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PROVO — When Brian Santiago was formally promoted to become BYU's next athletic director, he wasted little time saying the sometimes quiet part out loud: Kalani Sitake's football program "drives the ship" in the athletic department.
But the former Fresno State sharpshooter's top urgency, for the moment, involves basketball.
Santiago wants to make sure that rising second-year men's basketball coach Kevin Young doesn't leave BYU after just one season, and he feels there is plenty of reason to be concerned.
Young, 43, led the Cougars to one of the better finishes in the program's era in his inaugural campaign, a 26-10 record and the first Sweet 16 appearance since 2011 (and only the third since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 32 teams and beyond in 1975).
But Young's old stomping grounds may come calling, with the Phoenix Suns looking for a new head coach for the fourth time in four years after firing Mike Budenholzer following just one season (and missing the playoffs and play-in tournament despite boasting the largest payroll in the NBA).
Could Young, who spent five years on the bench in Phoenix and rose to become the associate head coach in four of them, be a candidate for the job? Santiago would prefer not wait to find out.
Young attended Santiago's introductory press conference Wednesday with his wife, but left before speaking with the media. Still, Santiago brought up his second-year men's basketball coach when asked about his immediate priorities in his new role.
"The first thing I want to do is make sure all of our coaches are locked in at BYU," Santiago said. "We need to make sure, starting with Kevin Young, that he's locked in at BYU for a long time. ... Obviously, we're super close and we're going to have some good conversations, but I want to make sure that we have the right 19 coaches in place for all of our sports, and that they feel confidence moving forward and knowing that we're with them."
Fitting, then, that the former Provo High all-state guard's first major job at BYU is making sure his men's basketball coach is "locked in."
Young agreed to a seven-year deal worth $30 million when he was hired, according to CBS Sports' Matt Norlander.
The first-time collegiate head coach has one of the top incoming classes in the country ahead of him, headlined by No. 1 overall recruit AJ Dybantsa and five-star Baylor transfer Robert Wright III to pair with returners like leading scorer Richie Saunders, scoring guard Dawson Baker and post Keba Keita, among others.
But BYU was also Young's first college job since 2006, and he appeared destined to be an NBA coach as the league's highest-paid assistant. In Phoenix, he'd also be able to coach several players with whom he formed a close bond as an assistant, starting with franchise cornerstone Devin Booker.
The Suns have conducted more than 15 interviews during the initial stages of the coaching search, according to the Arizona Republic. But the franchise also isn't in a hurry to name a head coach, with new general manager Brian Gregory telling the media last week that Phoenix would use an "extensive process" in making the right hire.
So what kind of coach are they looking for?
"Unbelievable basketball IQ," Gergory said, per the Republic. "Tremendous communicator. Shares our vision and what we understand needs to be done to be successful in basketball in this new NBA."
Longtime Miami Heat assistant Chris Quinn has also been mentioned as a candidate for the job, as has former Utah Jazz assistant Johnnie Bryant, who also has spent time with the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Santiago called Young "locked in" in terms of his job quality. The Suns plan to make a hire by early June, according to longtime Phoenix sports radio host John Gambadoro. So there's time for plenty to change — even for Santiago.
"Everybody knows there's a lot out there with him being such a successful NBA coach, and the Phoenix Suns making the change," he said. "It's obvious that they are going to be interested in talking to Kevin Young.
"What I'm hoping is that Kevin Young sees everything happening here, and for all of these student-athletes that we've brought to BYU, that this is the right place for he and his family — so that we can move forward with confidence. And so everybody knows, we're ready to go."
