The architect of the new UK basketball offense is ready to run. Here’s what he’s thinking.

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Between sessions at the NBA Combine last month, the smile on Jaxson Robinson’s face grew wider when Cody Fueger’s name was mentioned.

Robinson, the leading scorer at BYU last season, recalled the countless hours spent in Fueger’s office, going over film and learning more about his own game. The 21-year-old spoke of soaking up as much information as possible while he was around the Cougars assistant coach.

After it was pointed out that some have described Fueger as a “genius” when it comes to basketball offense, Robinson interjected. “He is,” adding that BYU’s electric offensive style was “amazing” last season, often too much for defenses to handle.

“And Cody Fueger is definitely the brain behind all that,” Robinson said.

Sitting in a room in the Joe Craft Center last week, Fueger laughed out loud and shook his head when that quote — the one about being “the brain” behind BYU’s offense — was read back to him.

“Jaxson’s the best,” Fueger said. “He always has my back.”

The basketball lifer — he started out as a teen-aged student assistant under legendary Utah coach Rick Majerus — immediately deflected that bit of praise. Heading into his 10th year as an assistant coach under Mark Pope — Kentucky basketball’s new leader — Fueger acknowledged he was the “offensive coordinator” of Pope’s teams but said the two work closely together.

“Coach and I talk about that stuff every single day. And I’m not one of those people that claims I have all the answers. I’ll talk to everybody about everything,” he said. “… So I am far from saying I’m like that. I’d rather just — we’re all in this together. And that’s how you win championships. That’s how it’s done.”

A couple of months ago, shortly after he took the UK head coaching job, Pope spoke glowingly of Fueger, his first official hire with the Wildcats and clearly one of his most trusted colleagues.

“He’s a brilliant basketball mind,” Pope said then. “He was brought up by Rick Majerus — almost like Rick’s adopted son. Like that young. Learning from him, and Rick was one of the best to ever do it. And Cody just keeps pushing the envelope. He keeps pushing the envelope on the offensive side to where we’re getting to the really, really extremes of college basketball.

“And I dig it, man. I love it. That’s super exciting.”

On that charge — being described as a coach who wants to pursue offensive tactics to the very extreme of the sport — Fueger didn’t push back one bit. He’ll readily own that truth.

“We want our guys to play fast and free,” Fueger said, his smile widening as he looked forward to the possibilities. “And we need 35 3s a game — that’s our goal.”

Origins of an offensive mindset

Fueger (pronounced FEE-gurr) grew up in the Milwaukee area, and though Majerus is best known as the longtime head coach at Utah, he was also raised in Milwaukee, graduating from Marquette University and beginning his coaching career as an assistant there under Al McGuire before ultimately becoming the school’s head coach for three seasons.

Even after Majerus left Wisconsin, he kept close ties to the state, including hosting a basketball camp that Fueger started attending when he was 8 or 9 years old, returning every summer through high school.

As he got to know him better, Majerus asked the kid to instruct at the camps.

“There was no connection or anything like that to him,” Fueger said. “It was just going to his camps, and I was the kid that worked hard and dove on the loose balls and took charges — did all the stuff at camp that Coach Majerus loved.”

After Fueger graduated from high school, Majerus wanted him to walk on at Utah. But — young for his class and nowhere close to 6-feet tall at that point in his life — Fueger knew there was no real future for him as a player.

“And I was too cheap,” he said. “I didn’t want to pay out-of-state tuition. And he knew I wanted to coach down the line, because I was coaching his camps. Then he said, ‘All right, come work for me, and I’ll give you a scholarship.’ So that’s kind of how I got started.

“It was incredible. I was with him every day, 24/7. I really lucked out. That’s how I broke into the business, with Coach Majerus. And you know what that name means. It’s pretty remarkable.”

A student assistant on scholarship — a rare arrangement, for sure — Fueger took in as much basketball information as possible. After Majerus, who died in 2012, stepped down for health reasons in 2004, Fueger finished his student coaching career under Ray Giacoletti.

He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees before leaving Utah, spending time as a director of basketball operations at Louisiana Tech, UC Riverside and Utah State and then landing in that position at BYU, where Pope was already on Dave Rose’s staff as an assistant coach.

The duo worked together for two seasons there before Pope was hired to be head coach at Utah Valley, and he brought Fueger with him. Their first season at UK will be their 10th as head coach and assistant.

“I was lucky to go over with him to Utah Valley when he got his first head coaching job. And we’ve just developed a really good relationship,” Fueger said. “We saw the game the same way. We worked the same way. Kind of every little part of our profession — we saw the same way, and it made sense to us. And we speak the same language.”

That doesn’t mean they always agree.

“He doesn’t want yes men. He doesn’t want that,” Fueger said. “He wants to hear from everybody. He wants to know — ‘What are your thoughts? What are you thinking?’ And that was very similar to Coach Majerus. And I didn’t know anything. I was an 18-year-old. ‘All right, Cody, what do you think about him?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know. Andrew Bogut seems like he’s a pretty good player.’”

Somewhere along the way — Fueger now has more than 20 years of experience working for other coaches — an obsession with offense was born. That might seem odd for someone who started learning the game under Majerus, a demanding, defensive-minded coach.

“The whole thing has always been defense and rebounding. That was Coach Majerus,” Fueger said. “And c’mon, he was a successful coach. And I love defense and rebounding. C’mon, who doesn’t? That’s truly how you win games.

“And offense — with him, it was screen, motion — it was all these things that I absolutely love. And I thought that was the only way.”

The longer he kept coaching — and the more different approaches he saw — Fueger began to branch out, taking little pieces here and there and incorporating analytics into his thinking.

“When I hopefully get an opportunity (to be a head coach), I want my guys to play fast and free and let them go shoot 3s and let them be confident,” he said. “… And Coach Majerus was not — you know, ‘It’s the best stinking shot you can get, every single possession.’ And just being around Stew Morrill, Kerry Rupp, Ray Giacoletti, Dave Rose — all those guys kind of morphed into the way I’m thinking offensively, because they were just …”

Fueger paused and grinned, searching for the most polite finish to this particular thought.

“Everyone was just a little bit more free than Coach Majerus was,” he said.

Kentucky’s new offense, explained

The past two months have been an absolute whirlwind in the world of Kentucky basketball.

Following John Calipari’s unexpected departure for the Arkansas coaching position, Pope was ultimately left with zero returning scholarship players for the 2024-25 season. The next several weeks were spent, largely, on building a roster from scratch. Last week, the Wildcats who will make up Pope’s first UK team hit the court for the first time together as summer practice began.

Fueger was one of Pope’s key recruiters — along with early staff additions Alvin Brooks III, Jason Hart and Mark Fox — and the vision of their 12 scholarship additions sharing the same floor was quite exciting.

The Cats were only a couple of practices into the summer session when Fueger sat down with the Herald-Leader last week, and it’s far too soon for any sweeping judgments on the new players. But the offensive-minded assistant coach knows how he wants this team to play.

There has already been talk that these Cats might put up 35 3-pointers per game in year one of the Pope era.

“That would be our goal,” Fueger said, completely serious. “It’s not easy to do. We gotta run. And that’s something that — we’re watching film with our players and sending them clips. And like, ‘Guys, we have to shoot that shot.’”

Last season, BYU took an average of 32.0 3-pointers per game.

“Second most,” Fueger interjected, referring to the Cougars’ national ranking in that stat, seemingly a mix of pride that they shot that many and regret that they didn’t shoot more. North Florida led the country with 33.2 attempts from deep per game.

“Our goal last year at BYU was 35. I just didn’t do a good enough job of getting them going,” Fueger said.

By the end of the season, the Cougars were 14th nationally in offensive efficiency, according to the KenPom ratings. They were the highest-scoring team in the country’s best conference at 81.4 points per game.

“And we were No. 1 in the Big 12 in 2-point percentage, because we were getting to the rim over and over again,” Fueger pointed out. “Because everybody’s worried about the 3.”

He’s correct. BYU was first in its league and eighth nationally in 2-point percentage, all that defensive attention on the perimeter leading to clear paths to the basket for cutters. And he’s planning a similar approach this season at Kentucky.

Of the 12 scholarship players on this team, 10 are legitimate 3-point threats. The two outliers are Amari Williams and Brandon Garrison, who are expected to split time at the 5 spot. Both come to Lexington with high expectations defensively. Williams was three-time CAA defensive player of the year at Drexel, and Garrison — a former McDonald’s All-American — was one of the Big 12’s most promising young defenders at Oklahoma State as a freshman last season.

But both can be more than that.

Big men who can pass — either from the block or by stepping out and away from the basket — will be hallmarks of the Pope/Fueger offensive approach. Williams and Garrison have already shown they can do that. They’re also both adept at rolling toward the rim and project as efficient scorers at the basket.

It didn’t take long for them to show it in the Craft Center.

“Oh, it’s been awesome,” Fueger said. “Just the last two practices — getting off to a start. Brandon threw a little behind-the-back pass, and Amari had two incredible backdoors yesterday. So we’re running it. And there’s a reason why we recruited those guys — to be able to pass and screen and roll. And they’re two guys that have been really fun to watch so far.”

Fueger and the rest of UK’s coaches identified these traits in Williams and Garrison during the short recruiting process this spring. But seeing it on film and seeing it in the flesh is different, validation that they found the right guys.

“100%!” Fueger exclaimed. “You’re like, ‘That’s why.’ And we’ve already sent those guys the clips. Just to see — ‘That’s what we want. Over and over again.’ These guards are going to give up the ball to these bigs a lot, and cut, cut, cut, cut, cut. And we’ll either get 35 3s up, or layups.”

Over and over again, those “35 3s” were mentioned.

BYU was known last season for getting out in transition, moving the ball seamlessly and letting fly from deep before defenses could get set. It was an ultra-aggressive approach, and Fueger says UK has the personnel to run it back next season.

“Well that’s one way we can get to 35. And that way, you get your guys to run,” he said. “If you’re a shooter and you’re like, ‘What’s the best 3 I can get off?’ Koby Brea was at like 1.4 or 1.5 points per possession on 3s in transition. That dude’s gonna be running his tail off to get 3s off. Same with Jaxson Robinson — he was over a 1.3 in transition. If that’s your best points per possession, why not get more? So that’s going to make these guys run, run, run, run.”

For sake of reference, national champion UConn was the country’s most efficient team last season at a little less than 1.2 points per possession.

Brea was viewed as the best 3-point threat in the transfer portal. He shot 49.8% from deep last season at Dayton, and there was immediate mutual interest between the two sides. UK’s coaches clearly coveted his shooting ability. Brea saw the possibilities of playing in this offensive system. Fueger can’t wait to see what Brea can do once the season begins.

“And that goes for a lot of our guys now, because they’re all unselfish, first and foremost,” he said. “And they can all shoot it. And they want to make plays for each other. So there’s a lot of guys where we’re watching practice like, ‘Oh!’”

Fairleigh Dickinson transfer Ansley Almonor — a 6-foot-7 forward — has been one of the most overlooked additions to this roster. Fueger said he came out on the second day of practice — after acknowledging that Pope was already pushing them to play fast, despite a lack of familiarity with each other — and went 5-for-6 on 3-pointers.

“I’ve never had a practice like this,” Fueger said of that shooting display. “... And usually it takes a second in live play. But he was bang, bang, bang, bang! And that ball got out of his hands quick. And we’re like, ‘OK, this guy’s going to really help us this year.’”

Kentucky actually led the nation in 3-point percentage in Calipari’s final season, shooting 40.9% as a team, but the Cats still put up relatively few shots from deep. Only 37% of their field-goal attempts came from 3-point range. They ranked 179th in the country in that stat. Over the previous 12 seasons, UK never ranked higher than 273rd in rate of 3-pointers attempted.

So, Pope and Fueger will offer a drastic change.

More than half of BYU’s shots last season were 3-pointers, and this Kentucky roster has been filled with guys who love to let it go from the perimeter.

The UK team record for most 3-point attempts in a season is 888, coming while Rick Pitino was coach during the 1991-92 campaign. The “Pitino’s Bombinos” squad of 1989-90 — the undermanned and often overmatched team that lived and died by the 3 — took 810 shots from deep, an average of 28.9 per game.

BYU shot 1,087 3-pointers last season. And Fueger wants more.

That style of play was surely a selling point in the transfer portal this year, but Fueger stressed that approaching this system with an unselfish mindset was key. They don’t want guys jacking up shots just to do it. When BYU was at its best, the Cougars were discombobulating the defense with motion and/or ball movement, leading either to wide-open 3s or easy shots at the basket.

There will be plenty of opportunities, but — in this offense — everyone needs to stay connected. When pouring over film for potential portal targets, the goal of UK’s ninth national championship — and players unselfish enough to deliver it — was always top of mind.

“We looked at it. And then we talked to them about it, too,” Fueger said. “Like, ‘Hey guys, our goal is to win No. 9. That’s our goal. If that’s the most important thing for you, come here.’ And we turned down a lot of guys, and we lost a lot of guys, because that’s not what they wanted. Because that’s the most important thing for us.

“We’re gonna get pros. We’re gonna get all that stuff. But we want to win a national championship.”

A future head coach?

While Fueger is quick to spread the credit around, he’s not at all shy about his personal ambitions.

He wants to be a head coach, he’s not not hiding that aspiration, and he’s approached every new opportunity over the past 20 years or so with that goal in mind. This will be his 10th season as an assistant — all under Pope — but he picked up plenty of knowledge before that.

“When Coach Pope took the head coaching job at Utah Valley, it was kind of a clean slate,” Fueger said. “And I was lucky to be at, you know, Coach Majerus had a built foundation at Utah. So I came into that like, ‘Wow, this is high-level basketball.’ Coach Giacoletti came in — completely new deal. I saw how a new system was put in. And then I went to Louisiana Tech and saw how a new system was put in, with me coming along there. And I can go down the line of working from all these head coaches and just seeing it from every single angle.”

Even when he was still in college, Fueger surveyed the situation and took positives and negatives from each stop, forming an idea of the kind of head coach he’d like to be.

“Coach Majerus is a hard-drivin’ dude, right? And, you know, there’s a lot of things I took from it,” he said. “And there’s a lot of things where, like, ‘I’m not gonna do that.’ And I’ve luckily been able to work for, I want to say, 10 head coaches now. Something like that. …

“I feel like I have a great feel for every single part of Division I college basketball. Obviously, it’s relationships with players. Recruiting. All that stuff’s super important. But now it’s turning into a lot more fundraising.”

NIL reforms have completely shaken up the sport, another new challenge for Fueger in his coaching journey. But on the court, and off the court, relationships are key.

Jaxson Robinson, the only player on this UK team that Pope or Fueger has ever coached, spoke glowingly of those office sessions with the assistant coach back in Provo. And Fueger was just as excited when the subject came up.

“I try to get these guys in my office as much as possible,” he said. “And I would say that little of it is basketball. We’ll just kind of sit there and talk and chat — that’s my favorite thing about this is getting to know these guys as people. And then, yeah, we’ll spend some time watching film — 10-15 minutes. I like to get everybody in my office — rolling through there — as much as possible.”

Fueger explained that he wants the players to see what he’s seeing on the court. But he also wants to get a better understanding of how they’re seeing the game. That kind of mutual approach to what comes next has worked well so far, and — judging by Robinson’s overwhelming praise — it’s endeared him to his young players.

“Everywhere I’ve been, that’s where I’ve gotten the best bang for my buck, I guess. You tell them on the court. But in the film room — and going over it, whether it’s their analytics or going over their film — that’s where I feel like we’ve gotten the best situations for these guys,” he said.

If the Pope era gets off to a promising start, the new Kentucky coach might not have his trusted lieutenant around much longer. UK is obviously a stage that will probably afford Fueger longer looks — if the on-court results are good — at possible head coaching gigs in the future.

But he’s not looking past the opportunity he has now. More than 20 years after leaving Milwaukee to pursue his dream of coaching college basketball, Fueger finds himself on the sport’s biggest stage.

And getting the job done here, for the time being, at least, is priority number one.

“I’m ready. I want an opportunity. But it’s not like I’m going to leave just to leave, right? I’m at Kentucky. I’m working for Coach Pope. I’m really enjoying it. But if there’s the right thing that comes along, that’s my goal. I want to be able to call the shots. I didn’t move to Utah from Milwaukee — leave my family — just to be an assistant all my life. My goal is to be a Division I head coach. I hope I get the opportunity. But I don’t call those shots.

“It’s luck. It’s timing. There are so many different things that come along with that.”

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