Assistant coach (1992–2008) English has served as an assistant coach at
Mt. San Antonio College,
Northern Arizona University,
San Diego State University,
Arizona State University, the
University of Michigan, and
University of Louisville. He coached the defensive secondary at Michigan from 2003 through 2005. In February 2006, he accepted a position on the coaching staff of the
NFL's
Chicago Bears. However, Michigan head coach
Lloyd Carr persuaded English to stay on as the
defensive coordinator after
Jim Herrmann, who coordinated Michigan's defense from 1997 to 2005, accepted a position with the NFL's
New York Jets. In the 2006 season, English coached only
safeties, rather than the entire defensive secondary, to allow him to concentrate more fully on his responsibilities as defensive coordinator. English's defense showed great success against most run-heavy teams in the
Big Ten Conference and allowed the fewest rushing yards per game in the nation. With Carr's retirement at the end of the 2007 season, English, along with all of the assistant coaches at Michigan except for running backs coach
Fred Jackson, was fired by incoming head coach
Rich Rodriguez. English interviewed for the head coaching vacancies at the
University of Arkansas and at Michigan before accepting the defensive coordinator duties for
Steve Kragthorpe at the
University of Louisville.
Eastern Michigan (2009–2013) English was hired as head coach at
Eastern Michigan in December 2008. At the time of his hiring by Eastern Michigan, he was one of six African American head coaches at Football Bowl Subdivision teams; the others (and their teams at the time) were
Turner Gill (
Buffalo),
Kevin Sumlin (
Houston),
Mike Locksley (
New Mexico),
Randy Shannon (
University of Miami), and
Mike Haywood (
Miami University) . Eastern Michigan compiled a 0–12 record in 2009. An article on
ESPN.com ranked the Eagles the second-worst team in NCAA
FBS football. The Eagles posted a 2–10 record in 2010, English's second season as head coach, losing all four non-conference games and stretching their losing streak to 18 games before winning an overtime game at Ball State and another game at Buffalo in the latter part of the season. 2011 saw the Eagles achieve their best season in 17 years. They finished the season 6–6, 4–4 in MAC play to finish in a tie for fourth place in the West Division. Despite being 6–6, the Eagles were not bowl eligible because two of their wins came against
FCS teams. The 6 wins were the most wins the school had since 1995 when they also had 6 wins. Following the season, English was named the
Mid American Conference Coach of the Year. Following the success of the 2011 season, media outlets speculated that English could be a candidate for head coaching openings at
BCS schools. Based on his west coast recruiting background and Big Ten coaching experience, the schools most often mentioned were
Illinois,
Arizona State, and
Washington State. English returned to the Eagles as head coach for the
2012 season. Eastern Michigan posted a 2–10 record in 2012, with their wins coming against
Army (48–38) and
Western Michigan (29–23). EMU faced a difficult schedule, with 7 losses to teams that participated in a post season bowl game. Additionally, the Eagles lost to (
FCS) #14 ranked
Illinois State by a score of 31–14 in the second week of the season. English was abruptly fired on November 8, 2013—less than 24 hours before the Eagles' game against Western Michigan. Later that day,
The Detroit News revealed that English had been fired after school officials obtained a tape of a tirade English delivered to his team during an October team meeting. The speech was laden with expletives ("shitbird" was especially plentiful), and included at least one homophobic slur. On November 9, athletic director
Heather Lyke confirmed the existence of the tape and condemned it as "wholly inappropriate" and "absolutely unacceptable." English subsequently apologized, admitting that he had "lost my poise," but hoped to be able to coach again.
Career after Eastern Michigan (2014–present) In 2014, English joined the
Cleveland Browns' internship program under a
Bill Walsh NFL Minority Coaching Fellowship. English also spent more time with his family and in church. On February 2, 2017, English joined
Dan Mullen's staff at
Mississippi State as safeties coach. He followed Mullen to
Florida. In 2021, he became one of three defensive coordinators employed by
Jeff Brohm at
Purdue, with English also specializing as secondaries coach. English continued to work with Brohm at
Louisville. He took the 2026 season off to watch his son Seth's senior year at
Navy. ==Head coaching record==