alt=Dick HarmonIt seems ages ago when BYU’s basketball fortunes were up in the air.
When was it, when Mark Pope rocketed for Kentucky? Well, the ball broke loose on April 11. It was a dreary state outside the minds of BYU decision-makers. As players entered the portal, it was dispiriting for fans.
Within days, the BYU administration’s response was quick and decisive; light speed compared to BYU hiring tradition.
That was a shock.
The Kevin Young hire made headlines. It was unique, fresh and innovative. Time will tell if he succeeds, but you must sow seeds and invest in a harvest.
The new BYU approach? Pay it forward, walk the talk. It went from pushing a pioneer handcart to driving a Tesla Model X Plaid.
It’s as if the campus brain trust met and said the Big 12 badge we now don means we need to put on our big-boy pants and go to work.
As if the Kevin Young hire with appropriate compensation wasn’t enough, Chris Burgess is back from a two-year stint at Utah. Undoubtedly for more money.
The Thursday news that Nevada associate athletic director Doug Stewart, a veteran of two decades of college coaching, would join Young in a newly created role as chief of staff just adds a layer to the evolving program. Stewart will work with NIL, player development and resources, and was an assistant to Mike Dunleavy at Tulane and Eric Musselman at Nevada.
A month ago, none of this seemed possible. Right?
“Hard to believe just a few weeks ago BYU basketball was taking hit after hit. I was afraid to open Twitter for fear of seeing more bad news,” said KSL radio color analyst Mark Durrant.
“It seemed it would take years to recover. And now, every day is like Christmas morning, and BYU is poised to be stronger than it ever has been. I couldn’t be more happy as an alum, fan and broadcaster. Chris Burgess is a phenomenal person, coach and recruiter and the fact he wants to be a part of what’s happening at BYU speaks volumes. BYU is showing it is committed to not just being good, but to being great.”
When Stan Watts began his Hall of Fame coaching career at BYU, he was getting paid under 10 grand. He got a few more thousand when he became athletic director. BYU assistant coaches the past few years made more than Roger Reid. When Bronco Mendenhall asked for resources to compete and build toward a P5 program, he received a deer-in-the-headlights stare back at him and, a year later, he left for Virginia.
It appears the days are gone when BYU hires juco coaches who hire their friends they met at Chuck-A-Rama during summer basketball camps at BYU, or elevates an assistant because it won’t rock the budget.
It is apparent BYU is investing its Big 12 money to be a Big 12 program.
Up and down the firing line of school leaders, from school president C. Shane Reese, to advancement vice president Keith Vorkink, athletic director Tom Holmoe, and his point man over basketball deputy athletic director Brian Santiago, they were unified to be ambitious, aggressive and competitive when seeking Pope’s replacement.
When these administrator guys came out of the Marriott Center corner portal to the floor April 16 to introduce Young, they walked into the lights like the French 2nd Armored Division behind Charles de Gaulle on the Champs-Elysees in the liberation parade toward the Arc de Triomphe.
An overkill observation?
No. This was a liberation celebration parade of what these four had been through for BYU basketball’s future.
The Burgess addition is as true a compass mark as you’ll get in this new approach. Need a good, reputable recruiter who can work with big men, knows the AAU landscape and has ties nationally to recruits? Go get him.
Young has said, surprisingly, he hasn’t heard the word “no” very often the last few weeks. Bronco, can you hold his milk cup?
Pope couldn’t sign Brody Kozlowski out of Corner Canyon High when he signed with USC last fall. Within days of his hire, Young found a way to get Kozlowski to Provo after he decommitted to the Trojans when his coaches left for SMU.
From April 11 to this weekend, Young and his program are on a roll.
Alums love what they see.
“Just as striking as BYU hiring the top assistant in the NBA, someone who essentially was an NBA head coach in waiting, getting Chris Burgess to leave Utah to come back to BYU is beyond impressive,” said Jonathan Tavernari. “The way things are going at Utah, being a former successful player there, Chris could be seeing a head coach in waiting in Salt Lake. This reminds me a lot of the Dave Rose and Houston situation. Coach Rose chose BYU. Because of my admiration of Chris, I’d like to think he is choosing BYU.”
Former Atlanta Hawk and veteran EuroLeague star Travis Hansen agreed.
“Chris Burgess is such a great overall coach. One of his super powers is the players absolutely love him! So happy for BYU and especially the players to be able to learn from him and be coached by him,” said Hansen.
What a crazy 20 days or so.
The lane change is here, BYU’s new path down the freeway is headed for the diamond lane and the blinker is on.
It’s still a long way to see if it all works.
But the direction and velocity are correct.
