KFDM COOP Posted May 27, 2006 Report Posted May 27, 2006 English comes home to coach Dogs NEDERLAND – School officials here didn’t waste any time filling their boys’ basketball coaching vacancy and their choice is sure to be a popular one. Nederland athletic director Larry Neumann announced Friday that Nederland High alum Brian English will succeed retiring coach Laurence Williams at the head of the Bulldog boys’ basketball program. English, 36, was head coach at Vidor High for the past seven years, leading the nearly century-old school to its first two playoff berths in the spring of 2004 and 2005, each time with a runnerup finish in District 20-4A. His Vidor High teams are the only league team to beat Beaumont Ozen since 2001, accomplishing the feat three times in 2004, when Vidor set a school record with 29 wins against only six losses. The Pirates won their bidistrict playoff games in both playoff seasons, going out in the second, or area round. The 2005 team finished 24-11. “We’re excited about him coming on board,†Neumann said Friday. “I know our players will be.†English, who graduated from Nederland in 1987 after playing basketball for then-Bulldog head coach Jim Weaver, plans to meet with Nederland players for the first time next week. “I know a lot of faces. I know most of the names, but I still have to get to know a few of them,†he said. As it happens, he’s already seeing many of them regularly. “I put together a little summer league in Vidor before I knew all of this would happen,†English said. “They (the Nederland players) are playing over there this summer.†It was his middle school coach, Jack Lynch, who inspired him to be a coach, English has said. After graduating from Texas A&M, he returned home to live in Nederland. The home he shares with wife Christi is less than a mile from Nederland High School. Christi is a teacher at Nederland’s C.O. Wilson Middle School and sons Zachary, 11; and Colton, 8; and daughter Emalee, 5, all attend Nederland schools. English coached three years as an assistant at Beaumont West Brook and two years as an assistant at Beaumont Kelly before spending the 1998-99 season as Vidor’s JV coach. He was promoted to the head coach’s job there the next year. Although his Vidor teams posted just three winning records, his seven-year head coaching record was 120 wins, 101 losses, a 54.3 winning percentage. He expects to be a winner at Nederland, as well. “Vidor was a great experience. I think they (the Pirates) are going to be pretty good next year,†he said. “This was a chance I couldn’t turn down. Vidor was a great experience, a great opportunity. I’m just hoping we can get that Nederland program a little bit better. “I just wanted the opportunity to win wherever I was going to be. When this job came open, I just thought the potential was there.†Nederland has not been to the playoffs in boys’ basketball since 1993, when Weaver coached the Bulldogs to a runnerup finish in District 24-4A. Weaver coached Nederland for 13 years, departing for a job with the city of Nederland after the 1994-95 season had begun. Stuart Kieschnick finished out that season, then Williams was hired. The Bulldogs’ best finish under Williams was a tie for third place in 2001. Nederland’s team was 9-20 overall last season, just 1-11 and last place in 20-4A. “It is going to be a great challenge,†English said. “It’s kind of like the Vidor situation going in. It’s just kind of something to look forward to, I guess.†If anybody can get the Bulldogs back into the playoffs in what figures to be a tougher district next year with Dayton coming in, Weaver says it’s English. “He’ll be a great one for them,†the old coach said from his retirement home in Alabama. “He was kind of a coach on the floor when he played for me.†Outstanding outside shooting was the calling card of English’s teams at Vidor and his players were said to spend all their free time in the summer and fall in the gym, practicing their shots. Friday, English was already working on finding ways to keep his players involved after his summer league ends in June. “We’ve got to get them into the gym,†he said. “I don’t want to wait until August. At Vidor, we had a lot of fun. That’s what it’s all about. I’m hoping we can do it over here. “I think it’s going to be good.â€
NDN Band Posted June 13, 2006 Report Posted June 13, 2006 For those of you who don't know him, Brian English is a stand-up guy both on and off the court. He's going to do wonders for Nederland!
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