BY ALEJANDRO LOPEZ
The next head coach for Miami has been made official, and he will come from the country’s No. 2 program.
Jai Lucas has agreed to terms to become the head coach of the Hurricanes, a source confirmed to ZAGSBLOG.com. The 36-year-old Lucas will leave Duke after the regular-season finale against North Carolina on Saturday to take over the Hurricanes.
“Yes, it’s official,” the source said of Lucas joining the Hurricanes.
An official announcement is expected Thursday. The transfer portal opens March 24, when Duke could be in the middle of an NCAA championship run.
Adam Zagoria first reported the news on Feb. 2.
Lucas, 36, will become the youngest power-conference coach in America. He is widely considered to be one of the best recruiters in college basketball, having recruited Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and the Boozer twins to Duke and Cason Wallace and Shaedon Sharpe to Kentucky, among others. “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. 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. Miami’s hope is that Lucas can spearhead a resurgence for the program which has struggled the past couple of seasons after reaching the Final Four in 2023 under former coach Jim Larrañaga.Duke’s Jai Lucas will be the next head coach at Miami, source confirms.
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) February 22, 2025
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