postseason play each year.

Also during his run as Director of Athletics, 86 student-athletes have been named NAIA All-Americans, including a track and field national champion in the NAIA marathon, and 179 student-athletes have earned Daktronics-NAIA Scholar Athlete honors.

In 2008-09, Park University’s department of athletics carried an overall grade point average better than 3.0, and the Pirates earned a school record seven NAIA scholar teams, marking more than half of the department’s programs posting a team GPA of 3.0 or better. In 2010-11, Park narrowly missed its school record for scholar teams, landing six on the list, including first-time honorees as the baseball and men’s basketball teams achieved better than 3.0 team GPAs.