Jai Lucas reveals why it was 'an easy decision' to become head coach at Miami

Jai Lucas could have stayed as an associate and assistant head coach and waited for whatever job could have come his way in his future. Instead, Lucas made the move to Coral Gables because of what the Hurricanes can invest into the program he’ll now be leading.

At his introductory press conference with Miami on Monday, Lucas spoke on what the athletic department was willing to put into the men’s basketball team in this new era of college sports. He said it was enough to make him want to take their job considering it’s enough to help them compete quickly in his tenure.

“It’s just, uh – they showed the investment they have in winning. That’s what it takes now nowadays, you know,” Lucas said. “Especially with the new era of college basketball, you’re able to close the gap on some of these schools that have these storied traditions and are able to recruit at a certain level. There’s a little bit – it’s not completely closed but there’s a little bit more of an even playing field.

“Just everything that was explained to me and the identity I had and want for the program aligned with what they had and their vision. So it made it an easy decision for me.”

Those contributions are going to be key in Lucas turning things around at Miami. That’s with the Hurricanes being 22-41 (9-31) overall over the past two seasons, coming off a regular-season title and a national semifinal the year prior, in the final season and a half under Jim Larrañaga and the interim stint under Bill Courtney. That included this season, an all-time poor one for the team, where they went 7-24 (3-17) overall with their year already over as they did not make it into the ACC Tournament.

Because of that, Miami will be a team likely to be very active regarding roster construction with departures and additions. In order to start retaining players or picking up players, though, whether in the transfer portal or through recruiting, it’ll take the work from those in their spaces in name, image, and likeness, including the collectives like Canes Connection.

Lucas has enough work to do that he immediately left his previous job to take this new one at The ‘U. It’ll be much easier, though, with what the school is going to put behind him in the coming months ahead of his debut as a head coach with the Hurricanes.