BYU basketball announces assistant coaches to complete coaching staff

BYU basketball now officially has its coaching staff in place.

After running solo for two weeks, Mark Pope brought over two of his former Utah Valley assistants in Chris Burgess and Cody Fueger, and hired former Southern Utah head coach Nick Robinson, BYU announced Wednesday.

“I couldn’t be more excited about having put together this staff,” Pope said in a press release from the school. “This group is so capable and they check every box that I require of my assistant coaches: they’re loyal, they’re exceptionally competent at player development on the court and relationship building off, they’re 24/7 guys and they all have ambitions of growing in this profession and becoming head coaches.”

As a fun side note, this is likely one of the tallest staffs in college basketball: Pope and Burgess are each 6-foot-10 and Robinson is 6-foot-6. I couldn’t find an official height for Fueger but he’ll probably look pretty short on the sidelines.

Burgess and Fueger were each with Pope at UVU for all four seasons.

Here is a bit on each coach’s background:

CHRIS BURGESS

College: Duke (1997-99), Utah (2000-02)

Professional: Idaho Stampede (2002), Internationally (2003-13)

Coaching: UVU Assistant (2015-19)

After former BYU coach Roger Reid stated that Burgess “let down 9 million Mormons” when he committed to Duke over BYU more than 20 years ago, Burgess is in Provo with a decade of international experience and multiple seasons of coaching under his belt. Burgess will likely be tasked with developing and coaching BYU’s bigs.

Pope on Burgess: “Chris ... pulls from his own personal experiences as a collegiate athlete and extensive experience as a professional career to not only teach these young men the fundamentals of the game but to also help them grow as a players and people.”

NICK ROBINSON

College: Stanford (2001-05)

Coaching: Rio Rancho HS assistant (2005-06), Stanford assistant (2007-08), William Jewell assistant (2008-09), LSU assistant (2011-12), Southern Utah head coach (2012-16), Seattle University assistant (2017-19).

Robinson was a well-liked coach but couldn’t quite turn things around at SUU during his four seasons in Cedar City. But he’s had four more years of college assistant experience on top of that.

Pope on Robinson: “Nick and I have been good friends since we entered this business. He had an extraordinary career as a college player and student at Stanford where he won at a high level He ... is a true student of this game. He’s passionate about mentoring these student-athletes and helping them reach their potential.”

CODY FUEGER

Coaching: Utah video coordinator/manager (2002-07), Louisiana Tech (2007-11), UC Riverside (2011-12), Utah State (2012-13), BYU director of operations (2013-15), UVU assistant (2015-19).

Pope on Fueger: “Cody is a true veteran of coaching, having coached at the college level for the last 17 years in every region of the country. He’s had experience in the highest levels of basketball, has recruited all around the world and has been mentored by some of the greatest coaches in the history of the game. Cody has a magical way of coaching players really hard while building strong relationships that last beyond their tenure under his tutelage.”