One of Duke basketball’s top assistant coaches could be heading to another ACC team
As No. 3 Duke rolls through the regular season with sights on an NCAA men’s basketball championship, one of its top coaches could be heading elsewhere.
Jai Lucas, a Duke assistant for the past three season, is a top target of Miami’s search for a new head coach following Jim Larranaga’s mid-season retirement.
The Associated Press reported Saturday night that Lucas has agreed to become the Hurricanes’ head coach, but that contract details have yet to be worked out. Neither Miami nor Duke has confirmed that Lucas has accepted the job.
After the Blue Devils beat Illinois, 110-67, Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, Duke coach Jon Scheyer said Lucas is clearly ready to become a head coach.
“Absolutely, he’s a head coach,” Scheyer said. “No question about it. It’s part of why I hired him. The job he’s done for us has been incredible. Any report or anything that’s out there, I’m just getting wind of it now, so we’ll cross that bridge and figure it out. But I can tell you, 100% Jai is an amazing coach.”
Scheyer hired Lucas from Kentucky’s staff in 2022, shortly after taking over Duke’s program following Mike Krzyzewski’s retirement. Lucas, who played college basketball at Florida and Texas, had previously been an assistant coach at Texas.
He’s considered Duke’s defensive coordinator, and the Blue Devils (23-3, 15-1 ACC) are an exceptional defensive team this season. Duke is No. 4 nationally in defensive efficiency, allowing 90.4 points per 100 possessions. On Saturday night, Illinois shot 37.7% and made just 2 of 26 3-pointers while losing to Duke.
One of the sticking points to completing the 36-year-old Lucas’ hiring at Miami is figuring out when he could officially start. The Blue Devils are looking like they’ll be a No. 1 seed when the NCAA Tournament bracket is announced on March 16.
Mired in last place in the ACC standings, Miami (6-10, 2-14) is not likely to qualify for the ACC Tournament. For the first time this season, after expanding to 18 teams, the bottom three teams in the ACC standings will not qualify for the league tournament, so Miami’s final game this season could be March 8 at home against N.C. State.
The NCAA Transfer Portal window, when players wanting to explore a transfer enter their names and can begin contacting other schools, opens March 24. That’s the Monday after the NCAA Tournament’s first weekend, meaning Lucas and Blue Devils could still have two more weekends of play if they keep advancing.
Duke would clearly rather keep Lucas on its bench as it chases the program’s sixth NCAA championship.
“We’ll continue to move forward together and figure all that out,” Scheyer said, “but he’s terrific, man. All across the board, he’s great.”