With the Friars in search of their 17th head coach in program history we at The Providence Crier will take a look at the candidates who have been linked to the job.
Bryan Hodgson is the metaphorical leader in the clubhouse for the vacant Providence Friar head coaching job. A young star in the coaching profession who has cut his teeth under Nate Oats and with successful stops in the Sun Belt and American conference, Hodgson is weighing his next move as a collegiate head coach. The prevailing sentiment is he will choose between staying put or jumping to Syracuse or Providence.
Below, we profile Bryan Hodgson and how he’d fit as the lead man at Providence.
Hodgson’s Profile – Similarities to English With More Proven Success
While Hodgson’s stock is rapidly rising, and deservedly so, we would be doing a disservice to the fanbase if we didn’t point out that many of the cautions with a Hodgson hire are eerily similar to the same warning signs that came with Kim English.
Hodgson has only been a head coach for three years, one year more than Kim English when he was hired. Hodgson is only 38 years old, just a few years older than when Kim was hired. As of this writing, neither coach made an NCAA tournament before taking the job, although I expect Hodgson to get a bid this year. We’ve lamented about English’s head coaching experience relative to his Big East peers, and the same can be said for Hodgson.
If we are going to chastise Napolillo for hiring a coach in English without much experience as lead man, we have to be intellectually honest here in saying that Hodgson has the same exact concerns in regards to experience.
The leap from Arkansas State and South Florida to Providence is a big one. Neither program he has been lead man at is basketball first, while PC is clearly the top ticket in town. Can Hodgson handle the limelight? That remains to be seen, and I admittedly have my concerns about that. The Providence fan base and state of Rhode Island swallowed Kim English whole, and Napolillo needs to do an excellent job of making sure Hodgson is ready for that challenge. The job isn’t for everybody, and each candidate needs to know what they are jumping into before accepting the job.
Hodgson was also known as the ace recruiter for Nate Oats, in the same way that English was the ace recruiter for an SEC program under Rick Barnes. The similarities are pretty eye-opening.
This may be where the comparisons end, however. In Hodgson’s two years at Arkansas State, he won the Sun Belt regular season championship. In his one year at South Florida, he won the American Conference regular season and won American Conference Coach of the Year. He is currently in contention for winning the conference tournament as well. It’s important to note that Hodgson didn’t take the reins at USF from a coach who left for a bigger job, and the program was humming. Last year USF went 13-19, so he has shown an ability to turn things around rapidly. He also added 13 new players in the offseason, so he won with an entirely new roster at USF with only one returnee from the prior regime. That should be music to the ears of Friar fans.
English never had those accomplishments while at George Mason. Hodgson has a career .650 winning percentage while English has a career .500 winning percentage. Even before English’s bad run at Providence, he was a career .540 head coach at George Mason. So, it’s clear Hodgson can win at a higher level at similar stages in their career.
Bryan Hodgson – Personality Fit
“I lead with intensity”. Would intense be a good adjective to describe Providence and their fanbase? I think so.
Bryan Hodgson has the personality for Providence. He is the match to the stick of dynamite that is the Providence fanbase. He will absolutely lean into the raucous nature of the PC fanbase and will embrace the fans for what they are, which is an area where I felt Kim English fell short. It is not as if Hodgson needs to rebuild a dead fanbase, like he would have to at Syracuse. Providence already has the full throated support of their alums and season ticket holders. If Hodgson is the guy, he’ll be accepted instantly as one of our own.
Hodgson can also help Napolillo fundraise for PC hoops, which we all know is extremely important in this day and age. He held that de-facto role under Nate Oats as program promoter and all things recruiting.
Playstyle
As a disciple of Nate Oats, you know that the three ball is going to be a prevalent feature of Hodgson’s offense. South Florida is 22nd in the nation this year at three pointers attempted per game at 29.0. The year prior, Hodgson and his Arkansas State squad were 19th nationally at 28.5 attempts per game. In his first year as a head man at Arkansas State, they were 23rd nationally. My co-founder Mike believes in the modern offense that prioritizes the three ball and lay-ups, and Hodgson may believe in that more than English. They frown upon mid range jumpers. God help me.
Hodgson also wants to play fast and get in transition. The premise of maximizing shot attempts and positions is something that he and his staff track meticulously. In many ways, we won’t see a deviation away from the Kim English offense.
When you see the above, you naturally think all offense and no defense. That’s not accurate. South Florida is a 49 in KenPom; however, their defensive ranking is 48 while their offensive ranking is 58. This isn’t a team that lives on offense and deprioritizes defense like Kim did this past year.
Summary
If Napolillo is able to land Bryan Hodgson away from USF and ACC country, I applaud him for a variety of reasons. One, he’s a wanted coach, and Napolillo has to sell his program. That is a skillset in and of itself.
The real reason I’d be more impressed is because Napolillo landing Hodgson shows he isn’t taking the “safe route”. Nap’s job is on the line, and I wouldn’t fault him for going the safe route with a Sendek hire to protect his job.
Hodgson is a risk in many ways Kim English was. They are both young, up and coming coaches with not a lot of head coaching experience. The risk here is a bit more calculated, I admit, because Hodgson has shown he can win at both stops while Kim English’s success was a projection into the future.
Regardless, this is another home run type hire that shows Napolillo wants to elevate this program to be a perennial second weekend type team. He’s not playing it safe if this is the guy. If he is, he is going to bring a flair to Providence that we haven’t seen since Cooley was walking the court.
The Shark, as Hodgson goes by, is a recruiting ace who has won every year he’s been as head coach. Let’s see if he’s up for the challenge of winning at the Big East level.
Go Friars.