BYU Hires Chris Burgess as Assistant Coach

BYU is bringing over a familiar face as former BYU assistant and current Utah assistant Chris Burgess will come to BYU as an assistant coach under Kevin Young. Matt Norlander was the first to report the news. Sources tell me that BYU and Kevin Young have had increased discussions over the last week with Burgess. Burgess will get a sizable raise as part of the move, sources tell me.

A Southern California native, Burgess played his first two seasons at Duke before transferring and finishing his career at Utah. After Utah, Burgess played a decade overseas in multiple continents. After playing professionally he went into coaching at the below stops.

• 2013-2014 — Student Assistant, University of Utah
• 2014 — Volunteer Assistant, SLCC
• 2014-2015 — Assistant Coach, Indian Hills CC
• 2015-2019 — Assistant Coach, UVU
• 2019-2022 — Assistant Coach, BYU
• 2022-2024 — Assistant Coach, Utah

Burgess has familiarity with BYU from his three seasons at BYU. He coached current BYU players Fousseyni Traore, Trevin Knell, and Trey Stewart. As BYU assistant, he also recruited Dallin Hall and Richie Saunders up until they signed with BYU.

One of the main reasons I am excited about Burgess is because what I think he will accomplish in recruiting. There is some high-end talent in the state of Utah in 2026 and beyond. Burgess has GREAT relationships with local AAU folks and other influential people. Utah was in contention for many LDS kids (e.g., Brooks Bahr) and landed 4-star forward Jaxon Johnson in large part due to Burgess. Without Burgess at Utah, BYU could have a clear path to dominate in-state and LDS recruiting.

I also wouldn’t be surprised if Burgess was able to bring over a player from Utah’s current roster. He was strong relationships with the big men in that program, so I’ll be keeping my eye on who enters the portal from Utah before the portal closes end of day Wednesday.