BYU Basketball Hires Director of Analytics, Executive Assistant

Kevin Young announced new hires Friday, including Akash Sebastian, who will serve as director of analytics and strategy. Sebastian spent time with the Sacramento Kings and Utah Jazz early in his career before spending the past two years as a coaching analyst with the Phoenix Suns.

Young was full of praise for Sebastian: “I’m very excited to have Akash here at BYU,” Young said. “We’ve worked closely together over the last two years in the NBA. He’s been instrumental in many of the successes we’ve had with the Phoenix Suns, working hard behind the scenes to get things off the ground. He knows how to challenge my thinking as we strive for performance, both at the team and player level. His ability to build things from a coding and programming standpoint will also be helpful as we build out our analytics infrastructure.”

Samantha Young comes from the BYU basketball program, where she spent time as a language specialist. Coach Kevin Young emphasized her ability to fill multiple roles: “Samantha is a very welcome addition to our program,” Young said. “She is a perfect fit for this role, given her previous experience helping our players with academics. Samantha is a tireless worker and is extremely organized. As she transitions into this new role, she will fill multiple roles to help all of us get things done.”

Along with Doug Stewart in the newly created position of Chief of Staff, these latest hires bring BYU basketball one step closer to its goal of becoming a top-tier program. In an ever-changing college environment where coaches have to adapt to things like the transfer portal, NIL agreements and revenue sharing, these hires will take some of the pressure off Coach Young and allow him to be in the trenches with his players.