The assistant of Duke Jai Lucas agrees to take over as a Miami male basketball coach

Duke’s assistant head coach Jai Lucas agreed to become the next head coach in Miami, pending the completion of contractual negotiations, a person who is aware of the case said on Saturday evening.

Lucas and the Hurricanes will endeavor to finalize this contract in the coming weeks, said that the person who had spoken to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, because none of the parties has publicly confirmed any details.

Part of these negotiations would include when Lucas leaves the Blue Devils and would start with the Hurricanes, whose regular season ends on March 8. The playoffs – even a place in the tournament of the Atlantic coast conference – is unlikely for Miami, which fell to 2-14 in the ACC and 6-21 in total with a defeat against Virginia Tech on Saturday evening.

Duke, on the other hand, is a locking of the NCAA tournament and a potential candidate for the national championship, led by the candidate of the player of the year Cooper Flagg. This means that Blue Devils could play until early April; The transfer portal opens on March 24, and it is likely that Miami would like a new coach to be in place to start the process of reconstruction of a list.

In a little ironic timing, Duke plays Miami on Tuesday evening – although we do not think that Lucas and the Hurricanes will then finish contractual negotiations. In Miami, Lucas would take over for Jim Larrañaga, who suddenly resigned in December and was replaced acting by the long-standing associate coach of Miami, Bill Courtney.

The Hurricanes went to the Final Four two seasons and started last season with 11 wins in their first 13 games. But since the beginning of January 2024, Miami went 10-36 – the worst record of any conference school for power of division I during this period – and 6-29 against the adversaries of ACC.

Lucas, 36 years old – The son of the former NBA coach John Lucas – is one of the staff of the coach Jon Scheyer in Duke for three years, the last two of them as a chief trapper .

Lucas is considered a high -level recruiter and was mainly responsible for Duke’s victory to sign the Twin Cameron and Cayden Boozer brothers last fall. The Boozer Twins, the sons of the former Duke star and the NBA player, Carlos Boozer, live in Miami – and were also a higher target of hurricanes.

Lucas is also Duke’s defensive coordinator, said Blue Devils. He worked in Kentucky for two seasons as a recruitment coordinator and deputy coach, joining the Wildcats after seven years in Texas – his Alma Mater – where he started as a special assistant, then Director of basketball operations and is finally become deputy coach.

Report by the Associated Press.

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