Park University Director of Athletics Claude English will be going into retirement after nearly three decades at Park University. His final day on the job will be Friday, Aug. 13.
English served as the head men’s basketball coach from 1992 until 2005 and also served as Park’s Director of Athletics since 1996.
As head coach, English led the Pirates men’s basketball team to the NAIA Division I national semifinals in 1998 with a 27-8 record. English ended his coaching career as Park’s winningest coach with 182 wins in 13 seasons, which has since been passed by current head coach Jason Kline. He was also named AMC Coach of the Year twice.
During English’s tenure as athletic director, Park won seven NAIA national volleyball championships between the men’s program and women’s program, 79 conference titles, 170 NAIA All-Americans, 428 NAIA Scholar-Athletes and received the NAIA Champions of Character Award 17 times. They also added baseball, beach volleyball, men’s and women’s golf, seven developmental programs and were the first in the area to add an esports program.
“Any success that I have experienced is really due to the coaches we’ve had here, the student-athletes we’ve had,” English said. “I just am blessed to be surrounded by some outstanding coaches, student-athletes, and the administration has been very supportive of athletics here. You have to have all of those things in order to experience success.”
English spent his childhood moving around a bit, spending time in Phenix City, Ala., Chicago and Colorado Springs before returning to Phenix City for his high school years where he attended South Girard High School. At South Girard, English earned letters in basketball, football and track for the Bulldogs and helped the basketball team to a state title in 1966 as he ended his high school career as the program’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder.
After two years at a junior college in Texas, English moved on to play basketball for the University of Rhode Island. He ended his URI career averaging 12.3 points and 8.2 rebounds per game and was named to the All-Yankee Conference first team in both seasons.
After college, English got drafted in the seventh round of the 1970 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. He played one season for the Trail Blazers, ending the season with a total of 27 points and 20 rebounds.
English described his time in the NBA as a “dream come true” and enjoyed the opportunity to compete against some all-time greats like Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Following his season in the NBA, English returned to Rhode Island as an assistant coach and played three seasons in the Eastern Basketball Association for the Hartford Capitols, where he won the EBA championship in 1974. English’s duties with Rhode Island were mainly recruiting players, which allowed him to play for the Capitols since their games were on the weekends.
Following his three seasons in the EBA, English devoted more time to coaching as he became the first assistant for URI. He eventually got the head coaching job in 1980 after then head coach, Jack Kraft, suffered a heart attack following the first game of the season. English took URI to win the regular season conference title with a 21-8 record and narrowly missed the NCAA Tournament, but did make it into the National Invitational Tournament and was named the A-10 Coach of the Year.
After four seasons leading URI, English and his wife moved to Memphis where English left coaching and worked for a newspaper. His wife ended up getting a job as General Manager of a television station in Kansas City. English remained in Memphis, commuting back and forth between Kansas City to visit his wife and Memphis where he worked.
After looking at some houses up North, the Park University campus caught English’s attention.
“I happened to see this building up on the hill,” English explained. “Actually it was Mackay Hall. That’s what I really saw.”
English ended up wandering the campus and went into the underground. He ended up bumping into Ben Popoola, who served as Park’s Director of Athletics at the time. They talked for a little bit and Popoola told him that Park was in need of a head basketball coach.
“I had no interest in coaching, I didn’t want to do it anymore,” English said. “After maybe two or three phone calls and a couple visits I decided I would look at it. Basically, 29 years later I’m still here.”
English said his greatest achievement has been helping people embrace both sides of the student-athlete theme because Park’s student-athletes have been able to have success both in athletics as well as in the classroom.
During English’s tenure Park has also improved its athletic facilities. They built Breckon Sports Center, a two-dome gymnasium which is now the home of Park’s basketball and volleyball programs. They have also built Julian Field and Hemingway Field, Park soccer’s game and training facilities that have hosted a number of professional soccer teams including the Kansas City Wizards and Manchester United. They built Comfort Field for baseball and the Parkade BattleGrounds recently for the esports team.
Another theme in Park’s athletic department has been the faculty. When they hire someone, they don’t leave. Park has three head coaches that have been at Park for a minimum of two decades and just two head coaches that have been there for less than a decade.
“Continuity is very important,” English said. “We really believe in family. We really preach that. That’s a great indicator as to longevity when you have coaches like Brian Renshaw (Cross Country/Track and Field head coach), who has been here for 30 years. He was here a year before I came and he’s still here. I look at the rest of the coaches and I’ve hired them all. That, to me, is stability when you have that kind of longevity in the athletic department.”
This past year was different because of the pandemic and it was Park’s first year in the Heart of America Athletic Conference, which English said is one of the premier conferences in the NAIA.
“This past year has probably been the most challenging year I’ve had in athletics,” English said. “There’s no playbook for what we went through. I look back on it and it wasn’t like being an athletic director, it was really managing Covid. Trying to get through the season, trying to keep the student-athletes healthy and safe. It took a lot out of me. It wasn’t just a year, it was multiple years wrapped up in one.”
Covid has English apprehensive of any retirement travel at the moment. He said he has a list of 29 years of things to do around the house, but is still looking forward to attending games as a fan.
“I still have to come up and watch the teams,” English said. “I have a lot of friends here and I’m looking forward to watching games as a fan now.”