New BYU Head Coach Kevin Young’s Journey from NBA Assistant to Top-Ranked College Program

The Phoenix Suns assistant coach, Kevin Young, has been named the new head coach at BYU. Young will be replacing Mark Pope, who recently left to coach at Kentucky. A Salt Lake City native, Young is returning to Utah where he began his coaching career in the U.S. as an assistant coach at Utah State in 2007.

Young’s appointment at BYU comes amidst a successful season for the Cougars, who finished fifth in their inaugural year in the Big 12 and secured a spot in the NCAA tournament as a No. 6 seed. This will be Young’s first head coaching position for a college program, and he brings with him a wealth of experience from his years coaching in the NBA.

Young has significant coaching experience in the NBA, having spent eight seasons as an assistant coach. He worked five seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers before joining the Phoenix Suns as associate head coach in 2021. In addition to his work with the Suns, he has also coached in the NBA G League and worked as an assistant at Oxford College.

Despite taking on this new role with BYU, Young will continue coaching the Suns through the NBA playoffs. The Suns secured the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference and will be facing the Minnesota Timberwolves in their first-round series starting on Saturday. Young will also begin assembling his staff at BYU immediately in preparation for recruiting for next season.

It is worth noting that Young was reportedly considered for coaching positions with other teams such as Charlotte Hornets and Brooklyn Nets before accepting this role with BYU.

Overall, this appointment marks a new chapter for both Young and BYU basketball program, and it is exciting to see what they can achieve together moving forward into future seasons.

Young’s experience working closely with young players while serving as an assistant coach for many years makes him well-equipped to handle this new challenge of being a head coach at BYU.

As he starts building his staff at BYU and preparing for upcoming recruiting season it will be interesting to see how he uses his knowledge of basketball strategies and techniques learned during his time spent working with top teams such as Phoenix Suns to take Cougars program to next level of success.