Has BYU bitten off more than it can chew…Full exclusive details:

BYU basketball fans throughout the world drew a collective sigh of relief last Thursday afternoon when the school announced it had extended the contract of coach Kevin Young.

The 43-year-old coach had signed what was believed to be a seven-year deal back in 2024 when he replaced Mark Pope, so obviously he did a lot of impressing the past season, guiding BYU to a third-place tie in the Big 12 and to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

There’s probably no telling the length of his current deal, or how much he is being compensated, but it is a safe bet that it is substantial in both cases. As a private school, BYU does not have to release its coach’s contracts, as public schools do.Coincidentally, I interviewed Young in his office a few hours before the news was released, primarily to talk about how he balances fatherhood and coaching basketball at a Power Four school for my annual Father’s Day piece that will be published later this weekBut I did ask the father of three — with a second daughter on the way — what he thought of his former employer in the NBA, the Phoenix Suns, hiring 40-year-old Jordan Ott from the Cleveland Cavaliers, and if he was ever interested in that opening.

Frankly, I was surprised by Young’s candor. Here’s his reply:

“Yeah, I was interested in it. But I made this decision to come here and leave the NBA for some pretty specific reasons. I loved my time in Phoenix. It was a place for me where I have fond memories. My family liked it there as well.

“So I definitely wasn’t closing the door. And I respect those guys down there, too, the players. I have good relationships with who is running the team, then and now. They were really good to me. They helped elevate my career in a way I will always be grateful for. So yeah, I think it was a natural thing to have a conversation. I don’t think the time was necessarily right for them or for me. But I think out of respect for them and for me, it was like, ‘Yeah, let’s have this chat.’ You know what I mean?”

Young politely declined to divulge whether he was offered the job. Personally, I would be really, really surprised if he wasn’t. That Young’s contract extension was announced a day after Ott was hired probably speaks volumes.

Let’s leave it at that.

Question of the Week

What is your overall assessment of the nonconference schedule Young and his staff have put together? Have the Cougars bitten off more than they can chew?

Jackson Payne: Wrestling legend Ric Flair said it best: “To be the man, you have to beat the man.”

BYU’s championship aspirations for the coming season — within the Big 12 and nationally — will require the Cougars to enter conference play having already been battle-tested. Potential Quad 1 victories against the likes of Villanova, UConn, Wisconsin and others would help to do just that, along with building an immediate NCAA Tournament résumé to draw a more favorable seed on Selection Sunday.

But BYU’s aggressive nonconference scheduling also reminds me of the Cougars’ football rallying cry from 2020 — “any team, time or place.” By loading up with marquee matchups, Kevin Young and his staff are sending a message that their program means business. Expectations have changed in Provo, and BYU both believes it can beat anyone and won’t back down from the chance to prove it.