from Baltimore who grew up fighting to articulate the ideas surging in his agile mind , a stutterer who found release on the basketball court , a former college star who made it to the NBA only to see his dream fall apart .
The answer may lie in a word emblazoned in big black letters on the wall of the PC gym , on a billboard along the highway into Providence and imprinted in English ’ s DNA — Mindset .
Mindset is a term popularized by psychologist Carol Dweck in her 2006 book Mindset : The New Psychology of Success . Dweck says there are two mindsets . People with a fixed mindset believe that success is a product of their natural abilities , so they fear failure and avoid challenges . People with a growth mindset embrace failure as part of learning and believe they can get better by challenging themselves in the face of adversity .
English , a voracious reader , has an autographed copy of UCLA coaching legend John Wooden ’ s Practical Modern Basketball in his office , along with Prophet of Freedom , the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Frederick Douglass . He reads inspirational passages from different books to his players and plays video clips , like one from NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo on the importance of imagination in basketball .
Friars guard Devin Carter calls mindset “ the ability to put all the negative things to the side and look at the big picture .” Transfer Josh Oduro , who followed English from George Mason , calls it a philosophy not only for basketball , but for life .
One of English ’ s favorite passages from Mindset — “ Which is the enemy : success or failure ?” — involves longtime Tennessee women ’ s basketball coach Pat Summitt , who won eight national championships but couldn ’ t shake off losses . Gradually , she came
to recognize the value of failure , praising her team ’ s effort after a sixth straight loss . The Lady Vols went on to win a national title .
“ Mindset is a mantra , a rallying cry that we use whenever we are falling beneath our standards ,” says English . “ What is failure ? It ’ s not even a thing . It doesn ’ t exist … it wasn ’ t failure when I first fell off a bike . The only way to adequately grow is to learn from mistakes . Failure seems so final .”
English looks for challenges large and small for his players to navigate .
“ Bryce Hopkins ,” he says , citing his star forward . “ He ’ s been working out with me every morning at 6 a . m . Yesterday when he came in , he slammed the door on his finger . He had some blood on his finger and I taped it up . And I told him , ‘ Man , that ’ s so awesome . You get some adversity this morning .’ And he went out and shot the ball great .”
The month before the season opener , English ’ s Friars are practicing on Billy Donovan Court , in the House that Cooley Built , guarded by statues of early PC coaching legends Dave Gavitt and Joe Mullaney .
English is not happy with his team ’ s mindset . He huddles them up and plays a clip of a Colorado football practice where coach Deion Sanders has brought in his former NFL teammate , Hall of Famer Michael Irvin . As Irvin speaks to the team about the importance of bringing it every day , English shouts over the audio .
“ Ninety percent of games are lost before the ball goes up ,” English says . “ We lost today . If you think you can just coast and be cool and then you gonna ( bleeping ) show up when it matters , you ’ re ( bleeping ) fooling yourself !
“ I ’ ve seen ( bleeps ) like that my whole career . They have a good game , a bad game , good game , bad game , then you wind up playing overseas … you don ’ t make no money . Your life is ( bleep bleep ).
“ Basketball ain ’ t just playing hard . Playing hard ain ’ t nothing . You SHOULD play hard . But can you play hard and execute ? Can you play hard and have the skill and precision to make a pass ? Can you play tough enough to stand your opponent up ? It ’ s the skill AND the will !”
YOU WOULDN ’ T KNOW IT to listen to the articulate English today , but as a boy growing up in Baltimore , he was tormented by a terrible stutter . It led to a lot of teasing . And fighting . And frustration .
English recalls the stress of the teacher going around the room having students read passages aloud from a book . When it ’ s Kim ’ s turn , he reads , “ I was listening to a mu , a mu …” and then another boy blurts out “ musician .”
“ And I ’ m like , I know the word . I can read very well ,” says English . “ You ’ re fighting yourself because you have the anxiety , the fear of knowing that this boa constrictor is about to grab your vocal cords . Then you have to fight the pressure when it grabs your vocal cords — how am I going to get out of that moment ?”
English will still stutter in the huddle or other moments . But he taught himself to master it with the same determination he attacked basketball . The movie The King ’ s Speech was a major influence — and so was Barack Obama .
“ Obama was a big person I imitated because he speaks — like — this ,” says English , slowing his cadence . “ That allowed me to find the song in my speech .
“ One of my favorite moments is to see a recruit who stutters . And I say , ‘ Hey , you stutter .’ And they ’ ll try to be defensive and say , ‘ No , I don ’ t stutter .’ And then I tell them I stutter . And once they know , they let down their guard and we can talk about it .”
English , the second oldest in a family of two boys and two girls , was a smart , energetic boy . He attended an arts magnet school in Baltimore , loved reading and history and enjoyed watching the Discovery Channel and “ Jeopardy !,” shouting the answers .
“ He ’ s an old soul ,” says his mother Brenda Fowlkes , a retired Baltimore math teacher . “ He was a different type of child , always busy , never in the streets . I never had to give him a curfew . If he was out and I was out , he ’ d be home before me .”
English talked about being a doctor or an architect . But he discovered a passion and an aptitude for basketball . His father — Kim Sr ., or Big Kim — had been a good player in Baltimore , the No . 3 high-school scorer in Maryland who later played for Baltimore Community College in the national junior-college tournament . He played pickup with two local stars who went to Georgetown — Reggie Williams and David Wingate , a cousin — and visited his stepfather ’ s family in Providence when Ernie D . and Marvin Barnes starred for the Friars . When his son , “ Little Kim ,” was young , he ’ d tag along as Big Kim played adult league games with Baltimore basketball royalty like Muggsy Bogues , who starred in the NBA . Another Baltimore native , future NBA
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