Potential Candidates to Replace BYU Assistant Kahil Fennell

With assistant Kahil Fennell leaving to UTRGV to take the head coach job, BYU has up to two assistant spots to fill. Last season, the NCAA increased the assistant coach limit from three to five; BYU opted to have only four assistants on the staff. The fourth and fifth assistants act as normal assistants, but cannot recruit off campus. BYU’s current three assistants are Cody Fueger, Nick Robinson, and Collin Terry.

Below are some names I’m watching through either conversations I’ve had or guys that make sense in my own brain. If you’ll let me toot my own horn for a second, I was the first one to mention Kahil Fennell as a candidate two years ago before he was hired.

There could absolutely be names that BYU pursues and hires that don’t show up on this list. If prior searches are any indicator, Pope won’t rush and BYU’s hiring and vetting process isn’t exactly the quickest.

And of course, all of this goes out the window if Mark Pope goes to Kentucky.

Barret Peery, UNLV

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The timing may make sense here for both sides. If you’re not familiar with Peery, he is a member of the LDS Church and would be on the short-list of candidates to replace to be BYU’s next head coach if/when Mark Pope leaves. A native of Payson, Utah, Peery played his college ball at Snow College and SUU and has had several coaching stops. Peery was the head coach at Portland State for four seasons from 2017-2021 and has been an assistant at UNLV the last seasons. In between, he was the associate head coach at Texas Tech for one season where he helped direct TTU’s defense to the #1 rated KenPom defense in the country.

There’s a couple reasons why I think timing makes sense for both sides. For Pope, he is established at BYU with good job security after a season that blew out all expectations. He doesn’t have to worry about looking over his shoulder and hiring the guy that is gunning for his job. Peery would want the BYU job, but fans won’t be clamoring for Peery to replace Pope if things go sideways.

For Peery, this could be his chance to get the BYU head coaching gig if Mark Pope takes a bigger job. I don’t think Peery could have said that either of the prior two years when BYU hired assistants. At that time, the BYU job may not have been appealing to may candidates — BYU was on a bit of a slide in basketball and was possibly on its way to getting bludgeoned in the Big 12. BYU proved this year they can win in the Big 12.

One more good season and Pope will be on the short list for a lot of big jobs, if he chooses to pursue that. Peery could be the favorite to slide in and replace Pope. I think Peery would have a really good shot to be the next BYU head coach in that scenario due to his prior experience in the Big 12 and deep coaching/recruiting connections.

Mark Fox, Georgetown (NIL Role)

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This one isn’t hard to put together. Fox and Pope are very close, going back over 30 years. Fox was an assistant coach at Washington when Pope was a player, and he gave Pope his first coaching job at Georgia over a decade ago. They’ve remained close since their days at Washington and Fox is one of Pope’s greatest coaching mentors along with Pitino.

Fox was fired at Cal after the 2022-2023 season that ended in a 3-29 record, and he is currently the Director of Student-Athlete Relations and NIL Partnerships. He has nearly 20 years of head coaching experience from his time at Nevada, Georgia, and Cal. Fox met with Mark and Lee Anne Pope in Phoenix during the Final Four.

Ryan Madry, Santa Clara

Here’s the one that is off the radar. BYU needs a non-LDS, racial minority on the staff to replace Fennell. Madry would fit that description and has been great at Santa Clara. He was hired at Santa Clara in 2019-2020 (Pope’s first season as BYU HC), so both sides have familiarity with each other. He was the lead recruiter for first round pick Brandin Podziemski and coached first round pick Jalen Williams.

He’s a bay area native and has extensive experience coaching on the west coast. Prior to Santa Clara, he’s had stops at Seattle, Santa Barbara, Cal State Fullerton, and San Francisco.

Madry would be a home run hire, in my opinion, and is a name to watch.

K.C. Beard, Houston

A native of Parma, Idaho, Beard is one of the top LDS assistants in the country. He’s been with Houston since 2014 in various roles and has been an assistant coach the last couple seasons. I can’t see him leaving one of the best programs in the country to come to BYU, but maybe an opportunity to for more responsibility at BYU could cause him to pick up the phone.

Kerry Rupp, Detroit

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A long-time coaching veteran and Utah native, Rupp spent the past two seasons at Detroit under Mike Davis. Born in Magna, Utah, Rupp played at Utah State and SUU before hitting the Utah high school coaching ranks from 1978-2000. After 20+ coaching the Utah prep ranks, Rupp was on the Utah staff under Rick Majerus at Utah from 2000-2004. After stops at Indiana and UAB at Mike Davis he was the head coach at Louisiana Tech for four seasons where he compiled a 66-77 record. He followed that up with stints at Hawaii and Montana before joining Oregon State’s staff from 2014-2002.

Rupp is 70 and may look to either retire or finish out his college coaching career in his home state close to family. BYU assistant Cody Fueger was on the Utah staff with Rupp and his Director of Basketball of Operations at Louisiana Tech.

Rupp may be fine not hitting the road in recruiting at this point in his career and focusing on more x’s and o’s. He brings a wealth of basketball knowledge, local connections, and head coach experience in the twilight of his career.

David Evans, RSL Academy

After stops at Lone Peak HS and Wasatch Academy, Evans was hired as the head coach at RSL Academy/Utah Prep in 2020. Evans has deep recruiting connections at the high school level in the state of Utah and coached some good players at other programs — think Michigan State’s Mady Sissoko and Jaxon Kohler, Texas Tech’s Richard Isaacs, Steven Ashworth, and several others. It’s a big jump to go from coaching high school kids to the Big 12, so an interim step could be in Evans future if he decides he wants to join the college ranks.

Paul Peterson, Wasatch Academy

Peterson was an assistant under Evans at Wasatch before taking over the head coaching role after Evans left; both are BYU-Hawaii alums. Peterson is known for his player development, and like Evans, has local connections and relationships. I think Peterson would be a great assistant coach at BYU one day, but like Evans, going from the high school ranks to the Big 12 seems like a big first step.

Andrew May, Snow College

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The former BYU Basketball Director of Operations under Dave Rose, May has been the head coach at Snow College the last two seasons. In between his BYU and Snow stints he was an assistant at Dixie State for three seasons. May got his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from BYU.