BYU assistant Kahil Fennell to be head coach at UTRGV

PROVO — More changes are coming to BYU basketball following its inaugural 23-win season in the Big 12 Conference.

This time, one of Mark Pope's assistant coaches will get his first shot at being a head coach in the Southland Conference.

Kahil Fennell will be the next head coach at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, the university announced Friday of the two-year Cougars assistant.

The 10-year basketball coaching vet returns to the state of Texas after spending four years at UT Permian Basin, including associate head coach in 2016-17. From there, he moved to Portland State for the 2017-18 season before aligning himself with former Louisville coach Chris Mack's staff.

"Coach Fennell quickly emerged as someone who has an unmatched passion for the game, young people, and community," UTRGV athletic director Chasse Conque said in a statement from the university. "In a landscape that is ever changing, coach Fennell has demonstrated his ability to attract top talent and effectively teach while being a part of successful programs at multiple levels. His story is unique, but one that demonstrates his love for student-athletes and the passion he has to make an impact on their lives on and off the court. Coach Fennell and I share a vision for our program and we understand the importance of building a basketball program that will excite our region, compete for Southland Conference championships, and continue to help UTRGV #RallyTheValley."

Fennell spent four years as the Cardinals' director of basketball operations before being promoted to assistant coach at Louisville for the 2021-22 season prior to Mack's firing. He then immediately joined Pope's staff at BYU in 2022, where he has been integral in scouting reports and the Cougars' defense that ranked 60th nationally in KenPom for a top-20 overall program all year.

The 2004 graduate of Redlands University set program records for wins at UTPB and Portland State before his two-year career at BYU, which included helping the Cougars to a 23-win season with four wins over AP Top 25 opponents. The Cougars made the NCAA Tournament after being ranked in 14 of 15 AP polls, the most by the program since the 2010-11 season.

"I'm so excited for Kahil and the opportunity he has as the head coach at UTRGV," Pope said in a statement. "His fingerprints are all over the success that we have had as a program over the past two seasons. Kahil, Sarah, Ezra and Koa were instrumental in our wildly successful journey into Big 12 where we finished fifth in the toughest men's basketball conference in the country and returned to the NCAA Tournament. This is a great opportunity for him and I look forward to his future success."

The Vaqueros have competed in the Western Athletic Conference since 2013, when the school joined the conference alongside Utah Valley, Grand Canyon, Cal State Bakersfield, Chicago State and Missouri-Kansas City.

But UTRGV announced last month that it had accepted an invitation to join the Southland Conference beginning with the 2024-25 school year. Among the reasons cited for the move were a decrease in travel costs to a league based entirely in Texas and Louisiana, as well as the regionality of a football program that will begin play in 2025.

Fennell is the third departure from the BYU men's basketball program following the season, joining former four-star freshman Marcus Adams Jr. and walk-on wing Tanner Hayhurst to the transfer portal.

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