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CIS reacts to Jai Lucas being Miami's new head coach

I just want to know if he only stays in Marriott Hotels and if he plays golf? I think those answers will determine his future at Miami.
 

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CTCANE said:
I agree but Amherst Cane argument against him is ridiculous.
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That hiring a guy who was a successful recruiter at elite institutions with no HC experience is extremely risky?

To be clear, Mario was a much better hire than Lucas would be - for a lot of nuanced reasons. But Mario is also a great example of a superstar recruiter vastly underperforming as a HC… so it’s surprising that Miami would go with a guy who’s best accomplishments are recruiting for schools that sell themselves.
 
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I hope you true believers in all decisions made by Rad are right. But, I remind you he hired our current baseball coach. A first-time head coach whom appears to be a very lazy hire. He hired our current football head coach whom has yet to play in the ACC championship game and has looked very suspect. Now we get a guy who is a first time head coach whose strengths are recruiting and defense. In the NIL era, whether recruiting means more than “highest bidder” remains to be seen. Myself I would prefer not being the testing location for prospects.
 
EudocimusAlbus said:
Thought Miami was over hiring assistant coaches for HC positions, Miami still Miami'ing?
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Let’s be honest.

Jim Lararranga was a great name in college basketball circles, and what he did with George Mason was nothing short of amazing…not to mention stints at UVA and Bowling Green, but he wasn’t exactly a household name outside of coaching circles, and he was arguably the biggest hire UM has made.

I hope Jai turns out to be what we need in this new day and age…but let’s not act like our basketball program routinely goes after the biggest fish in the pond…besides an alleged flirtation with Pitino for a brief second.

While I agree we should have built off of what is a HOF coach and gone big game hunting…this sort of hire is typical UM, and to be shocked is somewhat remedial…it is what we do….

Not comparing Basketball and baseball…but the Arteaga hire after a trust fund stint with Gino should tell us that maybe they went a little too all in with Cristobal. I could be wrong, but it sure seems that way.
 
Fightinibis said:
Let’s be honest.

Jim Lararranga was a great name in college basketball circles, and what he did with George Mason was nothing short of amazing…not to mention stints at UVA and Bowling Green, but he wasn’t exactly a household name outside of coaching circles, and he was arguably the biggest hire UM has made.

I hope Jai turns out to be what we need in this new day and age…but let’s not act like our basketball program routinely goes after the biggest fish in the pond…besides an alleged flirtation with Pitino for a brief second.

While I agree we should have built off of what is a HOF coach and gone big game hunting…this sort of hire is typical UM, and to be shocked is somewhat remedial…it is what we do….

Not comparing Basketball and baseball…but the Arteaga hire after a trust fund stint with Gino should tell us that maybe they went a little too all in with Cristobal. I could be wrong, but it sure seems that way.
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You forgot the most important school. He coached at Davidson with lefty driesel and terry holland
 
TpaBayFlyFisher said:
I hope you true believers in all decisions made by Rad are right. But, I remind you he hired our current baseball coach. A first-time head coach whom appears to be a very lazy hire. He hired our current football head coach whom has yet to play in the ACC championship game and has looked very suspect. Now we get a guy who is a first time head coach whose strengths are recruiting and defense. In the NIL era, whether recruiting means more than “highest bidder” remains to be seen. Myself I would prefer not being the testing locati for prospects.R
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Rad didn’t hire Mario. Mario was hired sotto voce when Miami hired Radavicich. I think rad was hired a day or two before. He had zero to do with Mario’s hiring
 
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CTCANE said:
Hiring Mario has been such a bad thing? Who do you think we should have hired instead of him?
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Mario was my first choice. There's no "instead of him".

But the NIL/Portal Era has certainly narrowed the gap on "recruiter ace" head coaches. So there have been growing pains. Hiring a guy like Mario is not the same guarantee of success that it once was.

And the same is true in basketball. I'm not against Jai Lucas. But I don't expect him to land a bunch of 5-stars at Miami either UNLESS we match the NIL money that Duke and the other bluebloods can offer. It's no longer enough to toss $800K and a car at Nijel Pack.
 
rsa coral gables said:
Rad didn’t hire Mario. Mario was hired sotto voce when Miami hired Radavicich. I think rad was hired a day or two before. He had zero to do with Mario’s hiring
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I understand that Mario was a booster-driven hire, but there is no pass on baseball and now hoops. Don't get me wrong. I hope they turn into HOF coaches, but they sure don't feel like it.....................
 
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We can hope for the best, but it's obvious Rad is just collecting a paycheck, he's a name, nothing more. I look at all of these schools, making bold hires of experienced, extremely successful D2 guys, or guys that have won at midmajors, or at the least have been high end assistants for decades and then I realize that my alma mater is hiring lottery tickets. It's beyond frustrating. A guy like Ben McCollum would have been amazing at Miami, throw whatever you need to at that guy. Throw money at Grant McCasland. I can't stand him as a person, but Will Wade would have been a better option than what Miami ultimately ended up with. It's almost like we are allergic to being a competitive, well managed athletic department.
 
cookies said:
The reports of the death of Miami basketball are greatly exaggerated in this thread. Lucas is a great hire.

Guys wanna hire some late 40s guy w/ a beard that is barely above .500 for his career just to tout his “experience.” Meanwhile, he’s on his fourth job in twelve years.
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Nice strawman. What we actually want is a coach that has won somewhere, anywhere. We want someone that isn't going to have to learn on the job in a major conference. What we want is someone that if they aren't a high end guy winning at a major school right now, someone that has shown an ability to get the most out of his talent at lower levels, that can put a compelling product on the floor. In other words, what L gave us for most of his tenure, outside of some down periods.

Nah, let's just hope and pray that this inexperienced guy, who has coached at places where resources and recruiting help flows like wine can make do at a place where the resources are competitive, but hardly overwhelming. Oh, and did I mention that he's going to be expected to have the wherewithal to be a fundraiser and advocate for his program as well?

There's no way a better qualified coach wouldn't be interested in this job, it's becoming more and more obvious that Miami didn't even truly try to do a real search. Think about it, why even make this hire NOW? It's February, FEBRUARY. You know full well this roster will likely be mediocre at best next year, might as well get the best coach you can, and there's no way you can do that by hiring someone in February, unless you had a super secret arrangement with a Chris Jans type. Lucas isn't even going to be on campus until after Duke's NCAA Tournament run, so you are hiring a guy early, with no early benefit.
 
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Canedude08 said:
Nice strawman. What we actually want is a coach that has won somewhere, anywhere. We want someone that isn't going to have to learn on the job in a major conference. What we want is someone that if they aren't a high end guy winning at a major school right now, someone that has shown an ability to get the most out of his talent at lower levels, that can put a compelling product on the floor. In other words, what L gave us for most of his tenure, outside of some down periods.

Nah, let's just hope and pray that this inexperienced guy, who has coached at places where resources and recruiting help flows like wine can make do at a place where the resources are competitive, but hardly overwhelming. Oh, and did I mention that he's going to be expected to have the wherewithal to be a fundraiser and advocate for his program as well?

There's no way a better qualified coach wouldn't be interested in this job, it's becoming more and more obvious that Miami didn't even truly try to do a real search. Think about it, why even make this hire NOW? It's February, FEBRUARY. You know full well this roster will likely be mediocre at best next year, might as well get the best coach you can, and there's no way you can do that by hiring someone in February, unless you had a super secret arrangement with a Chris Jans type. Lucas isn't even going to be on campus until after Duke's NCAA Tournament run, so you are hiring a guy early, with no early benefit.
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Hurricane tears in the winter unfortunately. Everybody is a risk, even ones who’ve won at previous stops. I doubt Frank Martin would’ve thrilled anyone although he has a much better resume than Richard Pitino whose New Mexico tenure is slightly better than Fran Fraschilla’s own.

Archie and Wes Miler fit your description and when they were hired away couldn’t win. So does Andy E. @ USC. Scores of others too.

Meanwhile, Kevin Ollie came in hot w/o HC experience to win a title at UCONN. Brad Stevens, Tom Izzo (unless you count 2 years of HS) and Mark Few didn’t need HC experience either. Hiring a current HC is not an ironclad law.
 
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cookies said:
Hurricane tears in the winter unfortunately. Everybody is a risk, even ones who’ve won at previous stops. I doubt Frank Martin would’ve thrilled anyone although he has a much better resume than Richard Pitino whose New Mexico tenure is slightly better than Fran Fraschilla’s own.

Archie and Wes Miler fit your description and when they were hired away couldn’t win. So does Andy E. @ USC. Scores of others too.

Meanwhile, Kevin Ollie came in hot w/o HC experience to win a title at UCONN. Brad Stevens, Tom Izzo (unless you count 2 years of HS) and Mark Few didn’t need HC experience either. Hiring a current HC is not an ironclad law.
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Oh my God, you are citing a guy who got a THREE-YEAR SHOW CAUSE and has not been hired as a head coach since being caught for committing multiple Level I NCAA rules violations.

Your stupid posts are monumentally stupid. You just spout a few names of guys who "didn't need HC experience". NOBODY IS SAYING THAT. Obviously, every first-time head coach had "no HC experience" before that time.

Brad Stevens got his first HC job at Butler (and was promoted off the Butler staff). That sounds about right for a first NCAA head coaching job.

Tom Izzo was promoted after THIRTEEN YEARS on the Michigan State staff.

Mark Few was promoted after TEN YEARS on the Gonzaga staff. Not to mention that "1999 Gonzaga" was nowhere near the national power that "2025 Gonzaga" is (and, no, I don't want to hear from Gonzaga fan-boys to tell me about that ONE GOOD SEASON before Few became head coach, because outside of Monson's one good year, Gonzaga was an NIT team at best).

Even your hero Cheatin' Kevin Ollie was a promotion off of the UConn staff.

The issue is not just "first time head coach", it's "first time head coach with only a few years as an assistant and coming from a completely different school".

The expectation by most Miami fans for hiring an "existing head coach" was due, in part, to the fact that we KNOW that Miami does not have a long-time assistant coach on the existing staff who is ready to take over at Miami. For YEARS, I have posted about the need for Larranaga to build a succession plan, and clearly it never happened.

So, yeah, we need to hire a head coach WITH EXPERIENCE. And success. You can't just throw out names of long-time assistants who got promoted to head coach by the schools at which they worked and/or played.

IT'S NOT THE SAME.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
Oh my God, you are citing a guy who got a THREE-YEAR SHOW CAUSE and has not been hired as a head coach since being caught for committing multiple Level I NCAA rules violations.

Your stupid posts are monumentally stupid. You just spout a few names of guys who "didn't need HC experience". NOBODY IS SAYING THAT. Obviously, every first-time head coach had "no HC experience" before that time.

Brad Stevens got his first HC job at Butler (and was promoted off the Butler staff). That sounds about right for a first NCAA head coaching job.

Tom Izzo was promoted after THIRTEEN YEARS on the Michigan State staff.

Mark Few was promoted after TEN YEARS on the Gonzaga staff. Not to mention that "1999 Gonzaga" was nowhere near the national power that "2025 Gonzaga" is (and, no, I don't want to hear from Gonzaga fan-boys to tell me about that ONE GOOD SEASON before Few became head coach, because outside of Monson's one good year, Gonzaga was an NIT team at best).

Even your hero Cheatin' Kevin Ollie was a promotion off of the UConn staff.

The issue is not just "first time head coach", it's "first time head coach with only a few years as an assistant and coming from a completely different school".

The expectation by most Miami fans for hiring an "existing head coach" was due, in part, to the fact that we KNOW that Miami does not have a long-time assistant coach on the existing staff who is ready to take over at Miami. For YEARS, I have posted about the need for Larranaga to build a succession plan, and clearly it never happened.

So, yeah, we need to hire a head coach WITH EXPERIENCE. And success. You can't just throw out names of long-time assistants who got promoted to head coach by the schools at which they worked and/or played.

IT'S NOT THE SAME.
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I’ve given like fifteen examples over the last three days. Sorry i can’t duplicate the exact path and collegiate comparison that J. Lucas took. Quinn Snyder, Tommy Lloyd, Hubert Davis, Jon Scheyer. . . Syracuse, VIllanova, and others went the assistant route. I could never be clamoring to hire a dude whose tenure at New Mexico resembles Fran Fraschilla’s.

Tom Izzo missed the glory days of Magic but Michigan State still felt it was best to promote an assistant after their legendary coach called it quits.

You’re right: Gonzaga in 99 is different than Gonzaga in ‘25. Let’s go back to ‘99. After making an elite eight, their head coach left to go to Minnesota. This head coach was hired after a decade of being a Gonzaga assistant. Gonzaga promoted from within again with Few. Before Dan Fitzgerald, Gonzaga hired a coach after he was an assistant. Before him, they hired a Gonzaga assistant.

Before him, they hired a coach from Santa Clara who was an Assistant. Before him………..they hired a coach after being a Gonzaga assistant lmao. The last non assistant hire was in 1951 and it was a high school coach.

Despite not building a powerhouse yet, they were still had prestige because John Stockton played there. They won their conference four out of the previous six seasons before promoting Few.

Who cares if it’s ten years at the same place or ten years elsewhere — the point is about finding the right guy. Jai Lucas, just like Mark Few, has ten years of being a collegiate assistant coach before a promotion. I think it’s better that he has a variety of knowledge about a how a program is run — UF, UT (Barnes + Smart), UK, Duke.

Additionally, he has the benefit of being the son of a coaching/player development legend so he has been around different NBA organizations watching his father and his brother. Not like those connections could pay dividends in the future 🙄

If you’ve been talking about a succession plan for years, having one communicated and known to the public may have led to Miami moving on from Coach L early & the ‘canes not making the Elite 8 & Final Four in back to back years. So ……weird flex but okay.
 
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