Jai Lucas set to become next men’s basketball coach

He’s got a ton of work to do in recruiting and the portal-

He’s never been a HC-

He’s going to have to learn on the fly-

It’s a lot easier to recruit studs to Duke-

Bottom line he’s got to win if he doesn’t it won’t matter-


And he won't be in Miami (assuming Duke plays as well in the NCAAs as they have been playing all year) until weeks after the Portal opens.

Good times!
 

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Sam was by far the best. Hocutt had a ton of potential, if he would have stayed, he would have been good. Dude has hit on some hires at TTU, a place where it isn’t easy to attract people. Other than that, Miami has had a collection of meh. Paul Dee was a good administrator, he wasn’t a dynamic leader that made good moves. He was a pencil pusher, nothing more.
Paul D was loved by the boosters and raised the hurricane club to a level of contribution that was required to support the growth of all programs. He did this by hiring and building the development teamHe hired Jim Morris, Jimmy Johnson, Dennis Erickson and Butch Davis. That’s a pretty good group of coaches. I knew Paul well and think he needed more than a ordinary acknowledgment.
 
Paul D was loved by the boosters and raised the hurricane club to a level of contribution that was required to support the growth of all programs. He did this by hiring and building the development teamHe hired Jim Morris, Jimmy Johnson, Dennis Erickson and Butch Davis. That’s a pretty good group of coaches. I knew Paul well and think he needed more than a ordinary acknowledgment.
Dee didnt hire Dennis. Jankovich did
 
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Sam was by far the best. Hocutt had a ton of potential, if he would have stayed, he would have been good. Dude has hit on some hires at TTU, a place where it isn’t easy to attract people. Other than that, Miami has had a collection of meh. Paul Dee was a good administrator, he wasn’t a dynamic leader that made good moves. He was a pencil pusher, nothing more.

Sam was not only the best, he was really the only good AD that we've had. Agree that Hocutt had potential but he got out of dodge amidst the NCAA scandal. Dee was terrible at his job as the UM AD.
 
and we will have lost 3-4 years

Thinking out loud....I wonder if Lucas works out deal with his Duke HC where he can split time between Duke and his new job. Kind of what sometimes in college fb bowl season where some of the coaches on the way to another program stick around for the bowl but also starts assembling staff and recruiting for new team.
 
Paul D was loved by the boosters and raised the hurricane club to a level of contribution that was required to support the growth of all programs. He did this by hiring and building the development teamHe hired Jim Morris, Jimmy Johnson, Dennis Erickson and Butch Davis. That’s a pretty good group of coaches. I knew Paul well and think he needed more than a ordinary acknowledgment.

Dee didn't hire Johnson nor Erickson, Sam did. He did hit on Morris and Davis, Davis was pure accident, because Miami was aiming for Sonny Lubick and Sonny decided to stay at Colorado State, why, I'll never know. That said, Butch was exactly what Miami needed, it was a bold move, but it was also a move borne from necessity, because the job had taken a hit after everyone realized that it was very likely the program was going to get nailed by the NCAA.

I'm not saying Dee was a scrub, he was a good man that cared about the athletic department and the University, but he wasn't Sam. There's a reason why Sam was tasked with running an NFL franchise, dude knew his stuff and had successfully identified coaching talent for decades. Paul was an administrator, he did some good things, but towards the end, it was beyond obvious that he wasn't truly engaged with the hiring process, he made hires that were a bit lazy. Shannon and Coker were lazy hires, hires that a younger Paul Dee wouldn't have considered.
 
Although this is not an exhaustive study, this list is to the best of my knowledge. Jai Lucas will join an exclusive group of former McDonald’s All-Americans who became head coaches:

Chauncey Billups; JJ Redick; Greg Paulus
Jon Scheyer; Jerry Stackhouse
Sam Vincent; Jason Kidd
Jacque Vaughn; Doc Rivers
Chris Mullin; Kenny Anderson
Danny Manning; Bobby Hurley
Juwan Howard; Steve Wojciechowski; Sheehan Holloway

& lastly, just to make everyone a bit more aware of the historical context— Jai Lucas to Miami resembles Quinn Snyder, former McDonald’s All-American, to Missouri.

After one year as a Clippers assistant and four seasons as a Duke assistant; Missouri did the unthinkable move of hiring a young man with no head coaching experience to run their program. Like Miami, their previous head coach went until the wheels fell off — 32 years strong (he was hired when MLK was still alive & he himself is still alive today).

Most of those guys also had NBA experience, in some cases, most of them were tenured assistants. And in most of those cases, they failed, MISERABLY. I'm giving the guys that were in the NBA as HCs a pass, because being a successful NBA HC is more about your GM, than about actual coaching talent. If you are coaching a superstar and you can manage to not tick them off, while also being somewhat competent, you will be fine. If you are coaching crap, it doesn't matter how good you are as a coach, it won't end well in the NBA. A good coach is far more valuable in college basketball, you can elevate mediocre talent if you have an above average coach. That is slowly changing with the professionalization of the sport, but plenty of above average coaches are thriving out there, with less than optimum talent. It's more of a talent acquisition game at the next level and in most cases, NBA coaches(and especially young coaches) have relatively little say in roster construction.

Lets look at the guys that did coach in college:

Jerry Stackhouse: Complete failure at Vandy, never could get it going, Vandy isn't Duke, but it has been a decent basketball program over the last 30 years. Career Record 70-92

Jon Scheyer: Arguably the best resume of anyone on this list. Was groomed by a legend, is at a school where resources are plentiful and has done a good job of continuing what K built. Barring significant regression, should ultimately work out as a coach, question is whether he can win a title soon enough, to keep the fans and donors at bay. Career Record: 78-21

Chris Mullin: It's not easy to win at St. Johns, Rick Pitino excluded(and we don't know how sustainable Pitino is there, considering age), but Mullin wasn't the answer. He did trend upwards in regards to win throughout his tenure, so it wasn't a total loss. That said, it was ultimately a failure. Career Record: 59-73

Kenny Anderson: Coaching at Fisk is one of the toughest jobs on the planet. Resources are a rumor, kids aren't interested, and you aren't even D1. It breaks my heart to see Fisk struggle, but honestly, that University shouldn't have sports at this point, it's a waste of resources. It's about saving that school because it's a legitimate institution that has a ton of historical value. Career Record: 33-79

Danny Manning: Had immediate success at Tulsa, parlayed that into a job at Wake, where he was bad for years. One NCAA Tournament appearance doesn't change the fact that he only won more than 15 games there ONCE in six years. Career Record: 126-154

Bobby Hurley: Like Manning, was able to use immediate success at a midmajor and get a P4 job. Hurley is likely going to be moving back to the midmajor ranks after this season, he's been mediocre for most of his time at ASU, a program that should be better than what they've been. He's not awful, but he's not great either. Likely the second best coach on this list. Career Record: 209-165

Juwan Howard: NBA assistant comes back to Alma mater. Has endless resources, underachieves. I thought Howard was a solid hire at the time, but you can't account for someone just not being able to sustain it, and he also managed to tick off **** near everyone in a position of authority. Was he a failure? Looking at his postseason success(1 S16, 1 Elite 8), you can argue no. Once you look at the rosters he had, and the money spent on talent, the answer is almost too obvious. Career Record: 87-72

Wojo: Bet you he wish he would have stayed at Duke, he likely would have been K's first choice as successor had he not taken the Marquette gig. Wojo wasn't awful in Milwaukee, but he wasn't nearly good enough to justify keeping around. He was merely average and as we've seen for most of the last 3 decades, Marquette isn't an average program. It's a program where you can and should be able to win. Once that happens, you end up leaving in most cases. Career Record: 128-95

Sheehan Holloway: This is the kind of coach I could live with at Miami, I'm willing to bet that Rad doesn't even know who the guy is. I'm not going to sit here and act like he's Rick Pitino or Ben McCollum, but he has a solid track record of getting the most out of what are limited programs. Not a top end recruiter(Honestly, who could get high end talent to St. Peters or Seton Hall), but a good tactician. Won at St. Peters, has gotten Seton Hall to the postseason multiple times. This season has been a disaster, but it remains to be seen if this is the new normal for him, or an aberration. Career Record: 113-105


Quin Snyder: You have an affinity for Quin, forgetting that early in his tenure, he looked good, but once it became obvious he was sloppy in skirting NCAA rules the wheels fell off quickly. There's a reason why he was almost completely out of coaching before moving to the pro ranks. I will say this, Snyder came into his own in the NBA, that's obvious where he belongs. Career College record: 126-91

Mizzou hired Snyder, it ultimately didn't work out, and it took them years to rebuild the program under Mike Anderson. The question about Snyder is how much of his early success was him inheriting a solid program from Stewart. That said, he ran with it early.

Lucas is inheriting a rebuild, big difference from what Snyder inherited.
 
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Dee didn't hire Johnson nor Erickson, Sam did. He did hit on Morris and Davis, Davis was pure accident, because Miami was aiming for Sonny Lubick and Sonny decided to stay at Colorado State, why, I'll never know. That said, Butch was exactly what Miami needed, it was a bold move, but it was also a move borne from necessity, because the job had taken a hit after everyone realized that it was very likely the program was going to get nailed by the NCAA.

I'm not saying Dee was a scrub, he was a good man that cared about the athletic department and the University, but he wasn't Sam. There's a reason why Sam was tasked with running an NFL franchise, dude knew his stuff and had successfully identified coaching talent for decades. Paul was an administrator, he did some good things, but towards the end, it was beyond obvious that he wasn't truly engaged with the hiring process, he made hires that were a bit lazy. Shannon and Coker were lazy hires, hires that a younger Paul Dee wouldn't have considered.
No One was better at hiring football coaches than Sam Jankovich and I mean no one. He also hired Randy Ableman so it wasn't just Football.
 
Spare me with the better coach crap. Tell us which coach would have fit better for Miami than Coach L. Lets also not forget that he got screwed with the bogus FBI allegations which set back the program for a couple of years,
That FBI investigation took all the wind out of L's sails. Miami was becoming a yearly participant in the NCAA Tournament, those FALSE allegations ultimately turned out to be like getting the death penalty because it scared recruits off of Miami for YEARS.
 
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