It's Hard to Imagine a Better Start for Kevin Young as the BYU Basketball Coach

Casey Lundquist | Jun 19, 2024

Mar 21, 2024; Omaha, NE, USA; Brigham Young Cougars guard Dallin Hall (30) drives against Duquesne Dukes guard Dae Dae Grant (3) in the second half during the first round of the NCAA Tournament at CHI Health Center Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports / Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

Through two months on the job, new BYU basketball head coach Kevin Young is off to a red-hot start. In the week following the departure of Mark Pope to Kentucky, the future looked anything but bright in Provo. Then BYU made a splashy hire in Kevin Young – the NBA’s highest paid assistant coach and someone who was in line to be an NBA head coach. Young quickly got work filling out both the roster and his staff. Now, his staff is full and there is only one scholarship remaining.

While it’s still premature to call BYU a basketball school, it’s hard to imagine a better start for Kevin Young as the BYU basketball coach.

Young's first hires were pivotal. Brandon Dunson and Chris Burgess filled the limited gap in Young's coaching resume - they were proven recruiters with years of power conference experience. Dunson was one of the best recruiters in college basketball at Stanford, and Burgess has been one of the top in-state recruiters over the last five years.

The Chris Burgess hire was especially impressive considering he was a candidate to be the head coach. Most BYU fans would have been happy with as the head coach, but getting him as an assistant coach is a home run. It was Burgess that gave BYU an edge in the recruitment of Keba Keita. More on Keita in a moment.

With only two staff members, Young got to work filling out his roster. Perhaps most importantly, he got Dallin Hall and Richie Saunders to come back. There was no shortage of potential suitors for both Hall and Saunders. Hall and Saunders believed in Kevin Young's vision for them and the program, and they opted to finish their college careers in Provo. Now, BYU will be able to bring them back and capitalize on the two best years of their college careers. BYU saw firsthand the benefits of roster continuity last season. Returning a roster core gave BYU a base they could go out and build around instead of starting from scratch.

The first commitment from the recruiting trail was Corner Canyon four-star standout Brody Kozlowski. In any other recruiting class, Kozlowski would have probably been the highest-rated commit. Kozlowski is ranked 94th in the ESPN top 100. According to the 247Sports composite rankings, he was the fourth-best recruit to ever sign with BYU and the best since the Cougars signed Eric Mika, TJ Haws, and Nick Emery.

Then BYU moved quickly when Keba Keita hit the transfer portal. Keita, an experienced big from the University of Utah, fit the description that Kevin Young was looking for: a rim-running big that could create gravity in the paint on offense and defend the rim on defense.

That wasn't the only player that came to BYU through a connection to the new staff. Elijah Crawford, a Stanford signee, was released from his Stanford NLI and committed to the Cougars a few days later. Crawford was a four-star prospect in his own right with offers from around the country. Crawford was ranked the seventh-best recruit to ever sign with BYU. He would have ranked sixth if not for the signing of Brody Kozlowski a few days prior.

All of those signings would have made for a fantastic recruiting class and something that BYU could have built around in the future. But Young didn't stop there.

Egor Demin, likely the highest-rated recruit in BYU history once he gets his official rating, committed to BYU. Demin is the kind of talent that BYU has rarely been able to get into the program as a freshman - he is a projected top 10 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. Young was bold about his desire to make BYU a pipeline to the NBA, something that seemed like a pipe dream at the time. The Demin signing suddenly made that aspiration a legitimate possibility.

Then BYU filled out the rest of the staff with three hires that brought years of experience to BYU. Will Voigt was a G League head coach last year before coming to BYU. Tim Fanning and John Linehan had years of experience at various levels of basketball. On paper, this is the best staff top to bottom in BYU history.

With a full staff, Young got back to filling out the roster. Rutgers transfer Mawot Mag was brought in to bolster the defense and provide something that a young BYU roster suddenly lacked: experience.

Then Kanon Catchings picked BYU as the cherry on top of all the offseason acquisitions. Catchings was recently projected to be a first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. He is the highest-rated signee in BYU history (until Egor Demin gets his rating), surpassing Eric Mika. Catchings' combination of size (6'9) and skill is a luxury that BYU basketball has never really had.

In two months, Kevin Young has reached recruiting heights that BYU didn't dream of over the last two decades.

Transfer target Chaz Lanier and returned missionary Collin Chandler were arguably the only misses. However, BYU's recruiting efforts have more than made up for those. It's also worth noting that Chandler made his decision before even meeting Kevin Young. Lanier, a Tennessee native, returned home to play for the Volunteers.

Now that the offseason is coming to a close, the wins must follow come November. Expectations will be high – something BYU didn’t have to deal with last year.

One thing is clear - BYU fans are excited about the basketball program. Google searches about BYU basketball are up 550% vs the same time last year. In the words of Jon Rothstein, the buzz is palpable in Provo.