PROVO — Other than a few games against inferior competition, Kevin Young hasn’t won much as the new BYU basketball coach. Wait a moment, the time to win is near.

Young picked up his biggest win yet on Tuesday without even pacing the sidelines. Leveraging the coach’s long-standing NBA connections, BYU received a double dose of major publicity with the signing of the country’s top recruit, AJ Dybantsa.

As high school students often do, Dybantsa wanted to make his decision something of a ceremony. But the smooth swingman took it to the highest level, making the announcement on ESPN flanked by his father and the network’s best-known commentator, Stephen A. Smith.

Dybantsa cited a recommendation from Kevin Durant as his reason. The future Basketball Hall of Fame superstar formed a deep connection with Young over the past two seasons, when both played with the Phoenix Suns.

Since arriving at BYU after serving as an assistant with the Suns, Young has touted his ability to send players to the NBA. But don’t overlook the program’s ability to attract recruits with a significant amount of money in the form of NIL opportunities.

Indeed, these are exciting times for a university known for running an athletic department on the cheap. Remember, this was an institution where legendary football coach LaVell Edwards gave a radio call to fans after games.

“I made $75 a show,” he deadpanned during an interview on The Zone years ago, implying that he needed the extra money.

Those days are over for BYU, which has poured more resources into its athletic programs. It’s safe to say that the football and basketball coaches are well compensated, but it goes beyond their individual salaries.

By signing Young from the Phoenix Suns, BYU added several full-time positions to its staff. Young also brought back assistant Chris Burgess, who had left BYU to take a similar job at Utah, for which he was paid $265,000 (as a private institution, BYU is not subject to open records requests).

“The commitment that BYU has made is amazing,” former BYU basketball coach Steve Cleveland said on The Zone this week.

In addition to several raises in recent years, BYU has given football coach Kalani Sitake significant security. Late Saturday evening, the university announced that it had agreed to a long-term contract extension that did not specify a time frame but was “well into the future.”

Three years ago, athletic director Tom Holmoe said BYU signed Sitake to an “unprecedented” contract through the 2027 season. Former Weber State coach Jay Hill later became defensive coordinator.

The Alamo Bowl-bound Cougars finished the regular season 10-2 and had double-digit wins in three of the last five seasons. In his ninth year at his alma mater, Sitake will be inducted into the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame next month.

At the time of the contract extension in 2021, Holmoe cited the interest Sitake received from other programs during the coaching carousel that occurs each year after the season ends. He was probably a hot commodity this year too.

“He’s deserved it for a long time,” senior offensive lineman Connor Pay said. “I’m glad they finally did it. “I don’t think there’s a better man to lead BYU than Kalani, and you only have to spend a few minutes with him and you’ll see that he reflects everything BYU represents.”

“For me as a player, I have to be associated with that leadership for the last four and a half years and have some kind of living image of the man I want to be one day to lead our team. That’s just having a desire to do the right thing and do what’s best for the team when you have a leader like that. He turned down a lot of money and a lot of other opportunities to stay here because he loves this school and he loves us as players.”