Kevin Young has officially landed in Provo. His flight from Phoenix touched down on Wednesday, with a clean-shaved BYU-style coach emerging from the door of the airplane.
Fans of the team have been through a lot during this last week of news coverage. Since Saturday, BYU basketball has taken a hit, fallen apart, and suddenly seems more poised for success than ever before. With the departure of Mark Pope, uncertainty surrounding the program forced several major contributors to expand their options by entering the transfer portal. Panic ensued.
With the new hire, though, hype rings through the halls of Helaman and the winds of change are rolling through the land. But now that Young is officially behind the wheel, what should fans expect from teams led by the former NBA assistant?
Well, in his introductory press conference, Young made his intentions with the program clear: BYU will become a place for recruits to come to prepare themselves for the NBA.
"What I want to do to take it to the next level is make this place the best place in college basketball to prepare young men to play in the NBA," Young told reporters on Wednesday, "I think with my background, we're going to be able to get that done and I really look forward to doing that."
Kevin Young will make BYU the place to "prepare young men to play in the NBA" 👀@BYUMBB @Big12Conference pic.twitter.com/6HKA4Dq0v2
— BYUtv Sports Nation (@BYUSportsNation) April 18, 2024
Coach Young knows that an emphasis on the players will be the best way to get started. His top priority is to "have every one of back in a BYU uniform." While at face value, this is likely a reference to the players currently on his roster, the implication of getting the players who entered the transfer portal back in a BYU uniform is exactly what fans wanted to hear.
But words are words. Do we have any reason to believe that a man who's new to the world of college basketball can enter the stormy seas of the transfer portal, NIL, and a completely different athletic landscape? BYU is a member of the toughest conference in college basketball, and for a new coach it can likely be daunting. Young is insistent that his background in the sport--especially on the pro level--will entice players to join the program and know that under his tutelage, BYU can be the ideal location for young players to prepare for the next level of the sport.
"I'm a modern thinker of the game," Young explained, "defensively, that's where I get really excited because I've been on the offensive side for so long in the NBA, you see how elite defenses guard certain things and I've been able to put together a pretty extensive defensive background."
The headline for BYU fans is simple: Kevin Young understands basketball on a very deep level, and BYU basketball is in very capable hands.
Devin Booker, who's been coached by Young for years now, shared a strong vote of confidence in the new man on campus. "Somebody I developed a great relationship with and someone, you know, I wish I could have played college basketball for." Booker, interestingly enough, played his college ball at the University of Kentucky (I don't know why I thought that information might be relevant).
you’re always welcome to visit KYU @DevinBook 😏 pic.twitter.com/pIPMgYHrnw
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) April 17, 2024
BYU's new coach isn't finished in the NBA yet, as he mentioned in the press conference. Young will finish the season with the Suns before he moves to Provo full-time. Plenty of work still needs to be done, but Coach Young seems all in on making BYU a premier destination for college athletes.