Duke associate head coach Jai Lucas has agreed to become Miami’s new head basketball coach, a source familiar with the negotiations told The Athletic.
The 36-year-old Lucas will replace Jim Larrañaga, who retired in December midway through his 14th season with the Hurricanes. (Bill Courtney has been the Hurricanes’ interim coach since Larrañaga’s retirement.)
News of Miami’s interest in Lucas first broke weeks ago, hours before Duke’s eventual 110-67 win over Illinois on Feb. 22. According to a source, although both Miami and Lucas were determined to finalize an agreement at that time, the hold-up was over when Lucas’ tenure would officially begin. Specifically, Lucas was hesitant to leave Duke — a likely No. 1 seed fueled by freshman star Cooper Flagg — before the NCAA Tournament, a source added. On the other hand, Miami — which sits in the last place in the ACC and will not qualify for the conference tournament — wanted to get as much of a jumpstart on its offseason as possible, especially before the transfer portal officially opens on March 24.
Lucas is now expected to start with the Hurricanes upon the conclusion of Duke’s postseason run.
So, why did Miami want Lucas, the son of renowned NBA coach John Lucas II? Because he has long been considered a rising star in the coaching industry. Despite his youth, he’s already coached under both Rick Barnes and Shaka Smart at Texas (where Lucas finished his collegiate career), John Calipari at Kentucky and most recently Jon Scheyer at Duke. Lucas also played for current Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan during his freshman season at Florida before transferring to Texas.
Lucas was one of Scheyer’s first two major hires upon succeeding Mike Krzyzewski as the Blue Devils’ head coach in April 2022, and the fact that Scheyer went outside of the Duke family to hire him — a rare move for a program that historically prioritized its own — spoke volumes about Lucas’ coaching trajectory. But Lucas has more than validated that decision. Already known as an elite recruiter from his days at Texas and Kentucky, Lucas helped Scheyer land two No. 1 recruiting classes in three offseasons in Durham. Perhaps the strongest show of Scheyer’s trust in Lucas was making him the lead recruiter on Flagg, the top prospect in the 2024 class and the expected No. 1 pick in this summer’s NBA Draft.
Beyond his recruiting prowess, in Lucas’ three seasons in Durham — where his father was raised and where he still has deep family ties — he has served as the Blue Devils defensive coordinator, coaching Duke to consecutive top-20 finishes in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom. This year’s Blue Devils have maintained a top-five defensive ranking all season.
That defensive aptitude, and Lucas’ youth, will be welcome changes in Coral Gables. Miami has finished with a sub-100 defensive efficiency ranking in five of the last six seasons and currently has the worst defense of any high-major team. Additionally, while Larrañaga led Miami to an Elite Eight and Final Four in 2022 and 2023, respectively, the 75-year-old admitted in his retirement news conference that he didn’t feel he “could successfully navigate this whole new world that I was dealing with.”
While Lucas has never been a head coach, his experiences recruiting high-level high schoolers and transfers — not to mention his obvious tie to his father’s JL3 grassroots program — should pay immediate dividends for the Hurricanes, who have a history of landing five-star talents in their own right. Current freshman guard Jalil Bethea, for instance, was the No. 7 overall recruit in the 2024 class, per the 247Sports Composite, and could become a future building block if Lucas can retain him.
(Photo: Grant Halverson / Getty Images)
