NEWARK, N.J. -- NJIT is hiring assistant Brian Kennedy as its head men's basketball coach.
The school announced Wednesday that Kennedy will be introduced as the Highlanders' coach on Friday. He has been an assistant with the program since 2012.
Kennedy replaces Jim Engles, who left after eight seasons to take the head coaching job at Columbia. The Highlanders have had consecutive 20-win seasons.
Kennedy played at both Princeton and Monmouth. After graduating in 1990, he ran a family-owned basketball instructional organization until entering the college coaching ranks in 1997 as an assistant coach at DePaul, on the staff headed by his uncle, Pat Kennedy.
He worked in the financial sector from 2002-09, returned to the family business from 2009-12 and then joined the NJIT staff.