An energetic, emotional and engaging Young stood before a small crowd on Thursday and preached to his congregation on how much being head basketball coach at THE Georgia Southern University meant to him.
He cried, he laughed, he was sternly honest. He took a pass from GSU President Dr. Bruce Grube on the wing, pumped and drained an imaginary 3 while his two young daughters in the front row giggled at their silly daddy.
He broke off absent-mindedly into tales of the glory days of Eagle basketball, when Hanner Fieldhouse was packed to capacity and rolls of toilet paper streamed onto the court after the first made basket...
"You were there," he said, nodding to legendary radio voice Nate Hirsch and the Savannah Morning News' Don Heath.
When the 15-minute show was over, he moved to the hallway — after escorting Young's One, Two, Three and Four to the car — and answered more questions, spouted more personal, philosophical mantras and told more stories.
It was a dream day for a man who just accepted his dream job. But at some point the alarm clock will go off.
Young's GSU is a now distant memory to the one he is now again a part of. The team hasn't won a conference title since he was a sophomore — and that was in the now defunct Trans-Atlantic Athletic Conference. The last time ol' Hanner was packed was when Stephen Curry came to town and 95 percent of the crowd was there to see the rock star from Davidson College.
The icing on the cake is an on-going NCAA investigation of the very program he inherits.
Young, there's no doubt, is aware of all these factors and more. He'll be 38 when he toes the sideline of his first game as head coach and he's certainly got the energy to handle everything thrown his way.
And perhaps it is Young's personal success that can help save his alma mater. He promised a championship will only come from creating championship people. He promised his young men will play each and every game as if it were their last. He promised the guys wearing, "Georgia Southern University" across their chest will make you proud.
Those were the principals he valued as an under-sized point guard from Miami in the early 90s. Those are the principals that have come synonymous with Georgia Southern athletics as a whole.
Young now faces the toughest challenge of his coaching career. The pressures, the expectations, the stresses, headaches and ulcers that come with being a Division I coach will be new to Young. It can and will, at times, be a nightmare.
But for his sake, for Statesboro's sake, for Georgia Southern's sake, we hope the new ball coach will still be dreaming years from now.
Congratulations Coach C.Y.!!! As a former player/teammate/roommate of C.Y., I'm very elated to hear that GSU chose CY as the new and improved commander in charge. His contagious spirit, passion, commitment, and competitiveness will only help put the over due pride back into the basketball program. Many of GSU's modern fans are unaware of the rich tradition that is buried beneath Hanner Fieldhouse...former great players such as C.Y., Richard Sherrod, Cal Ferguson, Ben Wallace, Michael Stokes, Anthony Forrest, Ben Pierce, Kenny Dixon, and of course, Michael Curry and Jeff Sanders. Many of these players are responsible for holding the nation's longest winning streak at 17 games. That was a very difficult task to accomplish during that era. In addition, Southern had a very talented coaching staff in Kerns, Robbie Laing, and Mike Backus. Hiring CY as the coach is a great sign of the program reclaiming its rich tradition! Let’s get behind Coach CY and allow him to spread his wings fully so that he can soar with the Eagles back to the promise land!