BYU basketball hires highly coveted Suns assistant as Mark Pope replacement

Mark Pope left the BYU basketball program to take on the head coaching role at Kentucky. As a result, the Cougars were forced to find his replacement. Surprisingly enough, the program pulled off a brilliant move hiring a highly coveted assistant of the Phoenix Suns.

The Cougars officially hired Kevin Young as Mark Pope’s replacement as head coach, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Young was the NBA’s highest-paid assistant and was linked to potential head coaching jobs in the league. But he’s taking his talents to the college basketball world instead.

“ESPN Sources: Phoenix Suns associate HC Kevin Young is finalizing a long-term deal to become the next coach at Brigham Young University. An aggressive push to hire NBA’s highest-paid assistant lands BYU its top target.”

This is a massive hire for the BYU basketball program. Although losing Pope is a big loss, the Cougars were able to reel in one of the NBA’s top assistant coaches in the league. Additionally, a long-term deal indicates that Kevin Young could be a long time coach in college basketball. Just a fantastic hire for the Cougars.

College basketball is much different than the NBA. But considering how much potential Kevin Young has, he should be able to do just fine at the college level. Between recruiting and the transfer portal, the BYU basketball team should be in good hands moving forward. Look for Young to get the Cougars off to a hot start at the beginning of next season.

This story is still developing and more information will be published shortly.