HOUSTON — Columbia University has hired Jim Engles to be its next basketball coach, the school officially announced on Sunday.
SNY.tv reported the hiring, via sources, on April 1.
Engles, 47, will be introduced at a press conference on campus on Thursday at 1 p.m.
“Today is an exciting day for Columbia Athletics and our men’s basketball program,” said AD Peter Pilling. “Jim Engles is a tremendous basketball coach and an exceptional person. We know he is the perfect fit to keep our program going in the right direction and will help us compete for Ivy League championships. We are thrilled to welcome Jim, his wife Meegan and daughters Kelcie and Ryenn back to the Columbia family.”
Engles returns to Columbia after spending the past eight years as head coach for the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Over the past six seasons at NJIT, Engles compiled a 100-88 record, including back-to-back 20-win seasons the past two years. Prior to leading the Highlanders, Engles served as an assistant coach at Columbia under former head coach Joe Jones from 2003-08.
“I am humbled and beyond excited to become the next head basketball coach at Columbia,” said Engles. “My first experience here was tremendous. I look forward to reconnecting with some of my former colleagues that are still here and I cannot wait to get to work with this special group of student-athletes.”
Engles takes over at Columbia just as the Ivy League is set to introduce a four-team postseason tournament for the first time in its history, meaning that the Lions only need to finish in the top four in the league to have a chance to make the NCAA Tournament, as opposed to winning the league outright as Yale did this year.
After winning the CIT title on Tuesday night, Columbia coach Kyle Smith resigned to take the San Francisco job.
NJIT assistant Brian Kennedy is among the candidates to replaces Engles.
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