University of Missouri Athletics

A successful coach who has enjoyed tremendous success at every step, Charlton “C.Y.” Young is in his third season with the Mizzou men’s basketball program as associate head coach.

With almost 30 years of coaching experience, including a previous stint as a head coach, Young has been a part of nine NCAA Tournaments and two regular-season conference titles, while coaching 14 NBA Draft picks.

It didn’t take long for Young to translate his success to Missouri. In his first campaign on the Tigers’ sideline, MU collected its most wins in 11 seasons with 25 overall victories, while completing its most successful campaign since joining the SEC with the program’s first-ever trip to the conference’s semifinals. After being picked 11th in the SEC Preseason poll, Mizzou highlighted a strong first year by claiming the team’s first NCAA Tournament victory in 13 seasons – earning a spot in the final AP poll of the year.

Individually, two Tigers continued their career into the NBA after spending one season with Young on staff and graduating from Mizzou. Kobe Brown was selected in the first round of the NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers and D’Moi Hodge signed a free-agent contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. In total, five Tigers have signed with NBA or G-League franchises in two seasons with Young on staff.

Young came to Columbia after a nine-year stint on Leonard Hamilton’s Florida State staff from 2013 to 2022. His work with the Seminoles directly played a part in FSU winning an ACC regular-season championship, three Sweet Sixteen appearances and the program’s first Elite Eight in 25 years. The 2020 team finished the season ranked in the top five of both major polls – the school’s best finish in program history – before the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

His recruiting success has been evident at every stop in his career – from helping Florida State land top-10 classes in each of his first eight seasons in Tallahassee to signing the nation’s No. 1 recruit, Derrick Favors, while at Georgia Tech. He recruited and developed four of Florida State’s seven NBA Draft first-round picks, including Scottie Barnes, Patrick Williams, Devin Vassell and Malik Beasley. Florida State was the only team in the nation with top-five picks in each of his last two NBA Drafts with the program (2020, 2021).

Prior to joining Florida State, Young spent four seasons as head coach at his alma mater, Georgia Southern. He took over a program that won only eight games with a 5-15 Southern Conference record in the season before his arrival and quickly established it into a title contender with a second-place finish in his third campaign.

Young, who also enjoyed assistant coach stints at Auburn (1996-97 and 2000-04), Jacksonville (1997-98), Northeastern (1999-00), UT Chattanooga (2004-05) and Georgia Tech (2005-09), was inducted into the A STEP UP Assistant Coaches Hall of Fame in 2023. He was also named the No. 1 High-Major Division I Minority Assistant Coach by the Minority Coaches Association in 2021 and was a finalist for the Ben Jobe Award in 2012, which is awarded annually to the top minority head coach in Division I.

Young remains one of the greatest players in Georgia Southern history, as one of 14 all-time players to score more than 1,500 career points. He still holds the school’s three-point field goal percentage record (40.9) and shot nearly 46.0 from the field over his four-year career. More than 25 years after his playing career ended in 1993, Young still ranks top-10 in six different career statistical categories. The three-time all-conference selection was inducted in the GSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008 and had his number retired in 2024.

Following a playing career that included a stint professionally in France in 1994, Young returned to Georgia Southern to earn his degree in broadcasting.

Young and his wife, Carolyn, have four children – daughters Ariel and Audia and sons Isaiah and Nehemiah. Carolyn is a two-time All-American and 1991 SEC Player of the Year who led Auburn to a pair of Final Four appearances. She was also a member of the 1992 United States Olympic Bronze Medal National Team and played for the Portland Fire of the WNBA. Ariel played for North Carolina and graduated in 2023, while Audia is currently a sophomore on the Auburn basketball team.