From the basement to the penthouse.

That’s how things go for a few lucky basketball coaches — but how many end up almost right back where they started?

Go back in time to 19 years ago when Tony Ingle, who coached at BYU and then at Kennesaw State in Georgia, reached out to another coach, Dick Hunsaker, at Utah Valley State College (now Utah Valley University).

“Tony asked me if I would meet with this young man and if I might have a student assistant or graduate assistant position opening,” Hunsaker said in a phone interview on Tuesday.

During the “chaos” of summer recruiting, Hunsaker said he connected with the aspiring coach in question and worked things out.

In August, Kevin Young joined the Wolverine coaching staff for the 2005-06 season to take just the second step in his coaching career (his first was the prior year at Oxford College, a junior college in his home state of Georgia).

Hunsaker said he saw early on that Young had the type of talent needed to be successful in the profession.

“Kevin really has a gift for assessing a situation or a relationship, assessing a player’s needs, and then just listening and providing feedback,” Hunsaker said. “He has just a unique way with people. He as a really special way about him.”

UVSC was making the transition from being a junior college to a full-fledged Division I program and went 17-12 that season, including some nice wins.

After that season ended, Young started his journey through international basketball in Ireland, the NBA D-League and then the NBA.

Hunsaker said he’s kept in touch with Young over the years and enjoyed seeing him find success.

“I love the guy,” Hunsaker said. “I know what skills it has required for him to ascend through the coaching profession. He’s been blessed.”

Hunsaker said he had seen Young’s name be mentioned in connection with various NBA head coaching jobs, so it was a little surprising when the announcement was made on Tuesday that Young was returning to Utah Valley to be the new head coach at BYU.

“I was a bit surprised that he chose this route, but you look at the paycheck (a reported $4.2 million per year) and he’s also a family man,” Hunsaker said. “How many more paychecks do you need? To have that and be a family man, I think it’s a great place for him.”

Hunsaker acknowledged that Young will need to get acclimated to the college game again after spending so much time in the NBA, but he’s confident his former assistant will make the required adjustments.

“He’ll need to get accustomed to the game, the way it’s officiated to the way it’s played and the player skill levels,” Hunsaker said. “But Kevin is masterful in adapting and reading situations. He went from the D-League to being with great coaches in the NBA and I think they’ve all loved him and his innovations. He has the ability to be creative while keeping things simple, not overcomplicating things.”

Hunsaker believes that it won’t take like for Young to have a big impact on BYU.

“He’ll be under underrated and underestimated early as he starts out down there but as time goes by, I think those trends are going to shine,” Hunsaker said.

On a personal note, Hunsaker — who retired at UVU after the 2014-15 season but still lives in the area — is looking forward to having his former assistant back in town.

“It’s been fun for me to follow and watch what he did to become the coach of Brigham Young University,” Hunsaker said. “It’s a big deal. That’s certainly going to be a lot of fun, navigating the terrain of that job. I think Kevin is tailor-made for that.”

When he took a moment to reflect, Hunsaker couldn’t help but compare that first year at UVSC to where Young is now.

“He went from being the lowest-paid assistant basketball coach in Division I when his salary was $0 at Utah Valley State College, to years later being the highest-paid assistant coach in the NBA and then becoming the highest-paid coach in BYU history,” Hunsaker said. “He worked just as hard as anybody on that staff for that year he was with me. He showed his love and passion for the game. It’s a wonderful success story.”

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