Dennis Gates' top assistant at Missouri will be a familiar face. Gates is set to hire Florida State assistant Charlton "C.Y." Young as part of his staff at Mizzou, sources told PowerMizzou.com on Thursday. The school officially announced the hiring in a release on Friday morning.
"I am sincerely thankful to president Mun Y. Choi and Desiree Reed-Francois, our Director of Athletics," Young said in the release. "Their belief in Coach Gates and his ability to create a winning culture at the University of Missouri is one of the main reasons I am so excited about becoming part of this family. The opportunity to align with the administration and work alongside Coach Gates to make Missouri an annual NCAA Championship contender is very exciting."
“I am enthused to announce the hiring of Coach Charlton Young,” Gates added. “What he gives us here at Mizzou aligns with our program’s core values and championship vision. Coach Young is an exceptional offensive strategist and defensive guru. He is the real deal. While at Florida State, I saw his ability to connect with the campus community and student-athletes on a first-hand basis. He is a great teacher of the game and his passion of developing talent is well documented. It’s an honor to welcome him and his family to CoMo!”
Young was hired by Leonard Hamilton at Florida State in 2013, two years after Gates joined the Seminole staff. The pair spent six years on the bench together and Young has remained in Tallahassee over the last three seasons with Gates coaching at Cleveland State.
No announcement has come yet from Missouri, but Gates tweeted that it was coming soon.
At 50 years old, Young has spent half his life in coaching. After a standout playing career at Georgia Southern, Young was hired as an assistant at Auburn in 1996 at the age of 25. He coached at Jacksonville, Northeastern, Auburn again, Chattanooga and Georgia Tech over the next 13 seasons.
In 2010, Young was hired as the head coach at his alma mater, taking over Georgia Southern amidst NCAA troubles. Young went 43-84 as the GSU head coach, though that did include a 15-15 record in his third season, which earned him the Southern Conference Coach of the Year award. After being let go at Georgia Southern, Young was hired by Hamilton at FSU.
Young is the first known hire for Gates, who was officially named Missouri's head coach 17 days ago on March 22nd. He has a salary pool of $915,000 for his three assistants. Terms of Young's deal are not yet known, but he was being paid $236,000 at Florida State. Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports reported that Young is getting a three-year deal "in excess of $1.85 million."
Gates has two more vacancies on his staff for full-time assistants. John A. Logan CC head coach Kyle Smithpeters is considered a strong candidate for one of those spots based on what PowerMizzou.com has been told.
The staff will immediately get to work with at least three known visitors this weekend and the beginning of the open recruiting period with AAU tournaments being played in Orlando and Indianapolis.
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