Kevin Young have had a relationship for a while, and they are friendly. I don't know what Ryan Smith thought of Mark Pope, but I do know that he's comfortable with KY and is supportive of him. If you or I had the resources that Smith does and wanted to make an impact on BYU athletics, we probably wouldn't hesitate to do what he's doing.
By the way, I know that this has been debated back and forth multiple times, but according to this source (whom I trust), KY did indeed have an offer from the Nets when he was offered the job at BYU.