BYU assistant coach Quincy Lewis debuts on 'Rose Show'


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PROVO — In his freshman season at Dixie State, third string point guard and now BYU assistant basketball coach Quincy Lewis was thrown into the game after the starting and backup point guards went down due to injury.

Lewis ended up hitting the game-winning bucket and started at point guard for the rest of the season. There were many witnessing the game winner and success of Lewis' freshman season, including up-and-coming Dixie assistant coach Dave Rose, who kept an eye on Lewis ever since.

"The best thing is how competitive he is," Rose said of Lewis, who joined the now-BYU head coach's weekly radio show at Malawi's Pizza Tuesday evening. "We talk about things that happen back then. We were talking about the game winner he hit his freshman year against Hutch (Hutchinson Community College).

"He went on the trip as third string point guard. Both other guys went down and then we knew he was our guy. He took advantage of that chance."

Lewis has been taking advantage of chances to prove himself on the court and as a coach his whole career.

His father Tim, who is in the Utah coaching Hall of Fame, never encouraged Quincy to become a coach — he actually encouraged him to choose a different career path.

"My dad said whatever you do don't be a coach." Lewis said, "Of course I wanted to be one and I went back to school and studied teaching and sports marketing."

With seven state high school championships under his belt at Lone Peak High School, and a National Coach of the Year honor, it seems that Lewis has found a career that serves him well.

BYU head coach Dave Rose walks off the floor after Utah and BYU play in the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Dec. 2, 2015. Utah won 83-75. (Photo: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
BYU head coach Dave Rose walks off the floor after Utah and BYU play in the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Dec. 2, 2015. Utah won 83-75. (Photo: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)

When the assistant job at BYU opened up, Rose said that the interview process was unlike many others because of how familiar Rose and the rest of his staff were with Lewis.

Jokingly, Rose said, "For Quincy, all we did was ask him if he wanted the job. He has been everything we thought he would be and more."

Rose said one of the biggest things he looks for in a coach is how his players respond to him, not in a game, but more particularly in practice. That is what stood out about Lewis' coaching style at Lone Peak.

"We watched a lot of practices. That's where we get to see a value a coach has to a team. Quincy is very detail-oriented and players responded to him very well." Rose said, "It is difficult for guys to leave high school with a positive experience in basketball sometimes. From top to bottom, all the players respected Quincy, and that's who you want on your staff."

Lewis responded with a humble answer when asked why he thinks Rose hired him and what he can provide to the team as it tries to improve from a somewhat shaky start to the season.

"Coach is going to hire the best person for him, and who works best with him and his staff. And that's a great compliment to me," Lewis said. "We need to improve the defense. I will bounce ideas off of Terry and Tim and coach. And we will talk and come to a consensus on what is best. I see a lot of potential with this group. We have a lot of improvement to make and are taking steps in the right direction."

Rose gives a lot of freedom and also a lot responsibility to his assistant coaches and relies heavily on their observations and input during the game.

"I want everybody to feel ownership in what they are doing and how they do it," Rose said. "How we do things today will probably not be the same we do things later in the year."

During games, while Rose is worrying about player performance and substitutions, Terry Nashif is drawing up offensive schemes and Tim Lacomb is analyzing defensive positioning, Lewis is assisting in any way he can, waiting for his opportunity to step in and help the team.

The "ServPro of Provo" sub of the week was given to Nate Austin.


Tanner Apeland is a student at Brigham Young University studying business management. He is from Portland, Oregon. He hopes to find a profession that combines his passion of sports broadcasting and marketing.

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