BYU Basketball Adds Former Tennessee Vol As Grad Assistant

PROVO, Utah – Mark Pope has added a new graduate assistant to his BYU basketball staff. Melvin Goins, a former college basketball player, is now part of the BYU program.

“…So humbled and grateful for the opportunity to join the BYU basketball staff,” wrote Goins on social media.

 

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Goins was a former guard for the Tennessee Volunteers when Bruce Pearl was the head coach. He played two seasons in Knoxville after transferring from a junior college. Goins played 31 games in 2010 when Tennessee reached its only Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament.

During his senior season in 2011, he started in 33 games and was second in the SEC in steals per game with 1.7.

Goins took on coaching and was recently an assistant coach for the Balboa School in Clearwater, Florida.

The addition of Goins gives BYU two graduate assistants on the staff. Goins joins Carsen Williams, who joined the program last season.

Fifth-year head coach Mark Pope is still making moves with his coaching staff in preparation for his program’s first year in the Big 12 Conference. The Cougars are still looking to add a fourth assistant that would be a full-time assistant but is not permitted to off-campus recruiting.

They also need to fill vacancies with the Strength & Conditioning spot, plus the Director of Basketball Operations position after Bobby Horodyski took an assistant job at Queens University. Queens became a D-1 program last season in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

BYU is currently practicing in preparation for their upcoming foreign tour to Italy and Croatia on August 18-28.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on Twitter and Threads: @Mitch_Harper.

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