To say this offseason for BYU basketball has been the wildest few months in program history is bold, but still an understatement. Never has such a wide-ranging staff or high-end roster been constructed in so little time.
“It’s been pretty crazy! It feels like it was a year ago that we got started, but it’s been great,” assistant coach Brandon Dunson told the “Y’s Guys” podcast. “I think the best thing about this is we have been able to not only get really talented guys with a lot of upside potential, but guys who fit.”
Still with one scholarship to fill, the recruiting haul and the returning talent has BYU projected to return to the NCAA Tournament in their second year in the Big 12 — arguably the toughest basketball conference in the country. But while adding top prospects like Egor Demin and Kanon Catchings, head coach Kevin Young and his staff have had to turn down many others.
“You wouldn’t believe how many guys who had high abilities, where from a basketball standpoint it was a no-brainer and wanted to be here, but from a culture standpoint, and things like that, it just wasn’t a great fit for us,” Dunson said. “It’s been a lot of names in a lot of places over a lot of days and late nights, but I think we’ve got a good mix of guys, both on the court and off. I think they are great BYU fits.”
Most notably, Dunson has been impressed by how the returning players have grafted in the newcomers in just a few team workouts.
“They are just great people, obviously they wouldn’t be here if they weren’t,” he said. “I think it has been really cool to see how the team has been able to gel together pretty quickly on and off the court. That doesn’t happen everywhere. I think we have guys who are aligned the same way and think in similar ways.”
Perfect storm
Dunson attributes BYU’s recruiting success in such a short period of time as a culmination of many things.
“I think it’s a perfect storm,” he said. “You have going into the Big 12, the success they had last year in the Big 12, the former players are really big in supporting the program, you have 18,000 strong in the Marriott Center, the alumni network and you have what the university stands for.
“I think that’s such an underrated part of all this, people wanting to be around like-minded people, not having all the distractions you have at a normal university — I say ‘normal’ meaning this (BYU) is an extraordinary one.”
The players are also looking at BYU because of the staff.
What stands out about Young’s staff?
BYU hired Young on April 16 during the NBA playoffs. As the associate head coach of the Phoenix Suns, he remained with the team through their first-round series against Minnesota while putting a staff together and hitting the recruiting trail.
Dunson was Young’s first hire on April 23. He then added Chris Burgess, Tim Fanning, Will Voigt and John Linehan. Doug Stewart was hired as Young’s chief of staff and former Cougar Nate Austin was retained as director of operations.
“I do think we have a very unique staff dynamic, not just in the versatility of everyone being here, but we are ourselves and we kind of present it as that,” Dunson said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, this is who we are about. If you are about that, great, this is a great fit. If not, no problem, but this is probably not going to be the fit for you regardless of your talent level or anything else.’ So, I think our transparency is a big piece of that as well.”
Another big piece is the experience the staff brings to BYU.
“First, we have people who have been in the Olympics, in the Euro League, Overtime Elite, the Division II level, Power Five level, NBA and G League,” he said. “Second, just the character. One of the reasons I came here was because of coach Young’s humility and I think everyone who has been hired has a similar humility and a goal of helping people be the best they can be.”
Cougar Nation
Dunson spent the last two years as an assistant at Stanford. He is well versed in recruiting to a program that boasts a national following but admits some newness to BYU’s international reach.
“Not a global fanbase, (I’ve coached to) a national one — yes, but not a global fan base. It’s pretty awesome,” Dunson said. “I think it’s a big reason why a lot of us decided to come here and it’s a big reason why a lot of the players decided to come here.”
Dunson sees BYU’s reach going far beyond basketball.
“When they are done, whether they play one or two years and go pro, the alumni network across the world — there is very few like it and that’s a selling point for us,” he said. “You are going to be taken care of after basketball. You will have a reputation within this school. You are going to be part of a family that is not just in Utah, not just on the West Coast, it’s global and so it’s pretty cool to see.”
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.