NorCalCoug

It's obvious that Smith and Danny Ainge both played a significant role in getting this worked out.

If you say so... I think you're taking an awful lot of liberties with what little information has been shared. But to each their own.

It's amazing to me that BYU is willing to drop hundreds of millions of dollars into facilities and now $30M for a single coach when the entire athletic department is about to shut down according to board BYU insider @SteedLaw....

I don't know what you're reading to give you the impression that this is all being paid for by Ryan Smith. I know he contributed "millions" and committed more $$$ to the program but it's a stretch to suggest he's footing the entire bill here.

BYU's recruiting is what it is. It provides a higher floor and lower ceiling. The team is not nearly as white lately as it has been historically. I will say that LDS bball talent has been pretty lacking lately but the pipeline appears to be better going forward from the looks of it. The HC isn't ever going away so they will continue to operate within the limitations it provides.

The money was available before though and they still never spent it... Year 1 of Independence BYU's AD ran a $4MM budget surplus. That grew to $14MM+ before the move to the BigXII. They were still very cheap in their expenditures on coaching salaries, etc. The money was there before, the appetite to invest in coaching salaries wasn't. That's clearly changing, which is a great evolution for BYU sports.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/byu-to-hire-kevin-young-as-coach-phoenix-suns-assistant-to-lead-cougars-after-mark-pope-takes-over-kentucky/

Staying with Subs through the playoffs - but also working on assembling a staff and recruiting.

Yeah, extremely surprised as a BYU fan. I don’t know much about the guy so not sure what to expect but there’s no denying that BYU in the BigXII is changing a lot of things for the AD. I’m excited to see what kind of staff they can assemble. Connected BYU folks say they’re sparing no expense to get him very experienced assistants to help with the transition the college game. I guess we’ll see…

Biggest surprise to me is BYU opening the purse string to the tune of a 7-year deal for $30M??? These are definitely new times for BYU. Also, BYU reportedly looking to build him a top flight staff including Chris Burgess and Barrett Peery (who many assumed were top candidates for the HC position). We’ll see how it all unfolds but definitely an intriguing hire.

Not gonna lie, I’d be furious if I was a Kentucky fan. He doesn’t have the track record that a blue blood like Kentucky should attract. I still think that Pope does well there, but@utenationsummed it up well with “risky, risky”.

It would be interesting to see if his unique style of play is well received and successful in Provo. He probably isn’t the top candidate, I just think he ends up the guy. It’s certainly a more unconventional prediction.

I have a sneaky suspicion that UNLV Assistant Barrett Peery will be BYU’s next HC. But we’ll see… Kentucky hiring Pope was a surprise to me. A blue blood hiring a guy that hasn’t won a single NCAA Tournament game is shocking. I actually think Pope could do well there. I wish him the best all the same. I’ll definitely pay more attention to Kentucky now.

A good friend of ours is high up in the Legal Department of the Larry H Miller Group…. things are definitely progressing on the MLB front.

Don’t be surprised to see both the NHL and MLB in Salt Lake before long. There’s a lot of momentum and financial backing on both fronts.