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PROVO — BYU's first assistant coach under a new men's basketball regime is a familiar name on the west coast: Brandon Dunson, most recently of Stanford.
The assistant coach with strong west coast ties is the first assistant hired by new BYU men's basketball coach Kevin Young, the Cougars announced Tuesday. Dunson has been an assistant coach with the Cardinal for the past two seasons, but was not retained by new Stanford coach Kyle Smith.
"I'm thrilled to add Brandon Dunson to my staff at BYU," Young said. "He's the total package as a basketball coach. He's extremely bright and has an incredibly bright future. Brandon is someone our players and community are going to love. He will be invaluable to me as I transition from the NBA to the college game."
In Dunson's first season as an assistant coach at Stanford, the Cardinal won 14 games and closed the season as one of the top offensive programs in the country in 2022-23. He was also instrumental in recruiting former four-star recruit and McDonald's All-American Andrej Stojakovic and top-40 prospect Kanaan Carlyle, the Cardinal's first pair of top-four recruits in the same class since Brook and Robin Lopez in 2006.
Dunson was also part of former Stanford coach Jared Haase's staff from 2016-18 as director of basketball development, wher ehe helped the Cardinal to a third-place finish in the Pac-12 in 2018 with 19 wins and an NIT berth. Among his responsibilities were recruiting strategies, opponent scouting and overseeing the program's video services.
A veteran recruiter with deep ties up and down the west coast, Dunson also previously coached at Nevada, Cal State Fullerton, Denver and NAIA Arizona Christian.
Welcome to the family @BMDunson ! 🤙 pic.twitter.com/E0ZKXoJGcd
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) April 24, 2024
A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Dunson played collegiately at SIU-Edwardsville, Wabash Valley College, Arizona State and Azusa Pacific. He also spent time professionally in Mexico's Liga Nacional.
It's another recruiting win for Young, a first-time collegiate head coach who will stay on as Phoenix Suns associate head coach through the NBA playoffs. After four-star wing Collin Chandler followed former coach Mark Pope to Kentucky and Dallin Hall and Richie Saunders entered the transfer portal (Saunders was spotted on a visit to Kentucky as recently as Monday), Young earned a critical pledge from senior-to-be Trevin Knell to return to BYU before the weekend — and attempt to keep the half-dozen or so players on the current roster together.
He then picked up a commitment from former USC signee Brody Kozlowski on Monday night, when the four-star prospect out of Corner Canyon added his name to join power forward Isaac Davis this fall. Young also offered a scholarship to J.J. Mandaquit, the four-star point guard from Honolulu, Hawaii, who plays locally for Utah Prep.
Jaxson Robinson, BYU's top scorer a year ago en route to Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year honors, declared for the 2024 NBA draft earlier Tuesday.
