EL PASO, Texas (AP) - So often one man’s journey tells more about him than the destination.
The El Paso Times (https://bit.ly/2iWDVmM ) reports Kimani Young is a rising star in the frenetic, beautiful, crazy world of college basketball coaching. He has been a valued assistant for Richard Pitino, son of Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino, for almost five seasons now - one at Florida International, the last four at the University of Minnesota. He has dreams and aspirations, just like any successful 39-year-old.
One day he would like to guide his own program. Perhaps, just perhaps, that day is not too far away. That is the destination And that is impressive. The journey is even more impressive.
UTEP basketball fans remember him as Kimani Jones-Young, an outstanding shooter, a slick ball-handler, a gifted 6-foot-4 guard from New York. Young graduated from UTEP in 1998, having joined the elite 1,000-point club with 1,023. He averaged 16.6 points a game as a junior on the 1995-96 team and he averaged 17.0 points a game as a senior on the 1996-97 team.
He was a fan favorite. He was a coach Don Haskins favorite.
Intelligent, articulate, a big voice and an impressive presence with that 6-4 frame, Young appeared destined to be right where he is … or, really, anywhere he wanted to be.
But journeys do not always go smoothly. And that is what makes successful journeys all the more impressive.
Young, who had never been involved with drugs, was caught with 96 pounds of marijuana and spent a year in a federal prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania. He was guilty of knowing people here, knowing people in New York and of making a very bad decision. He has put that part of his life in the past. He has worked his way toward an impressive destination. He no longer wishes to delve into that part of his life.
Eight years ago, though, he told the El Paso Times, “It was a humbling experience. People telling you when to get up, when to go to bed, when to eat. It certainly tells you that you better get your stuff in order. My first day … well, let’s just again say it was a very humbling experience.”
And then Young went to work putting his life back in order, making the journey all the more impressive.
He returned home to New York and worked for Kaplan House, a facility for young men in foster homes. He worked with the Police Athletic League, he worked as the athletic director for the New Heights Youth, Inc. And, of course, he was always involved with basketball. He met Pitino through AAU circles.
“We met and we had a ton of mutual friends in the business, including Mick Cronin, the head coach at Cincinnati,” Young said in a recent interview with the Times. “Everything connected us. When Coach Pitino was hired at FIU, he wanted to hire a young coach to grow with him. I was always around basketball, always helping young people at the YMCA, the AAU, at the high school level.
“I’ve always been a goal setter and this move into college coaching really was exciting,” he said. “I’ve always been somebody who wanted more. I thought in college I could make an impact in young people’s lives. Basketball has changed a lot over the years and yet it has remained the same. It’s still five-on-five, it is still coaching, teaching, mentoring. I’m a people person and I love young people. I enjoy helping them go through the challenges of being a student-athlete.”
Young traveled through heartache and hard times. But his journey has also taken him through tragedy.
His wife Sharette had a master’s degree and was an English teacher at a New York community college. In 2009 she had a cold which turned into pneumonia, which sent her into cardiac arrest. She was only 39 years old and left behind three beautiful children.
“I just relied on all my life lessons. You pick yourself up. You push through,” Young said. “I had a lot of family support, a lot of friend support. I took our kids and said look, this is a terrible tragedy. But we are not going to let it define us.”
The Young children are now 14, 12 and 10 and are part of the University of Minnesota basketball family.
“They come to all the games, they know all the players,” he said. “They look out there and say ’there’s daddy.’ They are doing well. And we are doing well.”
And so Kimani Young continues his journey, continues it doing something he loves. And, these days, his job can be challenging.
“Kids haven’t really changed,” he said. “The people around the kids have changed, though. I would call home to my mother and talk about not playing enough or getting yelled at and her message was to work harder, fight through adversity, become stronger. Today kids call an AAU coach and they say they will find another place for you. It’s happening all over the country … 700 to 800 transfers a year.
“You have to find the ones who come from a good background,” he said. “You have to get to know their parents, their coaches, the people they are around, their aunts and uncles.”
Young has nothing but good things to say about his UTEP experience and his time in El Paso. He speaks almost reverentially of Haskins.
“I think about him every day,” Young said. “I wouldn’t be a college coach today if I didn’t play for him. He is the biggest reason I’m a coach. I saw what he did. And he was the best. My mom still loves to tell this story. She laughs a lot about it. Coach Haskins got on the phone and told her, ’you talk to this guy and you think he’s a Rhodes Scholar. But he hasn’t fooled me.’ My mom still loves that story.”
Former Miner Steve Yellen has remained in contact with Young over the years.
“Kimani Young is one of my heroes in life,” Yellen said. “Not because of what he has and will achieve but because of what he has been through, - making a huge mistake in life and making one of the greatest comebacks ever. He did this because of his incredible dedication to honesty. He has had this great rise through the coaching ranks and his honesty and mental toughness are what I love about the man.”
Years ago, Yellen visited Young in New York and had this to say: “I walked into that rec center and the place was packed. Hundreds of people. There was a game going on, talented kids at 6-foot-5, 6-6. Kimani was handling the microphone and it was beautiful. There were little kids hanging on him. He is the godfather of the neighborhood. Something bad happened to him and he turned it around. You walk around the neighborhood with him and he can’t go 10 steps without someone stopping him - boys, girls, older people … no matter the age. They all come up to him. You have to love that guy. He does great things for young people. He is one of the most important people in that community.”
And now he is one of the most important people in the young assistant coaching community. It is all part of his amazing journey.
Minnesota athletic director Norwood Teague issued a statement when Pitino hired Young: “President Eric Kalen and I each spoke at length with college presidents and athletic directors at schools employing Coach Young and received assurances that Kimani was a positive influence and leader for their programs and student athletes.”
Haskins spoke to Young on a regular basis before he passed away. He said he was mad at Young in the beginning and very proud of what he had become. And that was before Young became a college assistant coach.
At one point, Haskins said, “We talk. And I’m really happy he’s doing something so constructive.”
And so now the journey continues, the destination becoming brighter.
“I’m coaching, I’m climbing the ladder, I’m having fun,” he said. “This has all been a great way for me to pay back. I feel like I’ve got a lot more years, a lot more kids to help. You have to stay hungry.”
And you must, absolutely must, continue the journey - especially when the journey is far, far more impressive than the destination.
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Information from: El Paso Times, https://www.elpasotimes.com
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