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Message: [QUOTE="gsmooth, post: 5028761, member: 9355"] I would say that side chick will ultimately benefit Providence. I am in agreement with August West on this one. [B]Before Ed Cooley:[/B] Since the formation of the Big East and before Ed Cooley took over PC (1979-2011), Providence had only gone to the NCAAT 7 times in the 30+ year span which included 2 very successful seasons in 1987 with a Final Four appearance and 1997 going to the Elite 8 and forcing overtime against the eventual national champs in Arizona. Between 1999-2011 years, the Tim Welsh years (99-08) were underwhelming with only 2 NCAAT appearances, both first round exits, and the Keno Davis years were God awful, regrettable, and forgettable. [B]Ed Cooley gets hired:[/B] Ed Cooley did a very good job in resurrecting Providence from the abyss of irrelevance as he took PC 7 NCAAT appearances in 12 years including one Sweet 16 in 2022. He deserves a lot of credit as he reinvigorated the PC fanbase. Cooley got PC consistently competitive and contending to make the NCAAT every year even if they didn't make it some years. However, look at his results with PC, it looks like there was hard ceiling as he almost never made it to the second weekend of the NCAAT. And the PC administration would never have had the guts to fire him or at least put Cooley on a hot seat since his years were better than most of the years from 1979 to when he took over. Also, they wouldn't dare want to face the backlash as Cooley was a beloved local guy from Providence and with basically a teflon image of a loveable TV Dad that was heavily involved in the community. Will Kim English do better? I don't know, but according to Friar Talk he is trying to instill a fast paced offense where they will shoot in about 10 seconds or less on average. He also got Jamier Jones, the #16 ranked overall recruit in 2025 and Oswin Erhunmwunse, the #31 ranked overall recruit in 2025. What does all this mean? This is my longwinded way of saying that side chick might ultimately lead to better things for PC basketball so PC fans should prepare to raise their wine glasses to commemorate the side chick :D P.S. I am almost certain I will copy past this message sometime in the middle of the season if PC does well. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach