The Big 12 Conference joined with the SEC and Big Ten in denying former professional players to join their members' athletic programs, but they didn't say anything about professional coaches.
BYU basketball welcomes Patrick Mutombo as an assistant on Kevin Young's staff. He's a head coach with a strong history of coaching competitive rosters, having reached the playoffs in nine of the last 10 NBA seasons.
Welcome Home Coach 🤙 pic.twitter.com/eJznn22avd
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) August 31, 2026
Mutombo arrives as a replacement for assistant coach Will Voigt, who joined Boise State over the offseason to be closer to his family.
Mutombo boasts a career path that includes stops with the Denver Nuggets, Toronto Raptors, Phoenix Suns, Milwaukee Bucks, and Memphis Grizzlies. He was on the same staff as Kevin Young in Phoenix back when Young served as associate head coach. Now, the pair are reunited on the sidelines and preparing to deliver even more NBA experience to a basketball program suddenly injected full of it.
BYU basketball continues to build as a legitimate NBA factory.
Mutombo's acquisition will serve the team incredibly well. As a coach who understands and has worked under Young before, he not only understands how to manage an NBA-style system and organization, but how to best highlight his team's stars.
Further strengthening BYU's legitimacy as a program with real NBA history, Mutombo has coached NBA stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Devin Booker, and more.
Mutombo also won an NBA championship with the Toronto Raptors back in 2019, for those keeping track.
Patrick Mutombo can help BYU basketball land 5-star recruits
BYU basketball is currently in the hunt for several high-profile recruits in the upcoming graduating class of 2027, including 5-star talents Demarcus Henry and AJ Williams (who reportedly favors BYU at the moment).
Beyond BYU's culture -- which is incredibly attractive to athletes' parents -- and recent history of developing NBA prospects AJ Dybantsa, Egor Demin, and Richie Saunders, adding staff with actual NBA experience adds legitimacy to BYU basketball's recruiting pitch.
Kevin Young and his staff understand the NBA, but they choose to work for BYU in the hopes of preparing the best young talent in the nation for the highest level of competitive basketball in the world.
The more NBA-level coaches on Kevin Young's staff, the better.
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