Miami Targets Former Kentucky Assistant Jai Lucas as Next Head Coach

Kentucky Sports Radio might not exist if not for the high-profile recruitment of Jai Lucas and Patrick Patterson. The former ultimately decided against playing in Lexington, but he’s gone on to have a successful career in the coaching world. Now, he’s on the verge of becoming a head coach in the power conference ranks.

Multiple reports on Saturday indicate that Jai Lucas is the top candidate to become the net head coach of the Miami Hurricanes. The AP’s Tim Reynolds and Jeff Goodman say that contract negotiations are still underway.

Figuring out when Lucas would leave Duke for Miami is a big piece of the equation because the roster-building process in the transfer portal will begin before Duke is eliminated from the NCAA Tournament. In an amusing twist, the two teams are scheduled to play Tuesday night.

Lucas played college hoops at Florida and Texas. He returned to Austin as an assistant in 2016 and immediately earned a reputation as an excellent recruiter. That’s why John Calipari added him to his revamped staff in 2020. He spent two years in Lexington before bolting for Duke, where he’s recruited the likes of Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, and the Boozer twins.

NIL played a big part in Jim Larranaga‘s decision to step down after 13.5 years at the helm of the Miami basketball program. The 75-year-old abruptly retired in December, only two years removed from Miami’s first-ever Final Four appearance. Miami has been a big NIL player in other sports. They’re ready to play the game in men’s hoops with one of the most respected recruiters in the game.

“Jai Lucas is a power conference college basketball coach” is a crazy sentence to type for someone who was around for the hysteria during his high school recruitment. The biggest knock on Tubby Smith was his inability to recruit top-tier talent at the end of his tenure. He got Kentucky in contention, then Billy Gillispie entered the picture. All of the changes surrounding the recruitment of this McDonald’s All-American happened during the days of the early internet, creating the perfect storm for KSR to emerge. Matt Jones cornered the market in the most important recruitments in decades, and now decades later, hey, look at us.

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