Bob Burke will leave the University of Hawai'i men's basketball coaching staff to become an assistant coach with the Portland Trail Blazers.

An official announcement is expected by the end of this week.

Burke has been an assistant coach for the Rainbow Warriors for the past three seasons.

Burke and Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace declined to comment yesterday.

Nate McMillan was named head coach of the Trail Blazers in July. Burke was McMillan's junior college coach at Chowan College (N.C.), and the two have remained close ever since.

ENGLISH WILL PLAY IN ITALY'S TOP LEAGUE

Former Hawai'i star Carl English said he recently signed a contract with Virtus Bologna, one of the top teams in Italy.

"It was one of those good deals with a good team that just doesn't come around every day," English said.

He did not want to reveal the details of the contract.

English played in an NBA summer league with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and said there were "about 10" NBA teams interested in offering him a tryout for the upcoming season.

"But no one was offering any (guaranteed) money, so I decided to cross the water," he said.

English played the past two seasons in the National Basketball Development League.

Last month, English played with Canada's national team at the Americas World Championship Qualifying Tournament. He averaged 18.0 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, but Canada failed to qualify for the 2006 World Championship Tournament.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.