In a three-month period, BYU basketball coach Kevin Young recruited his staff and his roster by using a simple and consistent strategy — he sold a vision that was encompassed by sincerity.
Adults love it. Kids dig it.
“From a personality standpoint, (Young) is extremely humble,” assistant coach Will Voigt told the “Y’s Guys” podcast this week. “Let’s keep in mind he was the highest paid NBA assistant coach last year who had a multitude of NBA teams interested in him being their head coach, but there is no pretension about him. I think the guys really connect with that.”
Young not only convinced several key players to stay in the program, but he also amassed a group of newcomers the likes BYU has never seen before, including a pair of first-round projections for next year’s NBA draft.
“He is easy to talk to. He is easy to relate to,” Voigt said. “But when you are in a recruiting meeting, and you can point to the fact that he has worked with 31 lottery picks — that’s going to get their attention. The résumé speaks for itself, but his ability to relate and connect to these kids is also really important.”
Voigt isn’t a kid, but he quickly learned Young’s strategy is no respecter of age groups. The former Phoenix Suns associate head coach convinced Voigt to leave the San Antonio Spurs G League team in Austin, Texas, and join him in Provo.
“It was a lot of the same pitch we give to our student-athletes. He laid out what a special place BYU is and what he felt we could build here,” Voigt said. “The fact that he would walk away from NBA head coaching jobs already speaks volumes in terms of what he saw the program could be and he really does a great job outlining that for anyone who wants to join him.”
Including Voigt, who signed on with no previous connection to BYU or its church affiliation.
Speaking the language
Voigt is well-versed in the game of basketball with coaching stops in Germany, Egypt, Angola, Nigeria, China and the United States.
“They all have different ways of playing basketball and what it has forced me to do is adapt to the talent you have, which is the trait of any good coach,” he said. “Going to all these different places forced my hand to learn how they saw the game and what their style of play was.”
Communication, no matter if it’s with a German national or an American teenager, is a byproduct of Voigt’s worn-out travel visa.
“Having to learn a new language forces you to streamline the words that you use, and I think that’s a good thing in coaching,” Voigt said. “Taking something complicated and making it as simple as possible is the definition of good teaching and through that process, that has really helped me.”
Top guns
Never in program history has a BYU roster showcased both a projected NBA lottery pick and a first-round selection as incoming freshmen. But that is what they have in Egor Demin and Kanon Catchings.
“They are both really talented. They fit the NBA game well as sort of positionless players. There is a lot of length and skill there,” Voigt said. “We need to also be patient and remember how young they are. It’s great to have the excitement around them. They both look great early in our workouts, but we also know it’s a process and we are not going to skip steps in their development.”
The impact of landing Demin and Catchings could be long lasting, even if they are truly one-and-done players. Young’s staff is banking on these two being the first — not the last.
“I think it speaks to what we can do as an institution,” Voigt said. “What’s great about these two is there is only going to be a select few guys who not only have the talent to be on NBA draft boards as incoming freshmen, but more importantly, they fit the character of what a BYU student-athlete looks like.”
Demin, a 6-foot-9 projected lottery pick, comes to BYU after spending three years with Real Madrid’s U-18 program in Spain. Catchings, a 6-9 projected first-round selection, chose the Cougars over national runner-up Purdue.
“The fact that we were able to sign two of those guys speaks a lot to what coach Young is creating here,” he said. “At the end of the day, of course we want to bring talent in, but we want to bring the right type of student-athlete. For us to come out of the gate with two of them, I think it’s pretty special.”
Alumni muscle
Doing what Young and his staff have done so quickly has required the reach of BYU’s alumni, including the likes of Danny Ainge, Jimmer Fredette, Travis Hansen, Ryan Smith and many others.
“They have been huge. When you talk about Danny Ainge, Ryan Smith (and others), these are people who move the needle in a big way,” Voigt said. “I think that is one of the special things about BYU and something I had to learn myself. I always knew what a great environment the Marriott Center was, but I don’t think I really understood the global brand of BYU until I came here.”
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.