NEWARK, N.J. — It’s impossible to call Kevin Young’s first season at BYU anything less than a slam dunk.
Yes, Thursday night’s result against Alabama wasn’t ideal, as the Cougars gave up an NCAA Tournament record 25 3-pointers in a 113-88 loss in the Sweet 16. But frankly, the fact BYU even made it that far in the first year of Young’s operation is more than laudable — especially considering how the team began the Big 12 portion of its schedule.
“I’m just proud, honestly,” Young told reporters after Thursday’s loss to the Crimson Tide. “I’m just proud of the group of guys that we had in our locker room, because we kind of had to get it out of the mud. We had to do it the hard way. We got off to a slow start in the Big 12. I’m really proud of the way our guys just stayed with it, and they never pouted. We just found a way. We found solutions.
Special Collector’s Issue: “1984: The Year BYU was Second to None”
Get an inclusive look inside BYU Football’s 1984 National Championship season.
“I told them in the locker room, that’s something that — not to get all philosophical — but that’s something they can take with them for the rest of their lives where it really is just a microcosm of how to plow through life.
“Things aren’t always going to go your way and you’ve just got to figure out ways to get through things, and that’s what this group did this year. When you have that attitude and do it day after day, really good things can happen.”
The Cougars went 2-4 in their first six conference contests, only to catch fire late and close out the regular season with a nine-game winning streak that spilled over into the Big 12 tournament.
In his first taste of NCAA Tournament action, Young led BYU to its first victory in the event since 2012, exorcising the program’s March demons against 11 seed VCU before upsetting 3-seeded Wisconsin and punching a rare Cougars ticket to the Sweet 16.
“This was a team that was picked ninth in the Big 12 and we’re one of the last 16 teams standing,” Young said. “Extremely proud of these guys. Each one of these guys has a remarkable story in their own right, and just really happy that I got a chance to coach not only (the seniors) but this entire team.”
Having coached professionally for the majority of his career prior to arriving in Provo, transitioning to the college game was a clear learning experience for Young, especially in working with younger players opposed to proven NBA talent.
However, given the improvement and development of Richie Saunders, Trey Stewart and Keba Keita, just to name a few, Young obviously got the hang of his new dynamic.
AJ Dybantsa’s journey to BYU began with his parents
“I think I learned just the cadence and the pace in which you can coach younger guys. You can’t maybe throw as much at them, and that was something I had to kind of scale back a little bit,” Young said. “But I think just the eagerness (is) similar to NBA players, players are smart at any level. If you show the players that you can help them individually and then help the team win, that’s when you get the trust of the group. For the most part, I think we were able to do that with the majority of the team.”
Young has spoken often throughout this past campaign about “stacking days,” or performing well in practices and games without suffering any letdowns or setbacks. Given the success of his first year in Provo — along with AJ Dybantsa as well as other potential NBA prospects headed to BYU — Young now turns the page to stacking seasons in order to continue building a program that can compete for championships among the sport’s elite.
“I’m really proud of the way our guys just stayed with it, and they never pouted. We just found a way. We found solutions.”
— BYU coach Kevin Young
“First of all, the future at BYU is incredibly bright. I think anyone that pays attention to the sport would agree with that,” Young said. “This was obviously kind of a statement, I think, this season, where it’s like, we’re a force to be reckoned with in the Big 12 and nationally, led by really good players that we had this year, and we’ll continue to try to bring good players in.
“But I just think there’s a lot of good things going on at BYU, period. Making the move to the Big 12, the football team kind of got that party started in the last couple years, and we tried to carry the torch as well. It’s exciting to think what we can build for me and our staff being new in this whole thing.
“We had a lot of learning we had to do and are still learning, obviously, but we feel like foundationally, we’ve kind of put out a blueprint of how we want to play,” Young continued. “I think our identity is clear.
“Now we’ve got to hopefully do a good job to continue to recruit to that identity and continue to try to bring in high-end talent so we can play with the teams who historically have played deep into this tournament. That’s our goal.”
BYU head coach Kevin Young talks with his fellow coaches during a NCAA Tournament against Wisconsin held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
