Daily Herald sports writers Darnell Dickson and Jared Lloyd give their opinions on the hot BYU sports topics this week:

1. What are your first impressions of new BYU head men’s basketball coach Kevin Young?

DICKSON: I would say he’s more of an old school coach in terms of his personality and demeanor. He seems humble but confident, which is tricky combination to pull off.

I thought one of the more interesting things he said at his introductory news conference was that being an NBA coach was never really his dream. That’s surprising considering his rise to the top of the list of NBA assistants. Maybe he was just waiting for an opportunity to find the right job at BYU?

His G-League and NBA experience is impressive so I think his Xs and Os will be a strength. I think he’s approaching the job the right way but I also don’t think he quite understands the amount of work he’s going to need to do at the collegiate level.

That’s why he needs to surround himself with plenty of experienced assistants and staff members. He emphasized how important relationships are in coaching, and that is absolutely going to help him on his journey.

LLOYD: I had a few things that struck me as I sat their listening to Young’s first press conference as the BYU head coach.

The first was that he said all the right things, which is expected. Did anyone really think he would say, “Actually I’m just here at BYU until I get a bigger paycheck in the NBA”? No way.  And I don’t honestly believe that either.

But while I thought he was striving to be as honest and straightforward as he can right now, things could easily change in the future.

I also can see why once Young expressed he was interested, all of the Cougar coaching search focused on him. He understands the values and passion that are cornerstones to the BYU athletic department while also having possibly the best résumé of any of the candidates. Plus he had connections with people with a lot of resources, which never hurts in this day and age.

Finally, I’m cautiously optimistic that he’ll adapt to the new role and thrive, bringing in great talent and molding them to be effective on the basketball court. But he hasn’t done that yet.

I’ve seen and heard people say they feel like BYU hit a home run by hiring Young. I say, sure, but this is just batting practice. Now go do it in the games.

2. How well do you think Young will be able to retain the talent from last year’s BYU roster?

LLOYD: As Young stood up in front of the podium, he talked about how the current BYU players are his top priority and even joked about getting so amped up by the hype video that he was ready to have them do suicides and get rolling right then.

But to me his task isn’t as straightforward as just try to bring back all of the players who had solid success under Mark Pope. Aly Khalifa committed to Louisville on Thursday and others might decide to go as well. It’s modern college basketball, after all.

The key question is who does Young see as the future?

Young’s former boss at UVSC, Dick Hunsaker, told me earlier this week that the new Cougar head man is excellent at both building relationships and adapting to different situations. That skill set makes me think he would prefer to build off the current foundation instead of completely blowing things up (like Deion Sanders did with the Colorado football team).

On the flip side, the current Cougars have to decide whether they are willing to risk being part of a transition that might include some growing pains. That could push some to move on, although I think Young’s NBA background would be a big reason to consider staying and seeing things through.

DICKSON: Being able to call on some of his former NBA players — Kevin Durant, Chris Paul and Devin Booker, to name a few — to help him close the deal or give advice is something truly unique to Young.

He said he’s committed to creating opportunities for his players to move on to the next level. His knowledge of how that works should be a big plus in retaining talent. If a player’s dream is to get to the NBA, who better than a guy who’s been coaching there as long as Young?

Of course, today’s environment in college sports promises a better opportunity elsewhere, whether it is true or not. I think there’s a strong possibility for Young to get Aly Khalifa, Dallin Hall and Richie Saunders to come back but I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one of them decides to see what’s just over the next hill.

3. What kind of support staff do you think Young should secure over the next month?

DICKSON: We don’t know who Young’s people are. By that, I mean that over the course of his 20 years in coaching he’s developed friendships and relationships with dozens of coaches and staff members, many without any association at all with BYU.

I would imagine over the past couple of years, Young has given some thought to how he would organize things if he were an NBA head coach and who he’s calling up to come help him. He’s probably only spent the past 72 hours thinking about who he might hire to help him at BYU.

I think it’s imperative that he gets at least some staff members familiar with how BYU does things but I also like the thought of bringing fresh ideas and perspectives into the program.

That mix is going to be a big key in how successful Young is in Provo. BYU showed it was willing to pay market value for a head coach, now that needs to be applied to assistants as well.

LLOYD: He needs three main things on his staff: Individuals who know the ins and outs of coaching, individuals who understand the unique benefits and challenges of BYU and individuals who Young works well with.

To varying degrees, all three of those things can be developed over time, so if Young thinks there is someone who is really strong in two of them, it might be worth taking a chance on them acclimating to the third.

Additionally, it would be nice to have coaches who are familiar with the modern evolution of college basketball on and off the court, just to shore up areas that Young hasn’t been involved with in recent years.

I expect a mix of a name or two who are familiar to BYU fans and a few others they haven’t heard of but that Young is confident will be excellent.

4. What’s a reasonable expectation for Young and the Cougars in his first season?

LLOYD: I’m going to boil down this question to a one-word answer: progress.

We can speculate on wins and losses or postseason success or league competitiveness, but there are numerous factors that will come into play and directly impact those outcomes.

And I’ve never thought it was truly fair to judge a first-year coach too extensively on that first season. Success might be because of the players brought in by the previous coach or it might not. Failure might be for the same reason.

But I want to see a BYU team that looks like it is more comfortable and cohesive overall in February than it was in November, regardless of what numbers are on the scoreboard. I want to see Young get his guys being more effective in their roles at both ends of the court.

If he accomplishes that, he’ll have met my Year 1 expectations.

DICKSON: Without a full roster, it’s impossible to give an accurate guess on how BYU will fare in 2024-25. But I do know what a successful season looks like: A Top 25 ranking, a solid performance in the Big 12 and an NCAA Tournament berth.

At this point, I would think those goals are pretty lofty for a first-year coach. Matching last year’s performance would be incredible.

I usually look at progress as the main indicator of success in a program, but this might be a situation where you have to go back a step or two to move forward.

We’ll learn a lot more about Young and his style over the next few months and we’ll revisit this question several times leading up to the start of the season next October.

5. The BYU men’s volleyball team lost in five sets to USC in the MPSF quarterfinals and won’t make the NCAA Tournament. What does coach Shawn Olmstead need to do to get BYU back to the top?

DICKSON: BYU benefited from the COVID year immediately in 2021 when the entire roster decided to come back. The Cougars finished as NCAA runner-up that season. Other schools actually were very young immediately following the 2020 pandemic year, and those schools have benefited greatly from that extra year of eligibility.

The Cougars were good this year but couldn’t quite get over the top in some key matchups. BYU was 5-5 in five-set matches, including Wednesday’s heartbreaking loss to USC in the MPSF quarterfinals.

I looked this up: Since winning the NCAA Tournament in 2004, the Cougars have ended their season nine times with five-set losses. It’s crazy how close BYU has come to advancing to the MPSF finals or in the NCAA Tournament.

Olmstead seems to always have his guys in the hunt but they’ve been just short of greatness on many occasions. I’m not a volleyball coach, but it would seem the Cougars are pretty close to moving into elite status. Keep grinding and it will happen, right?

LLOYD: Well, to start with the obvious answer, winning more five-set matches sure would help. Those are the contests that require teams to be at their best for the longest period of time and being .500 means there were certainly some missed opportunities.

The margin of error in men’s college volleyball is pretty thin. A mistake here, a poor pass there, a late rotation there, and suddenly the other side has a five or six-point run.

My impression is that BYU is very close to having the depth and talent to compete with the best teams, but the consistency isn’t there yet. I’m not saying it wouldn’t help to Cougars to add a star or two, but they need more times when everything is clicking.

And there is only so much that coaching can do in that regard. It’s the players who have to make the plays of the floor, avoid the miscues and finish the opportunities. The BYU returners need to take that one themselves to raise their game in that regard.

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