Mark Pope left the BYU basketball program to take on the head coaching role at Kentucky. As a result, the Cougars were forced to find his replacement. Surprisingly enough, the program pulled off a brilliant move hiring a highly coveted assistant of the Phoenix Suns.
The Cougars officially hired Kevin Young as Mark Pope's replacement as head coach, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Young was the NBA's highest-paid assistant and was linked to potential head coaching jobs in the league. But he's taking his talents to the college basketball world instead.
“ESPN Sources: Phoenix Suns associate HC Kevin Young is finalizing a long-term deal to become the next coach at Brigham Young University. An aggressive push to hire NBA's highest-paid assistant lands BYU its top target.”
This is a massive hire for the BYU basketball program. Although losing Pope is a big loss, the Cougars were able to reel in one of the NBA's top assistant coaches in the league. Additionally, a long-term deal indicates that Kevin Young could be a long time coach in college basketball. Just a fantastic hire for the Cougars.
College basketball is much different than the NBA. But considering how much potential Kevin Young has, he should be able to do just fine at the college level. Between recruiting and the transfer portal, the BYU basketball team should be in good hands moving forward. Look for Young to get the Cougars off to a hot start at the beginning of next season.
A look at BYU basketball's new head coach Kevin Young
Kevin Young first began his coaching career in 2006 with the Shamrock Rover Hoops, a team based in Dublin, Ireland. From there, he switched things up and joined the Utah Valley State as an assistant coach in 2007. He maintained coaching in college for a couple of years before taking his talents to the NBA G-League.
Young spent some time coaching in the G-League from 2009-2016. He served as an assistant coach and head coach during that seven-year span. Eventually, BYU basketball's new head coach made the jump to the NBA. Kevin Young was an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers (2016-2020) and the Phoenix Suns (2020-2021). Phoenix promoted him to associate head coach after just one season.
Looking at his coaching history, it's safe to say Kevin Young is familiar with coaching younger players. That's exactly what BYU basketball needs considering they're in the college level. Young has the uncanny ability to develop young players while also getting the best out of veterans.
With that in mind, look for Young to get the ball rolling almost immediately. Mark Pope did a great job with the Cougars and we should expect the same from Kevin Young.
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