Miami Hurricanes hiring Duke assistant Jai Lucas as subsequent Males’s Basketball Coach, per studies

On Saturday night, a number of studies indicated that the Miami Hurricanes will rent Duke Affiliate Head Coach Jai Lucas as the following males’s basketball coach.

The preliminary report was made by Peter Ariz of CanesInSight, and confirmed by Adam Zagoria, a longtime basketball author with the New York Instances, Forbes, and different retailers.

Tim Reynolds of the Affiliate Press studies that Lucas has agreed to be Miami’s subsequent head coach, however a contract has not been finalized.

Nonetheless, earlier than we go too far, nevertheless, there have been a number of studies that paint a little bit of a special image. Michelle Kaufman, longtime Miami Herald journalist, and Jeff Goodman, one other longtime journalist and founding father of Area of 68, each say nothing is completed with Lucas.

Is that this a matter of semantic? Probably. However, I wished to supply either side of the knowledge it’s all on the market.

Shifting the main target to Lucas himself, he’s a rising star coach and among the many finest recruiters within the nation. The checklist of gamers he’s been listed as a main recruiter for is unbelievable, and consists of Shaedon Sharp (Kentucky), Duke’s Cooper Flagg, the seemingly #1 decide within the NBA draft, and the Boozer twins, most notably Cameron, the #1 participant within the 2025 HS class, who will likely be following the footsteps of their father Carlos in enjoying for Duke in school.

The son of former NBA participant and coach John Lucas, Jai was a McDonald’s HS All-American in 2007. He performed collegiately at Florida and Texas for two years every. Following his school profession, Lucas performed internationally for two years, and within the NBA’s G League for the following 2 years earlier than retiring and going into teaching.

As a coach, Lucas has rapidly made a reputation for himself. After beginning as an assistant at Texas for 4 years, Lucas was employed by John Calipari at Kentucky. He labored with the Wildcats for two years, Lucas moved to Duke for the 2022-23 season. Following that one season as an assistant, Lucas was promoted to Affiliate Head Coach for the 2023-24 12 months, a job he continues to carry.

Lucas is the primary assistant who didn’t play collegiately at Duke in additional than 30 years. His basketball information is elite, and his recruiting is uber-elite. The 36 12 months previous is simply the form of coach that Miami must be hiring to steer this system into the following period.

I do know there are people who find themselves going to complain that Lucas doesn’t have prior head teaching expertise, and I perceive the criticism. However, we’re not pulling a random coach from some remote place. It is a basketball lifer, whose father performed 14 years within the NBA and coached for a few years himself. Each he and his brother — John Lucas III — had been All-Individuals and school gamers. And, Lucas himself has coached at Texas, Kentucky, and Duke already in his profession. That is somebody who is aware of methods to run a program, even when he hasn’t carried out it by himself but.

Ought to this transfer be accomplished, I feel it is a homerun for Miami. An lively 36 12 months previous coach originally of his profession, who has already change into affiliate head coach at one of many legacy applications in CBB, and among the finest recruiters within the sport. No, he’s not a coach with 500 wins to his credit score already, however Lucas is as sturdy a candidate with out prior head teaching expertise that you just’ll discover. I feel Miami is sensible to be looking out for the following nice coach, as a substitute of retreading somebody from someplace else.

We’ll see if/when this transfer turns into official, however I, for one, am excited on the prospect of getting him be the following males’s basketball coach at The U.

Extra on this when it’s obtainable.

Go Canes