CodyFueger

The Kentucky men’s basketball team added the first piece to Mark Pope’s inaugural coaching staff with the hiring of Cody Fueger (pronounced FEE-gurr) as assistant coach in April of 2024.

Fueger has been a nine-year member of  Mark Pope’s staffs, first serving as an assistant coach at Utah Valley and then transitioning to BYU. The connection began when they were on the BYU staff together when Pope was an assistant coach and Fueger served as the director of basketball operations.

Fueger began his career as a student assistant coach and video coordinator at Utah under Rick Majerus. Following graduation, Fueger served as the director of basketball operations at Louisiana Tech (2007-11), UC Riverside (2011-12), Utah State (2012-13) and BYU (2013-15) before being elevated to assistant coach under Pope at Utah Valley in 2015.

Named one of the most impactful mid-major assistant coaches in Division I men’s basketball by Silver Waves Media in 2022 and 2023, Fueger has been instrumental for Pope’s squads. BYU ranked 14th in offensive efficiency in 2023-24, while ranking third in the nation in made 3s and assists per game. The Cougars led the Big 12 in scoring at 81.4 per game in their first season in the conference. Picked to finish last in the preseason selections, BYU capped the regular season in fifth with wins over No. 7 Kansas, No. 11 Baylor and No. 24 Iowa State. They received a No. 6 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

Under Fueger’s tutelage, Jaxson Robinson was named the Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year after pacing BYU in scoring off the bench at 14.2 points per game. Fueger was also involved in the development of 2024 All-Big 12 Honorable Mention, Dallin Hall and two-time All-WCC First Team member Alex Barcello.

In all, Fueger and the Cougars went 110-52 during five seasons, with three postseason appearances, including two trips to the NCAA Tournament. Three of those five teams concluded the season ranked inside the top 20 of the Ken Pomeroy efficiency rankings and four of the five reached the 20-win threshold. In 2020, BYU led the country in 3-point percentage at 42.2% and was on pace for a No. 5 seed at the NCAA Tournament before the season was ended due to COVID-19.

At Utah Valley, the Wolverines increased their win total during every season with Fueger on the staff. They finished 25-10 overall and were runners-up in the Western Athletic Conference in 2018-19 with the 25 wins marking a program record. Furthermore, Utah Valley enjoyed a 30-2 mark at home and made three straight postseason appearances from 2017-19. The Wolverines connected on a school record 300 3-pointers in 2016-17 and followed that up by scoring a school record 78.1 points per game in 2017-18. Wyatt Lowell was tabbed the WAC Freshman of the Year in 2019, while Jake Toolson earned WAC Player of the Year.

As director of operations at BYU, the Cougars made consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament and had seasons with 23 wins in 2013-14 and 25 in 2014-15.

Fueger and his wife, Danielle, have three children, Isabella, Andrew and Ana. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s in parks, recreation and tourism-sports management from Utah.