What followed the BYU men’s basketball’s 2023–24 season felt like a series of dramatic basketball plays: first, a surprise steal as coach Mark Pope left for Kentucky, then a furious fast break as BYU administrators mobilized to find a replacement, and finally, a satisfying slam dunk as they secured the NBA’s highest-paid assistant coach to lead the team—Kevin Young.
Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker hyped up the new hire for BYU, which he dubbed “KYU.” “I’m excited for him and his family,” Booker said, calling him “somebody I developed a great relationship with, somebody I wish I could’ve played college basketball for.” Young’s experience coaching elite NBA players—like Booker, Chris Paul, and Kevin Durant—made the Suns’ associate head coach an intriguing prospect.
When the BYU offer came to Young, the Suns were heading into the 2024 NBA Playoffs, and Young was interviewing for head coaching positions in the league. “There was a lot going on,” he says. “It was unexpected, nerve-wracking, but also exciting.”
In the end Kevin and his wife, Melissa (’11), felt that BYU could offer their family more stability and work-life balance than the NBA.
President C. Shane Reese (BS ’94, MS ’95) first shared the news at an April student assembly, noting that Young is a “family man, a humble follower of our Savior Jesus Christ, and an absolutely brilliant basketball mind.”
At a Marriott Center press conference, Young announced his intentions: “This is an amazing place and has been for a long time,” he said. “But I want to take it to the next level. Let’s make this place the best place in college basketball and prepare [athletes] to play in the NBA.”
Young quickly turned his focus to building a BYU dream team. He convinced current BYU players Richard W. Saunders (’25) and Dallin H. Hall (’25) to return to BYU.
Then Young and his growing staff—assistant coaches with deep experience in the G League, NBA, and international arenas—started making the recruiting pitch to—and landing—top transfers and other highly ranked prospects who could fit into BYU’s big ambitions.
With fresh talent and his experience developing basketball talent, Young believes he can build BYU into a national power. But for now his focus is on the Big 12. “Can we continue to be good, do it at the Big 12–level every single year? That’s the real challenge.”
