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PROVO — When BYU dismissed women's basketball coach Amber Whiting after three seasons in the lead chair of the program, athletic director Tom Holmoe and deputy AD Brian Santiago immediately promoted her top assistant and associate head coach Lee Cummard to interim head coach while launching a search for the program's next leader.
The search didn't go very far.
Holmoe announced the former BYU star and 2008 Mountain West player of the year was named the eighth head coach in BYU women's basketball history Monday, succeeding Whiting with the first head coaching job of his career.
"Lee has been an important part of our BYU Athletics family for many years," Holmoe said. "His time as a star player on the men's team, and a member of both the men's and women's basketball coaching staffs, gives him valuable experience and connection in this important position.
"He has displayed a loyal commitment to BYU and understands the valuable mission of our university. He will be able to retain key players and recruit those that will fit, excel and align at BYU."
Cummard, 39, was on Whiting's staff for all three seasons of her tenure, and most recently served as associate head coach while running the Cougars' offense in 2024-25.
Led by Big 12 freshman of the year Delaney Gibb (17.5 points, 4.2 assists per game), that offense averaged 67.9 points per game for the 11th-best mark in the conference that included seven NCAA Tournament teams.
He also helped coach the Cougars' all-time leading rebounder, Lauren Gustin, en route to back-to-back WNIT and WBIT appearances in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
When Whiting was hired, the four-year assistant under former coach Jeff Judkins stayed with the program that represents his alma mater — like Whiting — and that reached the NCAA Tournament in 2020-21 and 2021-22 while winning a West Coast Conference championship in 2021-22 with a top-25 ranking by the Associate Press for 16 consecutive weeks.
BYU was Cummard's first coaching job, following two seasons as a graduate assistant and one as an assistant coach with the men's program, when the Cougars went 20-13 with all-conference honorees Yoeli Childs and TJ Haws.
After a standout career under Dave Rose that included AP All-America honorable mention honors in 2008, Cummard spent seven years playing professionally in France, Japan and Belgium.
The two-time All-Mountain West selection from Mesa, Arizona, graduated from BYU in 2009, after serving a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tennessee.
He and his wife, Sarah, are the parents of three sons.
