Providence College Men’s Basketball Head Coach Kim English announced today (April 7) the hiring of Dennis Felton and Nate Tomlinson as an assistant coaches on his staff.
Felton worked under English the last two years as an assistant coach at George Mason. This is the first hire announced by English, who was named as the Friars’ head coach on March 23. English spent the last two years as the head coach at George Mason University.
Felton returns to Providence after serving as an assistant coach in Friartown from 1992-94 under former Friar Head Coach Rick Barnes. While with the Friars, he helped guide the team to a 40-23 mark over two seasons, which included an NIT appearance in 1993 and a NCAA appearance in 1994 after the Friars won the program’s first BIG EAST title. Felton worked with some all-time Friar and NBA greats, including Michael Smith, Dickey Simpkins, Eric Williams and Austin Croshere.
He brings 13 years of head coaching experience to Providence. During his time as a head coach, Felton amassed 206 victories, won seven conference championships and led six of his teams to the postseason, including four NCAA berths. He took six of his teams to the conference tournament championship game, winning four times.
Felton began his head coaching career at Western Kentucky where he spent five years (1998-03), posting a 100-54 record and leading the program to the regular season and Sun Belt tournament titles in 2001, 2002 and 2003. He is the only coach in WKU history to take three straight teams to the NCAA Tournament. Felton’s success at WKU led him to the head coaching position at Georgia in 2003, a position he held for five-plus seasons (2003-09), leading the Bulldogs to three postseason berths. In 2007-08, the Bulldogs earned the SEC’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by winning the SEC tournament in dramatic fashion. Felton’s most recent head coaching stint came at Cleveland State University (2017-19), leading the Vikings to the title game of the 2018 Horizon League Championship in his first year.
Felton also has several years of experience in the NBA, serving as a scout for the Phoenix Suns in 2009-10 under General Manager Steve Kerr, helping the Suns reach the Western Conference semifinals. He was also a summer league coach for the New Jersey Nets in 2010 and spent the 2010-13 seasons as the Director of Pro Player Personnel with the San Antonio Spurs. With the Spurs, Felton was part of an organization that posted a 169-61 mark in his three years, winning three Southwest Division titles and advancing to the 2013 NBA Finals. The Austin based “D” League affiliate of the Spurs also won the 2012 championship.
Felton also worked with USA Basketball, serving as an assistant coach for the Under-19 team, as well as the Under-21 World Championships in Argentina in 2003.
In addition to his time at Providence (1992-94), Felton also served as an assistant coach at Charles County CC (1985-86), Delaware (1986-87), Tulane (1990-91), Saint Joseph’s (1991-92), Clemson (1994-97), Tulsa (2014-17), Fordham (2019-21) and George Mason (2021-23).
Born in Tokyo, Felton spent his early years living in and visiting a variety of areas around the world as his father was in the U.S. Air Force. His family settled in Clinton, Md., a suburb of Washington, D.C. and Felton went on to be a star athlete at Surrattsville High School. He played basketball at Prince George’s CC and completed his academic and athletic career at Howard University, where he was a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference All-Academic selection. Felton graduated cum laude from Howard, earning a degree in radio/television and film production in 1985. Felton is married to the former Melanie Smith and the couple has two sons, Jazz and Nile.
“Dennis Felton brings a wealth of knowledge and experience with him back to Friartown,” English said. “He has had an illustrious coaching career that has spanned more than 30 years. Dennis has a relentless approach in his quest for excellence. We are very fortunate to have Coach Felton join our Friar family.”
Tomlinson worked under English the last two years as assistant coach at George Mason. Tomlinson becomes the second member of his staff as Dennis Felton was announced as an assistant coach earlier today. These are the first hires announced by English, who was named as the Friars’ head coach on March 23. English spent the last two years as the head coach at George Mason University.
Tomlinson worked with English at Colorado prior to joining his staff at George Mason.
Tomlinson was a four-year letter winner for Colorado from 2008-12, averaging 5.2 points, 3.1 assists and just under one steal in 129 career games. He helped the Buffaloes claim the inaugural Pac-12 Tournament title in 2012, leading to the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in nine years. Colorado made a pair of postseason appearances during Tomlinson’s playing career. The Buffaloes set a school-record with 24 wins in 2010-11, culminating with a semifinal appearance in the 2011 NIT. Tomlinson was a part of 74 wins as a Buffalo, which at the time was the best in school history. He is tied for sixth on the all-time CU assists list (406) and also holds that position in career games played (129) and started (111).
As a player in Boulder, Tomlinson earned All-Pac 12 honors during a decorated four-year stint, before embarking on a six-season professional career in his native Australia.
After graduating in 2012, he played professionally for Melbourne United of the National Basketball League in his native Australia (2012-18). Following his playing career, he joined the basketball staff at Shantou University in China, led by his father, Bill, for one season before returning to the United States in 2018.
Tomlinson returned to Boulder, joining Colorado as a coaching intern for the 2018-19 season. He also served as head coach of Team Colorado, the school’s alumni squad in The Basketball Tournament, in the summer of 2019, guiding the Buffaloes to the second round.
Tomlinson and his wife, Rebecah, have three children, Millie, Keira and Nova.
“Nate Tomlinson is one of the best young coaches in America,” English stated. “We are thrilled to welcome Nate and his beautiful family to help us continue to build upon a special basketball tradition here at Providence College. Nate and I have known each other since our days of prep school basketball in New England when we competed against one another. I have always admired him for being a tireless worker. When it comes to recruiting, he has very strong relationships globally. Nate has a great mind for the game and excels in building meaningful relationships with our student athletes.”
