Jai Lucas hiring Erik Pastrana from Georgia as first assistant on his staff

New Miami head coach Jai Lucas is hiring Erik Pastrana as assistant coach and his first hire for his inaugural staff with the Hurricanes. Pastrana has spent the last three seasons at Georgia. Pastrana has also worked on the staffs of Oklahoma State, Florida Atlantic, Florida International and Stephen F. Austin.

Georgia head coach Mike White brought Pastrana with him to Georgia after they worked together for one season at Florida. During his time on the Oklahoma State staff, Pastrana helped the Cowboys sign the number 13 class nationally. That included Cade Cunningham who was the top player in the 2020 class and first pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.

Pastrana returns home with the hire by Miami. Per Dawgs247, Pastrana was the top assistant under White at Georgia. In addition to his recruiting prowess at Oklahoma State, Pastrana helped Georgia sign the 10th-best class in 2024 including five-star center Asa Newell and the 19th-ranked 2025 class.

Hiring an assistant coach on the same day as the transfer portal opening should help Lucas as Miami will have to build nearly its entire roster for next season. Freshman guard Divine Ugochukwu is the only remaining player from the 2024-25 roster who has not currently entered the transfer portal.

Miami has contacted several transfers per multiple reports. Monday was the first official day players could enter the transfer portal. With 16 teams remaining in the NCAA Tournament, NIT and CBI still playing more players will enter the transfer portal in the next two weeks.

Pastrana got his start under former Kansas State and South Carolina and current Massachusetts head coach Frank Martin who is also originally from Miami. Lucas and Pastrana will get started on the transfer portal while the new head coach will continue working on filling out his inaugural staff.