New Miami head coach Jai Lucas said the Hurricanes will be built on the foundations of relationships, development and competition. Lucas comes to Miami after three seasons at Duke. Before Duke Lucas was an assistant at Kentucky under John Calipari and was on the staff at Texas when Rick Barnes and Shaka Smart were head coaches.
Lucas was a 2007 McDonald's All-American who signed with Florida. After one season at Florida, Lucas transferred to Texas. Lucas mentioned during his introductory press conference that he was a transfer well before the portal existed. The experience of transferring should help Lucas as a head coach in this era.
Lucas learned the importance of relationships, development and competition working at blueblood programs Duke and Kentucky, and at Texas with one of the biggest athletic budgets nationally. Lucas thanked his first coach and mentor, his father John who was a former basketball All-American and the 1976 ACC Athlete of the Year.
John Lucas II was a legendary basketball and tennis player at Maryland, played 14 years in the NBA and coached for six years in the association. Calipari stresses development and stated the most important thing for his players is getting them ready to play in the NBA.
"Three things my program will be about first and foremost is relationships you can't do anything meaningful if you don't have strong relationships...the...second thing...is development it's a huge key third and final value is competition.'"
Building relationships is critical for college coaches in any sport. Miami football head coach Mario Cristobal frequently has discussed the importance of building relationships. Lucas has been lauded for his recruiting prowess. Lucas would not be a great recruiter without understanding how to build relationships.
Coaching at Duke and Kentucky is among the highest level of competition in college basketball with Connecticut, Kansas, North Carolina and UCLA. Lucas understands the pressure of competition and how to develop players to compete at the highest level. Lucas acknowledged Jim Larranaga putting Miami in a position to take the next step.
Miami was the only team nationally to reach an NCAA Tournament Regional Final in 2022 and 2023. The next step for Lucas is developing Miami into a consistent NCAA Tournament team. Miami has missed the last two NCAA Tournaments and did not receive bids from 2019 through 2021.
The program record for Miami is three consecutive NCAA Tournaments from 1998 through 2000 under Leonard Hamilton and 2016-2018 under Larranaga. Lucas was a major factor as a recruiter and defensive coordinator for Duke finishing the 2024-25 season 28-3 and as ACC Champions.