Providence graduate student forward Josh Oduro’s son, Gabriel, was born on Saturday. Oduro named his head coach as his son’s godfather.
“My proudest moment as a coach,” said English. “I was really choked up last nigh when I met his son last night. My greatest moment as a coach.”
English then joked about how he was already beginning to recruit Oduro’s son.
“I better get his son in 18 years if he’s good enough,” said English.
It’s been quite a busy week for Oduro. On Feb. 7, Oduro scored a season high 32 points in a 91-87 overtime victory over No. 19 Creighton. Then, on Feb. 10, his son Gabriel was born. On Feb. 13, Oduro once again led the Friars, scoring a game high 28 points, with 26 of them coming in the second half, to take down St. Johns.
This is Engligh’s third season coaching Oduro, dating back to when English took his first head coaching job at George Mason in 2021.
When English was named head coach at Geogre Mason, Oduro, who was entering his junior season, was in the transfer portal. English helped convince Oduro to stay, and the forward was incredibly successful under his new coach. He increased his scoring output from 10.0 points per game to 17.7 and earned back-to-back Atlantic-10 first team selections.
When English took the head coach position at Providence, Oduro went with him, transferring to the Friars for his grad season.
Oduro has transitioned seamlessly to the Big East. He’s averaging 16.4 points, 7.1 rebounds 1.5 blocks per game and is shooting 55.3% from the field. He has been especially important to the Friars after forward Bryce Hopkins went down for the season with a torn ACL last month. Hopkins was averaging 15.5 points and 8.6 rebounds before his injury.
After their win over St. Johns, the Friars are now in seventh in the Big East with a 7-7 conference record. Their next game is on Saturday, when they welcome last place DePaul to town.
