The official release says Carl English got a new job with the St. John’s Edge on Monday, but the reality is the Edge’s star player has been doing the work of general manager for some time now.
“In a low-key way, yeah,” said English. “In basketball, players always have a lot of input and that was the way it was for me last season with this team. That’s no real secret.
“It’s not hard to do it as you play, but the thing is you have to be careful how you exercise the power that you haven’t to a certain extent, if you know what I mean.”
That might be a bit easier now that his front-office work with the National Basketball League of Canada team has been made official, although English says it won’t do much to change how he’s been operating on behalf of Edge co-owners Irwin Simon and Rob Sabbagh, who both live in New York.
“I’m not worried about a business card,” English said. “Titles are titles. Maybe sometimes they’re needed, but sometimes they’re not.
“As long as I know my role and what’s expected of me, I’m ready to implement the owners’ plan, mainly because they’re not here.
“But I think you can say (Monday’s announcement) brings clarity to people in the organization, showing them who to turn to officially, and it also brings some clarity from a public standpoint.”
English was actually named the interim general manager Monday, although the press release from the team suggested this might not be a short-term appointment.
“We are excited to give Carl English the opportunity to put the necessary pillars in place to bring this franchise to the next level,” Sabbagh was quoted in the release.
The Edge went all the way to the NBL Canada Central Division final in their expansion season with Jeff Dunlap as the team’s coach and GM. However, earlier this spring, Dunlap returned to the U.S. collegiate ranks from where he had come, signing on as an assistant coach at NCAA Division 1 Cal State Northridge.
“We’ll see where this takes us … whether I play will depend on how my body feels … and right now, my body feels amazing.”
Carl English
As for the “interim” tag, English didn’t disagree its existence may be tied on what Edge fans will see as the biggest off-season announcement concerning the team, one that is yet to come. That’s whether or not the 37-year-old Patrick’s Cove native will return as a player.
He says he is not ready to make that call, although he sounds very much like someone who is at least leaning towards a return as a player.
“We’ll see where this takes us,” said English, who said he finds his off-court duties both intriguing and challenging.
“Like I’ve always said, whether I play will depend on how my body feels … and right now, my body feels amazing.
“I’ve never had this much rest time in my life, but I’ll continue to train and prepare and like I said, we’ll see where it goes. It’s still five months before the season starts.”
And even if English, the reigning NBL Canada MVP, returns to his role as the star shooting guard on the Edge, it doesn’t preclude his remaining as general manager.
“If you implement the right plan and have the right people in place, I think you can,” he answered when asked if he could be a GM and player at the same time, also noting most of the heavy lifting with regards to roster-building comes before the start of the season.
In that regard, English said he has already filled out the Edge’s protected list of players with whom the team will retain negotiating rights for the next couple of months.
He’s also heard from a lot of other players interested in coming to St. John’s.
“They’re have been people reaching out to us all year. They know we have a good niche and a good market. Now, it’s a matter of finding the right mix and the right quality.
“Because they will be out representing us in the community — and that’s something so important to us — we want good people who also play basketball.”
But it won’t just be a matter of the Edge waiting for people to come to them.
“There’s a market of players we can target and a niche of players we can target,” said English, who said he doesn’t yet know if his scouting will involve attendance at any of the various summer leagues operating in the United States or Europe.
“And there are also players we can target based on relationships I’ve built up over the last number of years. In 15 years (playing professionally), you build up a lot of relationships. You create a network you can access.”
But the immediate focus, according to English, is finding someone to take over the other job that became vacant with Dunlap’s departure.
“That’s to get the right coach here and to work side by side with him,” he said.
The feeling has been Doug Plumb, Dunlap’s lead assistant during the Edge’s inaugural season, is the top candidate to be the new head coach, and English confirmed that is indeed the case.
However, he said it is also important to exercise “due diligence,” considering the large number of people who expressed interest in the job.
“I’ve had people reach out to me from as far away as Greece, if you can believe it. There are a lot of candidates out there.
“That means you have to do the organization and these other candidates justice by going through the process and doing it correctly.”
Twitter: @telybrendan
