PROVO, Utah – BYU Director of Athletics Brian Santiago announced Thursday the university and Men's Basketball Head Coach Kevin Young have agreed to an extension that will keep Young in Provo for the foreseeable future.
Brigham Young University coach Kevin Young has signed a new long-term contract extension with the program, sources tell ESPN, a new deal coming on the heels of a Sweet 16 run in his first season and the arrival of potential No. 1 NBA pick AJ Dybantsa.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 5, 2025
Young and the Cougars are coming off a 2024-25 season where they went 26-10 overall, 14-6 in Big 12 play, reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2011 and landed the No. 1 recruit in the country. He was named a finalist for the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year Award, given to the top first-year head coach in NCAA Division I men’s basketball after leading the Cougars to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for just the third time in program history.
“My family and I have loved our first year at BYU, being surrounded by great people, at a great university with shared values,” Young said. “I’m excited to continue to build a program based on trying to help young men prepare for the NBA, win at the highest level and do it at BYU. This is an exciting time for all of BYU Athletics with Brian Santiago recently being named athletic director. I look forward to continuing to work with Brian and am excited to be in lock step with his leadership.”
After starting Big 12 play 2-4, BYU found its groove, winning 12 of its final 14 games in league play, including an eight-game win streak to finish the regular season and finish tied for third with Arizona. During the streak, Young led the Cougars to wins at nationally-ranked Arizona and Iowa State while handing Kansas its worst loss in program history as a ranked team vs. an unranked opponent, in front of a sold-out Marriott Center.
After being named a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive season, BYU defeated VCU in the Round of 64 to make Young the first, first-year BYU head coach to win an NCAA Tournament game since the field was expanded to 64 teams. The Cougars held on to defeat Wisconsin, 91-89, behind 25 points from Richie Saunders, to advance to the Sweet 16 for a third time in program history.
Under Young’s tutelage, Saunders was named the Big 12 Most Improved Player while earning First Team All-Big 12 accolades. The Lute Olsen Award finalist averaged a career-high 16.5 points per game while becoming the fifth player in program history to shoot 50/40/80 as he went 202-of-390 from the field, 79-of-183 from three and 96-of-115 from the charity stripe. Saunders was instrumental in the Cougars reaching the Sweet 16 for the first time since Jimmermania as the Riverton native averaged 22.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game while shooting 59.5 percent from the field, 41-7 percent from three and making all 11 of his attempts from the free throw line.
Projected lottery pick Egor Demin was equally impressive during the Cougars' NCAA Tournament run as the 6-foot-9 guard averaged 13.7 points, 5.7 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game. In the win over the Badgers, Demin nearly had a triple-double finishing with 11 points, eight assists and eight rebounds. He broke Danny Ainge’s freshman record for total assists (180) and assists per game (5.5) that had stood since 1978.
Let’s ride, KY! pic.twitter.com/XT4RsGnFJn
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) June 5, 2025