Kevin Young hired as BYU head coach

Phoenix Suns associate head coach Kevin Young was announced on Tuesday as the next head coach at BYU. Young has spent the last fifteen years working in the professional ranks, including stints as a NBA G League head coach in Utah, Iowa and Delaware.

“We are excited to announce Kevin as our new head men’s basketball coach and welcome him and his family to BYU,” AD Tom Holmoe said. “We had a variety of excellent candidates and a lot of interest in this position. Kevin is someone we have had our eye on for a while. He has risen to the top of NBA assistant coaching ranks. He has been a lead candidate for NBA head coaching jobs and has been instrumental in developing top-level NBA talent. Kevin will bring a new perspective, with an extensive NBA background to our program. He is a phenomenal fit at BYU. He is humble, fun and super intelligent. Cougar Nation is going to love getting to know Kevin.”

This is the first collegiate job for Young since 2009, when he worked as an assistant at Oxford College at Emory in Georgia. He also had a short stint working under Dick Hunsaker at Utah Valley early in his career before he moved on to the pro game.

In addition to his G League stints, Young spent four seasons working under Brett Brown with the Philadelphia 76ers and now the last four seasons under Monty Williams (2020-23) and Frank Vogel (2023-24) in Phoenix, the last three as associate head coach.

Young, 42, was born in Salt Lake City and later attended high school and college in Georgia, including two seasons at D-II Clayton State, where he earned his degree in 2004.

He takes over for Mark Pope, who left after five seasons to become the head coach at his alma mater, Kentucky. The Cougars reached the NCAA Tournament in both 2021 and 2024 and are coming off a 23-11 (10-8) finish in the first season in the Big 12.

credit to BYU Athletics for the image