The Rutgers men’s basketball program is officially welcoming Jay Young to the 2024-25 coaching staff.
A respected veteran in college basketball with 36 years of coaching experience, Young joins Rutgers after spending four seasons as the head coach at Fairfield University.
“We are thrilled to welcome Jay Young back home to Rutgers,” Pikiell said. “Jay is one of the best workers I have been around in my 30-plus years of coaching. Jay helped build winning programs from the ground up at Stony Brook and Rutgers. He brings an outstanding wealth of knowledge to help in all areas.”
“It’s special for my family and I to be back with Coach Pikiell after 14 great years together,” Young said. “It’s truly important for me to be around great people and a tremendous university. During those three great years working at Rutgers, I got a chance to meet so many tremendous people and now to be reunited with them, I couldn’t be more excited and I’m thankful for the opportunity. I am as hungry as I’ve ever been to get back to coaching.”
Young’s resume includes guiding programs to eight National Tournament appearances, comprised of two at both the Division I and II levels as well as four at the D-III level, including a berth in the NJCAA Final Four.
Rutgers set a new standard for Big Ten wins in each of Young’s three seasons with the Scarlet Knights. RU earned its first Big Ten postseason win in 2017 and then reached the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals for the first time in 2018. KenPom.com ranked Rutgers as the most improved Power 6 conference program in the nation in 2019-20, jumping 71 positions since the beginning of the 2018-19 season.
Rutgers went on to reach new heights following Young’s departure to Fairfield including the first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 30 years in 2021 and returning to the tournament in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1976 in 2022-23.
“It’s kind of what I expected when I left,” Young said. “Coach Pikiell did such a great job establishing his culture and I knew it was headed that way. It was great to watch from afar and I felt in some way that I had a small part in it. They certainly continued that success and even took it further. I know how hard that staff worked, and it was cool to see it all come to fruition. Hopefully, we can continue that and move Rutgers even further now.”
Before Rutgers, Young rose to Associate Head Coach at Stony Brook University, where he was a member of Pikiell’s staff for many of the most successful seasons in Seawolves history. Stony Brook reached the NCAA postseason for the first time in its Division I history in 2016 after winning the America East Tournament and Regular Season Championship. The Seawolves also received bids to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) three times during Young’s tenure as the America East Regular Season Champions.
Young also directed the recruiting efforts that brought Jameel Warney to Long Island. A three-time America East Player of the Year, Warney is Stony Brook’s all-time leader in points, rebounds, and blocked shots. Young recruited three of the top four all-time leading scorers at Stony Brook during his tenure with the Seawolves.
Previously a head coach at the University of New Haven, Young took the reins of a team that had just one winning season in the prior eight years and led them to back-to-back NCAA postseason bids in 2003-04, including the Chargers’ first victory on the national stage since 1988. He went 78-66 (.542) in his five seasons at New Haven, wrapping up his tenure with four consecutive winning campaigns.
Young’s first head coaching stop was in the junior college ranks at Newbury College, where he was a two-time NJCAA Regional Coach of the Year and 1995 NJCAA District VI Coach of the Year. Young guided his team to postseason play in three straight seasons, highlighted by a trip to the 1995 NJCAA Division III Final Four. Young has also made assistant coaching stops at Northeastern, Salem State, and Fitchburg State.
Young said what he misses most is being back on the court with the players and rekindling the day-to-day dialogue with Pikiell after spending so many consecutive years together.
“I am hoping to add some value wherever they need to be on the staff and want to help in any way that I can,” Young said. “They already have a great staff. I can’t wait to get back out there with the guys and add value in any possible way that I can to the program. I can’t wait to have a special year here.”
