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PROVO — Danny Ainge tried to hire Kevin Young for close to a decade, but it took a strong pitch from Ainge's alma mater to finally snag the NBA's highest paid assistant coach.
Young has been hired as the next men's basketball coach at BYU, and he'll formally step into his new office inside the Marriott Center Annex after coaching the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Playoffs.
If the hire seems outside-the-box for the flagship men's basketball program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that's because it is for the first BYU hoops hire to come from pro basketball since LaDell Andersen departed the Utah Stars for BYU in 1983.
Sealed within five days of Mark Pope finalizing a new deal with his alma mater Kentucky (perhaps four, since BYU traditionally doesn't work on Sundays), the timing of the announcement hiring the Suns' associate head coach is stunning in BYU circles.
It took BYU two weeks to recognize Pope as the successor to legendary BYU coach Dave Rose five years ago, and a month for Amber Whiting to succeed Jeff Judkins in Provo a couple of years ago.
But Young, who was born in Salt Lake City and is a card-carrying member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had some experience with BYU — he interviewed with university leadership the last time the Cougars needed a head coach. But he had even more experience with a high-profile BYU basketball alumnus, one who had a courtside seat at every home game of the Cougars' inaugural Big 12 campaign in 2023-24.
Speaking at the Utah Jazz's end-of-season media briefing Tuesday as news of the hire broke, Ainge said he tried to hire Young "about 10 years ago" when he was with the Boston Celtics to run the club's G League organization. He also said the Jazz interviewed Young shortly before the organization opted to bring in Will Hardy, and has been a finalist for head coaching positions with Brooklyn, Charlotte, Philadelphia and Washington.
Utah Jazz exec/former #BYUHoops star Danny Ainge on the Cougars' hiring of Kevin Young:
— Sean Walker (@ActuallyDSW) April 16, 2024
"That's a really good get for BYU ... I know he was in the Brooklyn chase and Charlotte chase as well, and should have been (hired as head coach). Unbelievable. That's fantastic." pic.twitter.com/w9S0YJzIbx
"Oh wow; that's a really good get for BYU," Ainge said. "I knew after those interviews that he would be a head coach, and I thought in the NBA ... That's a great, great get for BYU. Unbelievable; that's fantastic."
Young, 42, was thought to be an NBA lifer, having previously been head coach of the Utah Flash and Iowa Energy in the G League and rising to become the highest paid assistant coach in the NBA with a reported salary of $2 million as the Suns' associate head coach.
The former starting point guard at Division II Clayton State hasn't coached in college basketball since 2006, but brings a wealth of experience in player development to a role where college basketball is as transactional as it has ever been.
Young has known Ainge for years, dating back to his G League era, and is also close friends with billionaire BYU alum and Utah Jazz majority owner Ryan Smith — both of whom proved pivotal in the deal to land the NBA coach at BYU on a seven-year contract worth close to $30 million total, according to CBS Sports' Matt Norlander.
But Young and his wife Melissa, who were married in the Salt Lake Temple, are also the parents of three young children, two sons and a daughter. The NBA lifestyle can be difficult to navigate with a young family, and while the college basketball recruiting cycle and transfer portal is its own year-round grind, coaching at a place like BYU that puts priority on family and spiritual well-being can help alleviate some of those burdens.
Once Young became reasonably available, he was BYU's top priority, sources confirmed to KSL.com. He was the only candidate interviewed for the position, according to Norlander, and his involvement in the previous coaching search in 2019 when BYU ultimately hired Pope helped to fast-track the necessary approval from church leadership in Salt Lake City.
BYU president Shane Reese announced the hire as "authorized by the board of trustees" at Tuesday's "Un-Forum" devotional, describing him as a "family man, a humble follower of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and a brilliant basketball mind."
The lack of college experience can also be overcome with the right assistants. Sources confirmed that University of Utah assistant coach Chris Burgess and UNLV's Barret Peery have been considered for Young's staff, though the duo won't come cheap.
Burgess was making at least $265,000 annually on the Hill — a key factor (but not the only one) in his move from BYU to his alma mater two years ago — and UNLV pays their assistant coaches around $200,000, which Peery would presumably be included.
But both would help BYU retain its current roster, begin recruiting both in the high school ranks and in the transfer portal, and help lure back at least some of the three players in the portal in Dallin Hall, Richie Saunders and Aly Khalifa (it's worth noting that Burgess recruited Hall and Saunders to BYU out of Fremont High and Wasatch Academy, respectively).
Lehi's Quincy Lewis, a former BYU assistant coach who just won his state-record ninth state championship, could also be a possibility, as well as Wasatch Academy's Paul Peterson, current assistant coach Nick Robinson and others. Young is also likely to bring along at least one assistant coach from the NBA, according to Norlander.
