Childs Explains Decision To Return For Senior Year At BYU

PROVO, Utah – Yoeli Childs made the BYU basketball faithful very happy when he announced his intention to return to the program earlier this week.

On Thursday, Childs met with the media to discuss his excitement to be back with the Cougars next season.

“I’m grateful for BYU and for all the support the fans here have given me, no matter what,” Childs said. “I’m going to be able to be a pro for a really long time, but I only have one more year to do something special here. I owe it to this school, I owe it to my teammates, to come back and do something amazing. I just want to go all out and to make something special happen for BYU.”

Following longtime head coach Dave Rose’s decision to step down after the 2018-19 season, Childs declared that he would enter the NBA Draft as an underclassman.

"I just want to go all out and make something special happen for BYU."
–@yochilds22 #BYUSN pic.twitter.com/M1BGijs3OS

— BYU Sports Nation (@BYUSportsNation) May 30, 2019

While Childs’ pre-draft process may not have gone the way he thought it would after only working out for two teams and being excluded from the Draft Combine, it was still considered unlikely that he would return to BYU.

However, that all changed on Wednesday night when Childs made the announcement in a video on his Twitter page.

It is believed that BYU’s new head coach, Mark Pope, had a major role in convincing Childs to come back to the program.

📷 | @yochilds22 PRESS CONFERENCE
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀#BYUhoops #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/0v8FQnoSUE

— BYU Basketball (@BYUbasketball) May 30, 2019

“This team is made of some extraordinary individuals and he’s certainly one of them,” Pope said. “I think one the things people can be really excited about is the passion he has for this place, for this university, for these fans and for the mission of this school. He wants to come back and give it another shot at trying to do something amazing that can be put into history books here and how can you not get behind that?”

With Childs back in tow, along with a bunch of solid players from Pope’s UVU days, including WAC Player of the Year and one-time Cougar Jake Toolson, Pope has done a masterful job of building a roster that should see much better results than last year.

Last season, BYU finished with a record of 19-13 and did not play in a postseason tournament.