Kevin Young Basketball Coach Press Conference

Interactive Transcript

spk_0 BYU Sports Nation is live for a special evening edition of the program. We're set to officially

spk_0 welcome a new era of BYU men's basketball and the Cougars new head coach Kevin Young. His

spk_0 introductory news conference will begin in just a few minutes alongside Jerem Jordan.

spk_0 I'm Spencer Linton wherever and however you're connected great to have you with us for such a

spk_0 monumental event in the history of BYU sports. We're going to hear from President Shane Ries,

spk_0 athletic director Tom Homo of course Kevin Young, the new head coach of the Cougars, lots of

spk_0 dignitaries in person and now we go over to the Marriott Center with Tom Homo at the podium.

spk_0 Cougar Nation it's a great day for our mes basketball program and athletic department.

spk_0 Today I'm absolutely thrilled to formally welcome to Brigham Young University our new headman's

spk_0 basketball coach Kevin Young. To start things off we are pleased to have the president of BYU

spk_0 C. Shane Ries here to address us president. Cougar Nation let's go!

spk_0 We are so thrilled to welcome all of you tonight to this dawning of a new era for BYU basketball.

spk_0 We are thrilled to welcome to the BYU family Kevin Young as the headman's basketball coach of BYU

spk_0 basketball. Thank you Kevin for being here and I need to I need to tell you that we have had the

spk_0 opportunity to meet with his family both his wife Melissa their children his parents his siblings

spk_0 and we are welcoming to the Cougar family an incredible addition in their entire family so we

spk_0 welcome all of you to the Cougar family. I also want to tell you that through our interview process

spk_0 it became infinitely clear that we had our man for the job to head our next era of Cougar basketball.

spk_0 We have in Kevin Young an incredible family man who is dedicated to the family that he's developed

spk_0 to their to their development to their being part of this Cougar family. We have in Kevin Young a

spk_0 man who is a humble follower of Jesus Christ and that is a beautiful thing in this era.

spk_0 And we have in Kevin Young an absolutely brilliant basketball mind who is going to take the

spk_0 Cougars to the next level. So with that Kevin coach Young we want to tell you how much we love you

spk_0 how much we love you Melissa how much we welcome the entire young family to bring a young basketball.

spk_0 Go Cougs!

spk_0 Thank you President Reis. It's now my pleasure to introduce Kevin Young. We had a variety of excellent

spk_0 candidates and a lot of interest in this position. We're blessed to be in a position right now

spk_0 of strength in our program. Kevin is not someone that just came to us out of the blue. We had our

spk_0 eye on him for quite a while. It has been remarkable to see all that he has accomplished at the NBA

spk_0 level. His character is impeccable. It is incredible how well regarded he is by individuals all

spk_0 throughout college basketball and throughout the NBA. Kevin is a remarkable fit here at BYU. He

spk_0 understands what we're all about here at BYU. He's committed to doing the right thing.

spk_0 Having been on calls yesterday with him and our players, I'm so excited to witness the impact

spk_0 that he will have on these young men and how he can relate and build meaningful relationships with

spk_0 them. Let's take things to the next level.

spk_0 This is Rockin' Inside the Marriott Center tonight.

spk_0 This right up there with the Texas Tech in the Kansas.

spk_0 The Marriott Center in Provo, we got a good one at Full House here at Provo, almost 18,000.

spk_0 BYU's three, since it's been a story of the game. I mean BYU's been relentless on the offensive glass.

spk_0 It was Rockin' in here. BYU has a very good basketball team.

spk_0 They have a little bit of everything. They have shooters, they have scorers, they have bigs.

spk_0 BYU is the real deal. When this team has a role in it, they are electric.

spk_0 Teamwork is a game for all members.

spk_0 Jacqueline Paulson, News 10,

spk_0 Coronator,

spk_0 Ta�ah.

spk_0 Thank you.

spk_0 Appreciate it.

spk_0 Everyone, nope, there we go.

spk_0 That's off to a good start.

spk_0 There we go.

spk_0 Wow, this is exciting for me and my family.

spk_0 When you're doing everything on the phone and you're not here to fill the energy and

spk_0 just feel this building, when you step foot in here, even my kids, this place is going

spk_0 to be rocking.

spk_0 We're going to get this thing rolling.

spk_0 So, excited to be here.

spk_0 I really want to first start by thanking a couple people.

spk_0 Brian Tom, President Reece Keith, that force, and when we met, it got clear pretty quickly

spk_0 that this was going to be something that me and my wife were going to have to make an

spk_0 amazing decision to join.

spk_0 And it became obvious pretty quickly as we were talking about how amazing this place is.

spk_0 I'll speak to that a little bit more, but I really want to thank you for guys in particular

spk_0 as we went through the process.

spk_0 As President mentioned, I got a lot of my family here.

spk_0 I want to first thank my wife.

spk_0 She's been my rock for 13 years and the coaching world is one that's not easy on families.

spk_0 It's not easy raising little ones.

spk_0 We got three of them.

spk_0 Jude Van Enzoi, I've been right there with us for a good majority of it.

spk_0 So, excited that they're here with us too.

spk_0 And then my mom and dad and all my siblings are here as well.

spk_0 So, I'm one of six and even Aaron, what's up, dude?

spk_0 Haven't seen you.

spk_0 BYU alumni, my dad.

spk_0 So, he's here, Meg, hey, and my niece is too.

spk_0 So it's a really special day for our family and we certainly don't take it lightly.

spk_0 So I also want to thank a few other people that have been really instrumental in me getting

spk_0 here.

spk_0 James Jones and Matt Ischpia with the Phoenix Sons and Coach Bogo who I'm working for now.

spk_0 Manny Williams has been a huge mentor of mine and is an outstanding guy.

spk_0 Funny enough, opened up every meeting with an opening prayer, true story for the last

spk_0 couple years in Phoenix.

spk_0 So pretty used to that.

spk_0 Brett Brown, who hired me at Philadelphia, is one of my greatest mentors.

spk_0 And a couple of people that got me to Utah in the first place, Brandon, Anderson and

spk_0 Joe Brown, Coach Honsaker at Utah Valley who I worked for and then so many other people

spk_0 that I can get to.

spk_0 But I definitely want to shout that group out.

spk_0 Where I really want to start this thing with is the players.

spk_0 These are the first ones I saw when I got into this building.

spk_0 The things that you guys were able to, I just told all of them in the locker room, the

spk_0 things you guys were able to accomplish first year in the big 12, absolutely remarkable.

spk_0 I cannot wait to have every one of you guys back in a BYU uniform and get to it.

spk_0 That was one, yes.

spk_0 Let's get that out.

spk_0 So that make no mistake about it.

spk_0 That's my first priority is those guys and I can't.

spk_0 I've already started building relationships with those guys and we're going to take that

spk_0 part of it to a whole other level.

spk_0 If anything in the NBA, this whole thing is about relationships.

spk_0 I've been able to build some with some of the best players in the world currently still

spk_0 working with those guys and hoping to take them to somewhere they haven't been yet.

spk_0 There's playoff run but that's what it's all about as those relationships.

spk_0 Those guys heard me talk about it a few minutes ago and look forward to that.

spk_0 With that being said, this is a new challenge for me.

spk_0 I've been on a different side of basketball all of my career and as I went through the

spk_0 process, getting to this decision, the excitement I had for the new challenge at hand in terms

spk_0 of transition to the college world coming from the world I was in, got me extremely excited

spk_0 the more I started to wrap my head around what that looks like.

spk_0 The thing that really moved the needle for me and my wife was the environment that we're

spk_0 going to be doing it in here at BYU.

spk_0 What this university stands for, what the mission of this university is.

spk_0 I'm a lifelong member of the church so to be able to do what I love at the highest level

spk_0 from a career standpoint and blend that with my faith and being able to do it with my wife

spk_0 and my three little ones, that's why we came here.

spk_0 That's why we came here.

spk_0 And that's really special.

spk_0 So on top of that, man, the thing that's blown me away is just the level of support from

spk_0 the athletic department, from the university, from many people, the resources that this place

spk_0 has, the fact that it's in the big 12, the highest level of college basketball.

spk_0 There was a lot of things that played a role into me coming here and that was one of the

spk_0 big ones.

spk_0 Just a couple of things I wanted to hit on before we move on to some of the questions was

spk_0 I just want to make it clear that I, coming from my background and talking to the players,

spk_0 you know, a lot of guys have, not a lot, all of them have ambitions to play in the NBA.

spk_0 And I think with my background, we're going to build, this is an amazing place has been

spk_0 for a long time.

spk_0 What I want to do to take it to the next level is make this place, the best place in

spk_0 college basketball to prepare young men to play in the NBA.

spk_0 And I think with my background, I think we're going to be able to get that done.

spk_0 I really look forward to doing that.

spk_0 And what I've also learned really quickly is because of the history of this school and

spk_0 this program and what you guys have been able to accomplish long before I showed up in

spk_0 addition with the resources in addition to what the reputation of this school is, players

spk_0 want to play here.

spk_0 I've learned that quickly.

spk_0 Players want to play here and coaches want to coach here.

spk_0 And I'm in a process now putting together a staff talking to a lot of different people.

spk_0 This is a very desirable place to be.

spk_0 I look forward to teaming up with a lot of elite people that we're going to get in here

spk_0 to do this thing together.

spk_0 And with that, let's go, Cougs.

spk_0 Hi, Chuck.

spk_0 At this time, we'll open things up for questions for the media for Coach Young.

spk_0 Please raise your hand if you have a question.

spk_0 We'll bring the microphone to you.

spk_0 Please stand.

spk_0 State your name and your news outlet.

spk_0 Patrick and Anne KSL.

spk_0 Was it a hard decision to come here knowing that maybe, at least for a temporary season or

spk_0 so, that I want to say season, I don't mean literal, I mean a time of life, that the NBA

spk_0 dream of being a head coach might be put on hold?

spk_0 No, not really.

spk_0 Once I realized how special this place was, it became easier and easier to be honest with

spk_0 you.

spk_0 I've known a lot of these guys, Tom and Brian, like he said, we go back some years, but

spk_0 when President Reese and Keith came down and we were talking, that moved the needle quite

spk_0 heavily for me to be honest with you.

spk_0 As it relates to the NBA and the dream and so forth, truth be told, it's never actually

spk_0 really been my dream to be a head coach in the NBA.

spk_0 I love basketball.

spk_0 I love working with young players.

spk_0 I love developing players.

spk_0 I love building relationships.

spk_0 And again, to be able to do all those things at a place that has the family atmosphere

spk_0 that I so desired for my kids and my wife to be around, it actually became a really easy

spk_0 choice.

spk_0 John Kuhn, Associate Press.

spk_0 You know, BYU's had a tradition last couple years of having kind of wide open offense

spk_0 emphasis on three-pointing.

spk_0 What's your philosophy in terms of offense and defense that you plan to bring to BYU?

spk_0 Yeah, I mean, you know, I've been a kind of my label, I so to speak, in the NBA world,

spk_0 I've run the offense of every team that I've been a part of and a lot of that's been based

spk_0 around, you know, where the NBA shifted to, which is kind of how BYU started has played

spk_0 over the last couple years, past pace, getting up and down, spreading the floor out, you know,

spk_0 five out, reading, reacting.

spk_0 So there's going to be a lot of that, you know, I was encouraging our guys to, you know,

spk_0 watch this series of the songs in the T-Wolfs to kind of take notes on how we're doing some things there.

spk_0 So there'll be some similarities with teams I've coached in the NBA for sure, but, you know,

spk_0 I think I'm a modern thinker of the game.

spk_0 I want to push the envelope and analytically push the envelope, you know, with shooting

spk_0 threes as you mentioned, and defensively that's why I get really excited because I've been able

spk_0 on the offensive side so long in the NBA, you know, you have, you see how elite defensive

spk_0 guard certain things and I've been able to put together a pretty extensive defensive background

spk_0 that with the rules in college obviously being different.

spk_0 I look forward to being able to scheme and get creative here on that side of the ball as well.

spk_0 Jared Lloyd, daily Harold, the college game may be closer to the professional game that it's

spk_0 ever been at this point, but it's still different.

spk_0 What's it like?

spk_0 What do you think it's going to be like to adapt to the challenges of NIL, transfer portal,

spk_0 all of those elements that are a little different in the college world than they are in the NBA world?

spk_0 Yeah, I mean obviously that's what you just spoke on the last bit.

spk_0 There is the biggest difference.

spk_0 The big thing for me there is number one, great support here in terms of administration,

spk_0 how things are run here.

spk_0 That put me at, I was scared of that to be honest with you still in, but being able to rely on the people that are here

spk_0 and then that's the huge priority to me with the staff is having people that can surround myself

spk_0 with that have an amazing grasp on that, but not just a grasp on it.

spk_0 That are elite at navigate and those waters that can really help me do what I think I'm best at.

spk_0 Hi, I'm Greg Rebel.

spk_0 I'm your radio play by play guy.

spk_0 One spot on time, you were part of a couple of college coaching staffs.

spk_0 What excites you most about being back in the college game generally and about being at BYU specifically?

spk_0 Some of you guys might know some of my history, maybe not.

spk_0 I said, it's not going to be the first time I've lived in the area.

spk_0 I coached for the Utah Flash, which was the old minor league of the jazz.

spk_0 I lived, in fact I lived in BYU housing and met my wife while she was a student at BYU.

spk_0 So I'm familiar with everything that's going on around here.

spk_0 When I was doing that, I was there in the Jimmers area here.

spk_0 I remember coming to a game here, I believe it was against Wake Forest,

spk_0 and that was my first time ever coming to a game here.

spk_0 That was most incredible atmosphere I'd been in at the college level.

spk_0 That's what excites me.

spk_0 The passion, it's crazy here.

spk_0 The hype video had me hype.

spk_0 I was ready to get these guys run as suicides and get to it right now.

spk_0 It's just different.

spk_0 For my kids, my family, my boys and my daughter Zoe,

spk_0 they have an experience that passion, really the NBA you get at some,

spk_0 but not like it is here.

spk_0 That's probably the thing that excites me the most is just the overall passion that this place has.

spk_0 Matt by Montaille, KSL News Radio.

spk_0 How do you plan on juggling finishing up with the Phoenix Suns and getting started here at BYU?

spk_0 Fantastic question.

spk_0 It's going to be a challenge, but I look forward to it because a lot of special things

spk_0 that in relationships I have with those guys down at Phoenix,

spk_0 couple of love my bed with for four years,

spk_0 and two wins away from winning the NBA championship with Bulk in particular.

spk_0 He's kind of the main guy left from that crew, so I'm invested in those guys.

spk_0 But in terms of how I plan on juggling, the staffing piece is huge.

spk_0 I've been working tirelessly on that.

spk_0 My phone's been, I've been on the phone more in the last 24 hours than I have.

spk_0 In fact, Kalani almost body slammed me because he's like, bro, I texted you.

spk_0 What's up?

spk_0 But he knows how it is.

spk_0 That's my first outside of these players, man.

spk_0 That's my first matter of business is getting a staff put together.

spk_0 I can hold the fort down.

spk_0 But at the same time, I think it's a really unique experience to tell the next chapter of BYU story

spk_0 in terms of leveraging this playoff run that hopefully were on both for our players,

spk_0 for our fans, for recruits, for all that stuff.

spk_0 And I think it's a really separator, I believe.

spk_0 Jake has the KSL Sports Zone, building up Matt's question.

spk_0 How are you in an adapt to recruiting?

spk_0 You haven't had to do that in 15 years in the NBA.

spk_0 Yup.

spk_0 You know, it's what I'm learning is it's actually starting to trend more similar to the way that the NBA works

spk_0 as I'm learning the ins and outs of it.

spk_0 But again, leveraging relationships.

spk_0 And I've been coaching for almost 20 years.

spk_0 I know people at every level.

spk_0 It's been amazing to just kind of have a reminder of how big my network actually is.

spk_0 And again, relationships in this business are the most of the utmost importance,

spk_0 both with the players and with the people that on the grassroots front agents,

spk_0 coaches the whole nine yards.

spk_0 So my own personal network with the staff piece is enormous there.

spk_0 I'm going to surround myself with people that that's what they really lead at.

spk_0 And that's what's going to help us the most.

spk_0 Darnell Dixon, Daily Hero, can you take us through the timeline of when you became aware

spk_0 that the job was open and then your interaction with Tom and Brian getting to this point?

spk_0 That'd be a great movie actually.

spk_0 Yeah, honestly, at this point all the days are running together.

spk_0 So I don't remember exactly how things went down, but just to be transparent,

spk_0 I was making the interview circuit in the NBA on some head coaching fronts.

spk_0 And all the while we had a six or seven day road trip with the sun.

spk_0 So I would break off from them and go have meetings with executives and owners.

spk_0 And then fly back and meet the team and so forth.

spk_0 So I was already juggling a lot.

spk_0 And then right when I landed from one of those meetings, I had gotten a word of, you know,

spk_0 Coach Pope leaving his Kentucky, which tremendous opportunity for him.

spk_0 And shortly after that, my phone rang.

spk_0 And then just wildfire happened after that, to be honest with you.

spk_0 So I was juggling a lot.

spk_0 Me and my wife, the tricky part honestly, was her and I weren't together.

spk_0 I was on the road.

spk_0 We was in LA, sack, Minnesota.

spk_0 And we were trying to make maybe argue with the most, the biggest decision of our lives.

spk_0 And so I was trying to tell everyone involved, I just got to get home.

spk_0 I just got to get home my wife.

spk_0 I got to look at her in the eyes and we got to talk this thing through.

spk_0 And it's been a while ride, but you know, we obviously landed in an amazing place.

spk_0 Coach Dave McCann from BYU TV and Deseret News.

spk_0 Congratulations and welcome.

spk_0 I want to follow up on that just a moment.

spk_0 Can you take us to that first conversation with your wife when you told her that BYU called

spk_0 and how that played out?

spk_0 And then also when you go back to the Suns, have they seen you with a cleanly shaven face

spk_0 where we have to reintroduce yourself?

spk_0 I'll start there.

spk_0 So I walked into practice.

spk_0 We had practiced this morning in Phoenix, so we're getting ready to play us as I keep saying.

spk_0 But no, they hadn't actually.

spk_0 So I walked in there and all the guys were kind of looking at me.

spk_0 You know, and we had a good laugh about it.

spk_0 But funny enough with that, my wife didn't want me to shave for like 13 years.

spk_0 So the fact that here it is, so she's happy about that.

spk_0 But in terms of her first reaction, though, a lot of emotion.

spk_0 And I'm actually going to take you past her first emotion.

spk_0 We were in mid-air actually.

spk_0 I was flying from SAC to go to a minister.

spk_0 So actually, and she sent me a really long text.

spk_0 They let me know how she felt about everything that we had going on.

spk_0 That was really impactful for me.

spk_0 And she's as excited or more about this opportunity that I am.

spk_0 But she had a major, major influence on me coming here.

spk_0 And what it would do for our family life.

spk_0 And she's amazing.

spk_0 Love you, babe.

spk_0 Thanks for everything.

spk_0 And, uh, Cougar Nation.

spk_0 I honestly wouldn't be here if she, uh, she wasn't the mix.

spk_0

spk_0 Jay Drew Deseret news.

spk_0 Kevin, when did you first decide that you wanted to be a coach and to be in this profession?

spk_0 And when did it first cross your mind, the possibility existed that you could be the coach of BYU?

spk_0 So I was really lucky as a player.

spk_0 I always had really good coaches.

spk_0 The whole reason I wanted to be a coach was my high school coach, Roger Cuom,

spk_0 who I should have shouted out at the beginning, so coach, I apologize for that.

spk_0 But, um, yeah, he's had probably the most, he's been the most impactful person on my life as a youngster when I was in high school.

spk_0 And, um, I wanted to be like him.

spk_0 He had a great life.

spk_0 He had five kids and he coached basketball on top P.E. every day.

spk_0 And I was like, that seems pretty cool.

spk_0 And so, uh, that's what I want.

spk_0 I wanted to be just like him.

spk_0 And then, uh, I got an, I played in college and jumped right into coaching.

spk_0 And, you know, one thing led to another that took me to a different path.

spk_0 But in terms of everything, and I could be the coach at BYU, um, you know, got connected with, with Brian and Tom, um, about four or five years ago,

spk_0 through a mutual connection when I was out in Philadelphia.

spk_0 And, uh, you know, kind of some seas were planted.

spk_0 And in the back of my mind, I thought, you know, maybe, maybe one day that's something that would, that would happen.

spk_0 And, never in a million years thought it would happen at the timeline that it did.

spk_0 But, you know, I'm a firm believer that everything truly does happen for a reason.

spk_0 And, uh, it's, it's amazing how everything lined up for it to happen right now.

spk_0 All right. We have one more question for you, coach.

spk_0 Hi, and welcome to BYU Coach.

spk_0 My name is Olivia Allen, and I'm one of the co-rock presidents for this upcoming year.

spk_0 And we are absolutely stoked that you are here.

spk_0 The rock is considered by many to be the best student section in the nation.

spk_0 How excited are you to have them behind you this upcoming season?

spk_0 Well, first of all, thank you for the question.

spk_0 And I look forward to getting to know all the, all the students here on campus as well.

spk_0 But, yeah, I'm, I'm thrilled about it.

spk_0 I'm, I'm, I'm thrilled about it for my, my kids honesty.

spk_0 So they can feel what it's going to be like in here.

spk_0 How loud it's going to get in here.

spk_0 The passion that everybody has.

spk_0 Um, you know, I've coached a couple, I've coached a couple of players that have played at Duke.

spk_0 That I hear maybe might rival the fans here.

spk_0 So I want to be able to rub it in those guys' faces about how much better this place is for now players.

spk_0 So.

spk_0 Alright, thanks coach. Let's give one more round of applause for, uh, Coach Kevin Young.

spk_0 Thank you.

spk_0 An official welcome for Kevin Young, the new men's basketball coach at Brigham Young University.

spk_0 Those at the Marriott Center on their feet.

spk_0 He's now greeting his wife, Melissa, and his three kids who clearly,

spk_0 there's such an instrumental part in why he chose BYU.

spk_0 And it's very clear, Jeremy, that he wanted a lifestyle change.

spk_0 One that is more accommodating, spending more time with his family and kids compared to the grind that is the NBA season.

spk_0 He's hugging his mom and dad as well.

spk_0 All of siblings here, he's, uh, one of six kids, five boys, uh, Danny Ange in the house, Eric Meekin in the house.

spk_0 Notably down in Hall in the house, who's in the transfer port right now.

spk_0 Love that.

spk_0 We're hoping comes back to BYU.

spk_0 Yeah, Jude, Van, Zoe, great stuff from Kevin there.

spk_0 We got a pretty comprehensive look at kind of on and off the court of kind of who and what he wants.

spk_0 And excited to have him, yeah.

spk_0 Let's go ahead and continue our in-depth coverage.

spk_0 A one-on-one now as Coach Young is with Jason Shepherd.

spk_0 Coach, congratulations and welcome to BYU.

spk_0 I know fans are thrilled that you're here.

spk_0 We'll be coaching this new basketball team.

spk_0 And I know the last couple of days have been crazy.

spk_0 Can you put into words what the last 48 hours or more have been like for you and your family?

spk_0 It's been a whirlwind.

spk_0 The level of excitement in our, in the young household is off the charts.

spk_0 The thing for me that was amazing was just to see the look on my, my 10 year old face when I told them what we were doing.

spk_0 He was super excited.

spk_0 The amount of communication with my, just my network of people, my phone.

spk_0 I've literally been on the phone every waking hour.

spk_0 It's been pretty cool.

spk_0 When you think about the opportunity that you and your family have, what made this opportunity the right one for you?

spk_0 Just the family atmosphere, honestly.

spk_0 And the mission of the school tied in with being able to coach at the highest level of college basketball.

spk_0 It just, it just felt like the most, the best fit for our family at this time.

spk_0 And we just couldn't fight that feeling.

spk_0 You mentioned during your, your press conference that you've heard from a lot of people.

spk_0 You've got a lot of current players, a lot of former players, coaches, you know, people that are very influential with BYU basketball here to support you tonight.

spk_0 What does something like that mean to you to have them here to support you?

spk_0 Yeah, it's honestly, it's overwhelming, you know, the history that this place has.

spk_0 So many good players that have come through here.

spk_0 It's very, honestly, it's humbling to just, you know, I don't know, I'm just a guy that's kind of made my way through the ranks of coaching and to be able to have this much support is a humbling experience.

spk_0 I think a lot of people are curious as to why you're in the NBA now.

spk_0 Why go from the NBA to college?

spk_0 Because a lot of people think you go from college to the NBA.

spk_0 So why was this decision right?

spk_0 You know, timing in life is everything.

spk_0 And, you know, the NBA is great. There's a lot of amazing players, but, you know, it's a hard lifestyle.

spk_0 There's not a lot of stability in it.

spk_0 And, you know, as a dad of three young children and a wife that's been doing this with me forever, you know, as the more we got to, you know, took it to the drawing board, we just felt like, we really felt like it was the best of three worlds.

spk_0 One, we could coach at an extremely high level. Two, we get to be together as a family a bit more.

spk_0 And then three, like I said, we get to do it all with the backing of the school and in the church and that fits our belief system.

spk_0 And it was just an amazing fit.

spk_0 What type of communication have you been able to have with current players?

spk_0 And what was the message that you wanted to get across to them?

spk_0 Yeah. It's been, well, first of all, the level of communication has been awesome.

spk_0 I've talked to all the guys that met with FaceTime with the whole group. I just met them on the locker room.

spk_0 I've been on the phone with basically all of them over the last couple of days.

spk_0 The main message that I want those guys here, they were a good basketball team together.

spk_0 The thing that has been made to me very obvious with the group is they like each other.

spk_0 They have a great camaraderie for one another and you can tell why they were good.

spk_0 And so I'm trying to share with them kind of what my vision is going to look like.

spk_0 It's tough on them because they obviously don't know me.

spk_0 But I'm trying really hard to expedite those relationships and make them feel as comfortable as they can.

spk_0 You mentioned during the press conference that during this transition that you're going to rely heavily on your staff,

spk_0 which you're still trying to put together.

spk_0 Where do things stand with that? Do you have like a timeline that you would like to get it done or you want to make sure you get the right guys and that will happen when it happens?

spk_0 Now it's a combination of both. I mean, I'm down the road with a couple guys.

spk_0 But the big thing is getting the right people in here.

spk_0 That's what I told the players. I want guys in here that are going to help get them better, that are going to develop them.

spk_0 And you know, I don't want to rush it, but at the same time we need boots on the ground.

spk_0 There's no question about it.

spk_0 So as I mentioned before, there's a lot of coaches that want to come team up with us here.

spk_0 I think they understand what we're going to build on what's already been done here.

spk_0 We talked about the support that you're seeing from some of the current players and whatnot here in Provo.

spk_0 But over the last 24 hours, we've heard a lot of things from Frank Vogel and Devon Booker today was talking about you.

spk_0 And I know you guys are close. I know you're close with Chris Paul.

spk_0 What have those relationships meant to you and what can those continue to mean to you as the head coach at BYU?

spk_0 Yeah, I mean, the NBA, as we've mentioned before, it's a great league, but I'm not going to miss much other than the relationships, honestly.

spk_0 You know, be able to forge that tightness of a, that tight of relationship, excuse me, with that level of play.

spk_0 I mean, we're talking about like Hall of Fame level players perennial all stars.

spk_0 So to be able to have the relationships I have with those guys is something that I'll miss in terms of the day to day.

spk_0 But you know, books are he's ready to come up and work out with the guys this summer.

spk_0 You know, we'll get him up here to hang and it's really been cool because you know Chris Paul is actually one of the first guys that call me.

spk_0 He's like, I'm coming to BYU. I don't know when, but I'm going to be up there checking you guys out.

spk_0 So man, that's that honesty was has been some of the most rewarding things that have happened in this whole thing.

spk_0 Well, coach, congratulations once again and we look forward to working with you over the coming seasons.

spk_0 Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it.

spk_0 Guys back to you.

spk_0 Thank you, Jason and our thanks to coach Young.

spk_0 How wild is it to think about Chris Paul and Devon Booker hanging out in the Merriott Center annex working out with BYU's basketball team?

spk_0 Dwayne Wade has before that that'll be awesome.

spk_0 This guy is connected to the level that few are right. He has close relationships.

spk_0 Interesting to see here him say a lot of things as we'll recap at the next couple of minutes.

spk_0 We'll talk to Greg Rebell as well.

spk_0 And how about how about it wasn't actually a dream of mine to be an NBA head coach.

spk_0 He did interview last couple of years for lots of different position Spencer.

spk_0 But ultimately this was an opportunity he wanted to take it this time.

spk_0 He could have passed this up and said no and Bina head coach for more money and a bigger opportunity in the NBA.

spk_0 But he wanted to mix faith and basketball.

spk_0 He clearly understands the mission of BYU as a member of the church.

spk_0 He understands the big 12. He understands the roster.

spk_0 He understands what college who says, and he understands what he doesn't know.

spk_0 He talked about, listen, I haven't been in recruiting.

spk_0 But I'm going to have great assistance. I'm going to figure it out.

spk_0 He's excited to attack opposing defenses. He's excited to put his offense into play here.

spk_0 Last year was great offensive showing if BYU could approximate that with the guy like Kevin Young or even do better.

spk_0 That'd be awesome. But I'm really struck by why he wants to be here now.

spk_0 It was Bill Self after BYU won at Kansas this year that said BYU plays an NBA style of basketball.

spk_0 It's a great approach. And hearing coach Young talk about bringing some of those advanced elements to BYU.

spk_0 Makes me think that it yeah, there will be some different tweaks and nuances for sure.

spk_0 But it's going to be a process. It's going to be similar to what BYU is already doing.

spk_0 And how about when you get the president of the school, C. Shane Reese gets up there and says,

spk_0 quote, through our interview process, it became infinitely clear very quickly that we had our man.

spk_0 A lot of people were like, man, they only have one guy. If you know, you know, he was clearly the guy.

spk_0 His resume, his LinkedIn looks amazing. I really like what he said to the roster.

spk_0 He said that's my first priority is can't wait to have every one of you guys back in the BYU uniform.

spk_0 He's talking to Dallin Hall. He's talking to Richie Saunders. He's talking to Ali Khalifa, frankly, too.

spk_0 We both think that Ali is probably moving on. But it'd be nice if he came back.

spk_0 He's also talking to Colin Chandler if Colin wanted to turn face and come back like that.

spk_0 Sure. That door would be open, of course. But he wants to get in with this group soon.

spk_0 Yet he's excited to continue to coach with the suns because he's like, hey, let's get you guys checking out what we're doing.

spk_0 And then let's put that into play. Certainly as we see Dave Rose, great to always see him with Marty Haas in the Married Center.

spk_0 Is this situation is, yes, the suns have guys like Kevin Durant and Devon Booker and Bradley Beale, who are certainly at a different level than the college guys are.

spk_0 But the principles of what you're doing offensively are going to be interesting.

spk_0 I'm going to watch every single suns game.

spk_0 We told his guy because Kevin Young is our guy and we're going to see what he's doing.

spk_0 Also, watch the guys as we talked earlier with the suns beat reporters, see Danny Angels, the goat in the house.

spk_0 Is watch the suns players come over and talk to Kevin Young. He has a unique relationship in game with the guys coaching him.

spk_0 That relationship. He also talked about the crowds, Steve Cleveland there as well.

spk_0 It's a who's who in the Married Center tonight, which is really fun.

spk_0 What are we going to see from BYU in the Married Center in a new era?

spk_0 Kevin Young's excited, the rock president, you know, went up and talked about it.

spk_0 He's 10 year old, the super excited about this situation.

spk_0 Obviously a private jet when you're a little kid today is really fun.

spk_0 But I like a lot of what I heard in this press conference from Kevin Young.

spk_0 So let's take a look and he mentioned a number of his stops in his professional career at the full resume or the LinkedIn to spill words of Jeremy.

spk_0 Let me add before even this, Utah Valley for a year with Dick Hunsaker, he goes to Ireland and coaches a team.

spk_0 Then he comes back and gets with the flash.

spk_0 Coaches the flash from 2007 to 2011 in an assistant and then one year head coaching role.

spk_0 He met his wife Melissa living in BYU housing at that time went to the Wake Forest game in 2009.

spk_0 By the way, Jim was a sophomore and then Nick Nurse gets a job in the NBA and he takes over at the Iowa Energy.

spk_0 For three years as the head coach, again, G league programs from there he goes to the 87ers,

spk_0 which are the minor league team of the Philadelphia 76ers.

spk_0 Many of you are discovering that the 87ers existed.

spk_0 Assistant coach there then became the head coach of the 87ers before he moved up to the big game in the big bench in the NBA.

spk_0 An assistant coach to Brett Brown with the 76ers between 2016 and 2020.

spk_0 It was in that time frame back in 2019 when he interviewed to become the head basketball coach at BYU when they ultimately decided on Mark Pope.

spk_0 That's when Kevin Young really became like a household name for the administration at BYU.

spk_0 He planted first interview in 2019.

spk_0 He mentioned that too that he was impressed and thought, hey, maybe one day, little bit he know.

spk_0 Now he's the head guy, goes to the Phoenix Sons and tells his guys, hey watch our team, watch my offense and what we're going to do in the playoffs because we're going to use some of those elements.

spk_0 Absolutely.

spk_0 Those dynamics of my offense with Phoenix here at BYU.

spk_0 You see Trevon Nell talking with BYU Sports Information Director Tyson Hutchins as well.

spk_0 Or not Tyson Hutchins, Tyson Jackson.

spk_0 Hey, our boy Tyler Huss, somewhere in the house.

spk_0 Yeah, so the important people have showed up to welcome Kevin Young adequately.

spk_0 Yes they have.

spk_0 And I think the word that everybody mentions about Kevin Young in explaining his personality, we've heard it like probably 30 times in the last 24 hours is humility.

spk_0 And there is a noticeable genuineness to his approach.

spk_0 He's very kind of low key in his delivery.

spk_0 Again, go back to 2005.

spk_0 Let's do a podcast yesterday that was very enlightening.

spk_0 When he's at Utah Valley, which by the way, Utah Valley, the feeder to BYU right now for its last two head coaches.

spk_0 Wolverines doing work is that in 0506, he was the lowest rung assistant on that team to where he was on the practice squad and he was actually the best player on the practice squad.

spk_0 So he would, he was shooting a ton and he was playing so well the Dick Hunsakers like, maybe you ought to consider keep playing somewhere.

spk_0 And then he said, I got you something in Ireland.

spk_0 He's like, oh, playing professionally.

spk_0 He's like, no, coaching. So then he starts, you know, continuing that coaching trail.

spk_0 Then comes back to Utah with the flash.

spk_0 And with the flash, he is also low rung guy.

spk_0 He's literally driving guys from the airport to the hotel playing the game, driving the opponents back.

spk_0 He's meeting Quinn Snyder. He's meeting players. He's meeting coaches.

spk_0 Building that network.

spk_0 He said that was valuable for him.

spk_0 But you talk about humility. This is a guy that, you know, like 19 years ago was in Orham as a single dude trying to make buying subway sandwiches selling pest control,

spk_0 sorry, security systems at night, buying a foot long that hopefully would last him a couple days.

spk_0 Now he's going to make upwards of $4 million.

spk_0 Be the head coach of the BYU Cougars in the big 12 and he has paid his dues.

spk_0 Like there's no one can say, I don't know why this guy got this shop.

spk_0 It all makes sense because he has put his time in not only Ireland, Utah Valley, the D league, now then the G league is revamped.

spk_0 Then the NBA for the last eight or nine years.

spk_0 And he became an associate head coach with the sons who by the way went to the finals in 21, 164 games in action.

spk_0 This is not a low level team. He's in the playoffs.

spk_0 One of the best offenses in the NBA for the last three years.

spk_0 They play great offense. He knows stars. The fact that Devon Booker and Chris Park are going to come hang out in the annex, the Marriott Center at some point.

spk_0 This is a home run hire and it wasn't just BYU people saying it was validated by other people.

spk_0 And hopefully that guy comes back to BYU.

spk_0 And I think certainly if I was talking about what I thought the chances were, I would think that Down Returns to BYU.

spk_0 I think it's fair that he's jumped into the portal just to see what's out there.

spk_0 But hopefully Down Return comes back to BYU because he should be the floor general for the Cougs next year.

spk_0 Sprayberry High School in Marrietta, Georgia is where he met his high school coach that he referenced as the reason that he wanted to get into coaching in the first place.

spk_0 And of note, Kevin Young was a high level division two college basketball player at Clayton State University.

spk_0 So save that one for trivia down the road when it comes to coach Young.

spk_0 But Sprayberry High School Clayton State he played was a good player and then got into coaching and hit those marks that you were just talking about.

spk_0 TJ Haws Tim LeCombas, we highlight more of who's who in the Marriott Center.

spk_0 Joining us now in the Cougar Council room in Studio B is the voice of the Cougars Greg Rebell, who had an opportunity to ask coach Young one of those questions on the mic there.

spk_0 What's up Greg?

spk_0 I'm going to break it over.

spk_0 Catch your breath.

spk_0 And play on my eye and fight.

spk_0 Have a little bit of a shine because I just ran over.

spk_0 Did you go up to stairs or out the car to you in by the way Clayton State nickname?

spk_0 Lakers.

spk_0 I'm fighting Lakers.

spk_0 You got the Clayton State.

spk_0 Of course I knew you would take it one more level.

spk_0 It's a great dust.

spk_0 That's what you do.

spk_0 What are your initial impressions of his introductory news conference?

spk_0 I love how one of the first things he did was address his guys.

spk_0 And he said his first objective is to get these guys back in B.O. uniforms.

spk_0 Get them all back together.

spk_0 That was really cool to hear and have so many of them actually there to hear it themselves.

spk_0 And he had just talked with them, which is also cool to know that they were there and already had a fit.

spk_0 They had met virtually but now they got to have a face to face.

spk_0 And I thought he had all the right notes.

spk_0 And it was cool to see ex coaches as well as current and former alumni being able to chat with Steve Cleaver.

spk_0 And Dave Rose and Tim LeComb and talk to so many former players and just a few minutes we were over there.

spk_0 And the word family came up a lot, right?

spk_0 Both the Kevin Young family and then the BYU family.

spk_0 And it was all coming together tonight over at the Marriott Center.

spk_0 Colin Terri and Nick Robinson were there as current assistants.

spk_0 Nate Austin was there as well.

spk_0 Nate Austin.

spk_0 Yep.

spk_0 So it's a who's who, right?

spk_0 What do you feel like he brings to the table that might be unique from previous head coaches, given his NBA background?

spk_0 Yeah, the network. He brought up the word network.

spk_0 He said even he is kind of astounded at how over 20 years just how broad the network becomes.

spk_0 And the different resources he can tap into to create a staff.

spk_0 And I don't want to make any kind of predictions or prognostications or set expectations of who they might be because I think in the end it'll be a really eclectic group and a unique group to BYU's, you know, maybe previous staffs.

spk_0 And I think it's going to be really interesting to see what he what he polls or where he pulls from to get that first group together.

spk_0 I'll go there.

spk_0 I'm hoping there's someone from his NBA context, right?

spk_0 And a former BYU guy and then someone who isn't a BYU guy.

spk_0 Obviously a diversity of staff would be great, but he is connected in a unique way.

spk_0 And I'm excited to see any talked about kind of his offensive mindset too.

spk_0 That perhaps it will pick up similar to where it was Greg, which was a very efficient offensive.

spk_0 Well, it's been working that way in the NBA, you know, for years maybe predating the current trend in college basketball, whether you know, it's either at the rim around the arc.

spk_0 It's kind of the way it's been.

spk_0 And that's kind of how BYU played this year in a lot of ways.

spk_0 So I think that's that's something that he's well used to running.

spk_0 And if they didn't broke, don't fix it.

spk_0 No, it worked really well for BYU this past year.

spk_0 Interesting dynamic because he is so invested in guys like Devon Booker and Bradley Beal and the Phoenix Sons.

spk_0 And he wants them to do well and wants to coach them well on the playoffs.

spk_0 And everything they had going on there, but he said we need boots on the ground here, which understandably is going to put things what he hopes into fast forward to find his assistant coaches.

spk_0 So I don't know how you balance that, but I wonder when those assistants are going to start to come into play because he needs to rely on them while he does this with pretty quickly.

spk_0 And he already kind of alluded to the fact that the last few days have been the treadmill he's going to stay on now.

spk_0 He was trying to, you know, coach games while doing interviews with other NBA teams.

spk_0 And then BYU comes into the mix.

spk_0 He was talking about how he's flying around the country and then trying to get back home.

spk_0 I got to get, yeah, I got to talk to my wife face to face about this looming decision.

spk_0 So he's been living the treadmill and he'll stay on it for a little while longer.

spk_0 But I think you're right.

spk_0 Yeah. And I think everyone realizes getting some people with firm connections in the building working is imperative.

spk_0 One of the things that also struck out or struck struck me was just the demeanor.

spk_0 Yes, yes.

spk_0 He's clearly, he's clearly ambitious because he's done what he's done over 20 years.

spk_0 But he's, he, you can sense a humility in him that helped him get to where he is and impresses people.

spk_0 And I loved it.

spk_0 I thought it was a great, a great first impression.

spk_0 I said this to my, my family, they're over there with me.

spk_0 And I was like, oh man, he's so young.

spk_0 I mean, he's Kevin Young. But he's so young.

spk_0 And maybe the beard even takes a couple of years off.

spk_0 I don't know.

spk_0 He looks a little younger.

spk_0 And of course I'm getting older too and everyone just appears young to me.

spk_0 But he just looked really young.

spk_0 In a fun way, you know, I knew a new kind of energy, a different kind of energy, a different kind of approach to coaching basketball.

spk_0 And no one's ever come into this job at BYU the way he has.

spk_0 That's, that makes it such a unique thing.

spk_0 We were talking, I think, in the office earlier today about just how young he is and comparing it to previous coaches.

spk_0 And you got to go back to Roger Reed.

spk_0 Which I can't believe Roger was actually younger than Kevin Young when Roger got the job.

spk_0 That is unbelievable.

spk_0 Roger came off like he was a little older, right?

spk_0 Yeah, like your technically was 40 years.

spk_0 The four years when he got the job as the head coach.

spk_0 He didn't look staff for many years, of course.

spk_0 And then Kevin's 42, it's kind of funny trivia.

spk_0 Wild.

spk_0 November 17th, 1981 is the birthday for 42 years young.

spk_0 Kevin Young, by the way.

spk_0 Let's go back to the Marriott Center where Jason Shepard has former BYU basketball standout Eric Mika.

spk_0 Watching and seeing what the new head coach Kevin Young had to say.

spk_0 What did you think of the new head coach at the BYU Cougars?

spk_0 I think he's awesome.

spk_0 You know, I think he has fully figured out how special BYU is.

spk_0 And with that, the responsibility of going into the second season of the big 12.

spk_0 And how hard it is to recruit and the NL and just the landscape of college basketball.

spk_0 He obviously he understands that he grasped it.

spk_0 And it's just, you know, it's clear with his experience that it doesn't, it doesn't scare him.

spk_0 Like the NBA is as big a business as you can find.

spk_0 And he's navigated that really well.

spk_0 He has incredible relationships.

spk_0 He touched on that a lot.

spk_0 And so I think BYU is in very, very good hands.

spk_0 As an alum and a former player and someone who loves this program, what does it mean to you as a former player to see BYU invest in a guy like this?

spk_0 Common from the NBA with all this cachet.

spk_0 And now they bring him here to BYU.

spk_0 Yeah, I mean, I think it just speaks to the level of seriousness that BYU is taking this.

spk_0 You know, I think we got a glimpse into, oh, we can actually do this last year, right?

spk_0 Like maybe not everyone believed that going to the season, but by the end everyone's like, yeah, we can hang with these guys.

spk_0 Like they don't have anything that we don't have.

spk_0 In fact, it's the opposite.

spk_0 We have things that they don't have.

spk_0 So I think it just goes the show that we're serious about, you know, winning.

spk_0 And if recruits don't like that, if fans don't like that, then they aren't BYU coolers.

spk_0 You know, so as an alum, you know, it seems silly, but I love talking to my teammates when I'm playing other BYU's playing other teammates old school.

spk_0 And BYU gets the win.

spk_0 Like that's something that those are conversations I have.

spk_0 So I'm proud to be a Cougar.

spk_0 I'm proud that the university stepped up and found a very, very incredible candidate.

spk_0 As someone who knows what the NBA is like and has played in that league, you know the environment that he's coming from.

spk_0 And coming to BYU, what's something from the NBA that you would like to see implemented with this team?

spk_0 Schematically, wherever.

spk_0 Schematically, he touched on, you know, high-paced, fast-paced, getting a lot of shots up, using a lot of data and analytics.

spk_0 I love hearing that.

spk_0 I think what he is going to bring and what will set them apart is the development.

spk_0 You see guys who, you know, even even you and I, we've seen good players and bad players.

spk_0 We've seen a lot of basketball played like I've played a lot of it.

spk_0 Even the I sometimes will look at a player that's drafted or highly touted coming out of college or high school, whatever program.

spk_0 And I don't see it, you know, and they draft on potential.

spk_0 But the NBA is so elite at taking those guys that to the naked eye or to the average eye don't look that good and they turn them into something that's incredible.

spk_0 He's done that and he's seen that, you know, time and time again.

spk_0 So catching these guys when they're willing to work hard, when their body is acclimating to college sports and becoming bigger and more physical, he's going to develop them and know how to get them better from year to year, which is a winning culture and a winning recipe.

spk_0 Eric, always good to talk to you. Thanks for the insight and we'll let you get back to the party over here.

spk_0 Thank you.

spk_0 Great to see you.

spk_0 Guys, expect to you.

spk_0 Thank you, Jason.

spk_0 Oh, it's a party.

spk_0 Yeah, I like that.

spk_0 Apparently.

spk_0 Yeah. 96 hours ago, this was just an idea and frankly a pipe dream.

spk_0 We have it young.

spk_0 I don't like it.

spk_0 Really?

spk_0 We still have Greg Rebell with this as well here in the Cougar Council room.

spk_0 And what surprises you the most about how this all came together, Greg, because this is a typical for BYU.

spk_0 It was about four days to lock this in big money, big time name, accelerated timeline.

spk_0 What was the most surprising factor in all of it?

spk_0 Yeah, I think you guys covered it really well this morning on sports nation when you combine the factors of speed and timeliness and resources and quality.

spk_0 You know, you kind of look them all together, how they all came together at once for this hire that's clearly deemed as very important at a very key time in this program development.

spk_0 And I think it's Tom Homo saying there's exceptions to every rule.

spk_0 And this is just a situation that warranted exceptions relative to the expediency of it all.

spk_0 Processes were still followed, but they were accelerated and they had to be in this instance.

spk_0 And plus it also helped too that Tom Homo was indicated with you guys today clearly had a sense of direction.

spk_0 They knew exactly where they wanted to go immediately.

spk_0 This wasn't a ring our hands, get a group of people together, figure out what we want to do next.

spk_0 Now this was decision makers knowing where they wanted to go immediately reaching out immediately and getting the ball rolling immediately.

spk_0 And that helped it too. There wasn't a lot of doggling and sifting and looking through applications and resumes.

spk_0 It was no, we know a guy. We've already interviewed this guy. We know what we've got.

spk_0 And so it was a really quick thing that helped too, that there wasn't a lot of what do we do next. They knew what they wanted to go.

spk_0 My understanding is only one interview happened and it was the guy. They knew who the guy was.

spk_0 Ryan Smith's role in this has been impressive. Obviously, Ryan a guy who went to BYU is the governor of the Utah Jazz, has contributed financially.

spk_0 Ryan is in the house in the Marriott Center. In fact, we were told a moment ago he was talking to Dallin Hall. There you go.

spk_0 So, and Dawson Baker. So it's important to note Ryan's influence for amazingly positive, not only connections, but financial contribution, influence has been tremendous with BYU basketball.

spk_0 And thank goodness Qualtrics became what Qualtrics became because it has helped the University of town.

spk_0 And Danny was there too. And so the brain trust of the Utah Jazz are very much aligned with the college team has that by the way.

spk_0 I don't think with a school in the state. But of course, it's their alma mater. That's close to their hearts. And so it's cool to see that connection too.

spk_0 And also the fact that there was an NBA relationship between Kevin and Danny and the Jazz as well. They'd been through that process with him and knew what they had in him as well.

spk_0 So, perfect storm in a lot of ways in a good way for BYU that this window opened when it did.

spk_0 He referenced that he's been speaking with the guys. We talked about it on BYU Sports Foundation this morning when we discussed the Zoom call that he had with the majority of the team.

spk_0 I think all the three players were in on that call. And that's when the Chris Paul thing came up. But then he said I've spent time with each of the guys individually.

spk_0 And he's just really trying to establish those relationships. I don't know if you had an opportunity to speak with any of the current BYU basketball players or at least get an understanding of how they're feeling.

spk_0 But what was your impression of the guys and their accepting of this new role?

spk_0 I said hi to a bunch of the guys tonight. But basically their presence was indicating to me that they, you know, if they weren't all in, they were a lot of the way in with this guy already.

spk_0 And that was encouraging. And because a lot of guys could have stayed away and said, you know, I'll let my other cards play out first.

spk_0 And I think this felt like the team. You know, it felt like a lot of the team was still the team, which was, which was a pretty cool feeling. I thought I was encouraged. Yeah, by seeing down the hall there, I was encouraged with that.

spk_0 Now someone may have had some plan previous to this. They had to attend otherwise. Who knows, right? Tim Davis in the house.

spk_0 Yeah, talking about down and talking with down. Yeah. Okay. In terms of the buzz that BYU had like a week ago, a lot of preseason top 25 buzz Greg.

spk_0 Who knows what the roster is going to look like, but it feels like BYU captured some of the momentum that may have been lost when Mark Pope goes to the moment. Yeah.

spk_0 Colin Chandler goes, feels like BYU had recaptured sort of some positive juice in that space. Yeah. And BYU is not alone in roster flux right now or losing high commits.

spk_0 It's, you know, there's still a lot of time to create a roster for 24 25. And so if, if people did back off of some of those projections that came out,

spk_0 they could be back pretty quickly as long as BYU puts, puts names to paper that that look, you know, close to what they were going to get otherwise. And there's a lot of time to get that done.

spk_0 Greg, we're about to wrap this show up in about two and a half minutes. So as you give your final thoughts, what's your message to those across Cougar Nation about the future of BYU basketball and why they should be most excited?

spk_0 I think Tom Homo, when he says position of strength, knows what he's talking about. And, and I think Kevin Young amplifies the strength by coming in where he was as an upper tier coach in the NBA.

spk_0 I mean, you could argue that they got the most qualified, you know, member of the faith, if you will, who was available out there and brought him to BYU.

spk_0 How could you have done any better than getting, you know, a top tier NBA assistant? And I think to what stands out is that he says, I think it was one of the first questions he answered was he kind of made a decision here.

spk_0 I mean, the path to NBA head coach took a, took a diversion and the diversion was BYU. And for a lot of important reasons to him and his family.

spk_0 So this feels like someone that that garnered all of the experience you would ever want to have as a basketball mind and all the acumen is there.

spk_0 And now he's going to apply it. Maybe somewhere he didn't think he might be, but he's now going to apply it 100% wholeheartedly to BYU basketball. And that makes Cougar Nation fortunate.

spk_0 Well said. Thanks for being with us, Greg. Thanks for your guys.

spk_0

spk_0 Jerem final thoughts from you.

spk_0 So excited about the situation. Obviously a couple days ago, we've talked about on the show. Thought it was a pipe dream that Kevin Young would be possible.

spk_0 And here we are on a Wednesday night with Danny Ange, Huggin and Jokin with the guys and Ryan Smith and Dallin Hall in the house.

spk_0 It did not feel great for a few days there, but it feels better than it felt bad. And so I'm stoked about the next couple of weeks and months as we get a coaching staff and we get a roster.

spk_0 And we explore what's going to happen, right, with certain guys. And we implement offense and we get into the offseason and we get scheduled. In fact, today, Rockamiller saying, hey, Queens is coming to provo to play against BYU.

spk_0 Bobby Hork-Dusky. Talk to this afternoon about it, by the way. He's excited to come back. It's very exciting right now.

spk_0 Kevin Young is a guy that loves basketball. He's a guy that loves to talk basketball, loves to build relationships, genuine relationships.

spk_0 And certainly loves his faith and all those things combined at Brigham Young University.

spk_0 Again, thanks for being with us on this BYU Sports Nation special in the introductory press conference.

spk_0 The new era and new head basketball coach at BYU Kevin Young. For the fabulous Greg Rebell and Jeremy Jordan and every member of our outstanding crew, and Jason Shepherd over at the Marriott Center,

spk_0 I am Spencer Linton. We'll see you tomorrow for a brand new edition of BYU Sports Nation at new Eastern Go Cooks.

Kevin Young Basketball Coach Press Conference

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