Turns out the first major bit of news is a coach on the move.

Assistant coach Chris Burgess has accepted a similar position with the University of Utah, according to multiple sources, joining second-year head coach Craig Smith’s staff.

Burgess was recruited by the Cougars out of high school in California in the mid 1990’s as one of the nation’s top recruits but chose Duke instead. After two seasons in Durham, N.C., Burgess transferred to the University of Utah and began his coaching career as a graduate assistant for the Utes in 2013.

Burgess coached at Salt Lake Community College and Indian Hills Community College (Iowa) before joining Mark Pope’s staff at Utah Valley University in 2015. He followed Pope to BYU in 2019, where Burgess earned a reputation as a great big man’s coach and solid recruiter. He helped develop Yoeli Childs during his senior season and helped Kolby Lee become a legitimate force for the Cougars before he opted to leave the program. This season, injuries forced the Cougars to turn to freshmen Fousseyni Traore and Atiki Ally Atiki in the post and they performed well.

Besides Utah being his alma mater, the Utes, who play in the Pac-12 Conference, can likely offer Burgess a bigger salary as well. In addition, Burgess’ daughter, KJ, is a high-level volleyball player who signed with Beth Launiere’s program last fall.

Smith took the Utah job in 2021, coming over from Utah State to replace Larry Kryskowiak. Smith’s original staff included Eric Peterson, Demarlo Slocum and Tim Morris. Peterson recently left to become the head coach at South Dakota.

Pope’s current BYU assistant coaching staff consists of Cody Fueger and Nick Robinson, with Bobby Horodyski as director of basketball operations.