Scheyer thinks Jai Lucas is ready to be a head coach at the high major level.
It’s recently been reported that Duke basketball associate head coach Jai Lucas is set to become the next head coach at the University of Miami. Lucas has been with the Duke program since 2022 and was previously an assistant at Texas and Kentucky.
Lucas was promoted to associate head coach in 2023 with Duke.
The deal is not set in stone yet, but the Associated Press recently reported that Lucas will be the next head coach of the Hurricanes pending the completion of contract negotiations.
Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer found out of the news after the Blue Devils’s monstrous 110-67 victory over Illinois at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
“Any report or anything that’s out there, you know, I’m just getting wind of it now, so we’ll cross that bridge and figure it out,” Scheyer said after the victory over the Fighting Illini.
Although he’d just found out about the expected hire, Scheyer gave praise to Lucas on air and thinks he’s ready to be a head coach for a power conference team.
“Absolutely, he’s a head coach,” Scheyer said. “No question about it. It’s part of why I hired him, you know, and the job he’s done for us has been incredible.”
“But I can tell you, 100% Jai is an amazing coach. He’s been great for these guys, and we’ll continue to move forward together and figure all that out. But he’s, he’s terrific man, all across the board, he’s great.”
Lucas has been an elite recruiter through his time as an assistant and has been a big reason why Duke has brought in the #1 ranked recruiting classes for the classes of 2022, 2024, and 2025, along with the #2 ranked class in 2023.
Some of the top names that Lucas has recruited over his time have been Cooper Flagg, Shaedon Sharpe, Shelton Henderson, Khaman Maluach, the Boozer twins, and several more.
Lucas will likely have to use his recruiting prowess in the transfer portal next season to overhaul the Hurricanes roster in a season where Miami is at the bottom of the ACC with a 6-21 overall record and 2-14 record in the ACC.
Miami has one commit in the 2025 class currently, four-star shooting guard Matthew Able.