Former Gamecock to lead Richland Northeast basketball program
Richland Northeast went with a familiar face to fill its basketball coaching vacancy.
Former Lower Richland and South Carolina standout Jo Jo English was named RNE's new coach Friday. He replaces Lucas Hargrove, who resigned earlier this month, and will be the Cavaliers' third coach in three seasons.
"We are very excited about Jo Jo taking over a boys’ basketball program," RNE athletic director Gary Fulmer said. "Not only has he participated on state championship teams as a player, he has also been coach of one. We look forward to see what great things he can do here at Richland Northeast."
English was at Catawba College for almost three seasons from 2015-2017 before stepping down for health issues in December. While at Catawba, English drew interest for some high school jobs and knew he wanted to get back in the high school ranks.
Fulmer and English have a relationship which goes back to English's high school days at Lower Richland. Fulmer was English's JV coach his 10th grade year and later an assistant on varsity. He also was a coach on English's AAU team.
English will be RNE's third coach in the last three years. The Cavaliers went 1-18 this season and haven't had a winning season since 2013.
“My passion is high school basketball and I wasn't concerned with records or what they have done in the past at RNE,” English said. “I honestly didn’t want to go where they haven’t experienced that much success and so show them how to be successful.”
English was head coach at Sumter High for two seasons and led the Gamecocks to the 2015 Class 4A state title. It was Sumter’s first state title in 30 years.
"Never set out to win a championship in the second season. But we were going to have the perfect effort every day in everything we did," English said. "And we will put a collection of those days together in building the program."
As a player, English was part of two title teams at Lower Richland and scored 1,439 points during his college career at South Carolina. After college, English played 10 years professionally in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves and in the Continental Basketball Association with the Tri-City Chinooks, the LaCrosse Catbirds and the Pittsburgh Piranhas. He also played overseas in Australia, Philippines, Turkey, Israel, and France.
English will hold an interest meeting for RNE players Thursday.
This story was originally published March 16, 2018 at 12:37 PM with the headline "Former Gamecock to lead Richland Northeast basketball program."